No. 14 North Carolina will travel out West for the first of two ACC road games in the San Francisco Bay Area to face the Stanford Cardinal. In its last outing, North Carolina bounced back from a tough loss to SMU with a gritty 87-84 win over Wake Forest on Saturday night, securing the program’s 500th victory in the Dean Smith Center.
Stanford (13-4, 2-2 ACC) has the tools to give UNC problems. The Cardinal upset Louisville and beat a good Virginia Tech team, and they have one of the best players in the country in freshman guard Ebuka Okorie.
Here are three keys to a North Carolina victory — and to avoiding another ugly road loss.
Stanford features one of the nation’s top players in Okorie. The true freshman is averaging 22.1 points per game, the second-best mark in the ACC and eighth-best nationally. He also leads the ACC in free throws made and ranks third in free throw attempts.
The Tar Heels cannot let the crowd get into the game. Simple as that. Stanford is a quality team that has already upset Louisville on the road and beaten a strong Virginia Tech team away from home. North Carolina has to start fast and sustain its energy, because it cannot afford to give the Cardinal any opening. If Stanford sees a sliver of hope, it will start to believe, and the crowd at Maples Pavilion will feed off that.
More Contributions from the Backcourt
The backcourt also has to be more involved. Without Jaydon Young’s scoring punch off the bench, the Tar Heels likely would have lost to Wake Forest last Saturday, even with Wilson and Veesaar both topping 20 points. Luka Bogavac, Kyan Evans and Derek Dixon struggled to make shots, and while Seth Trimble has been outstanding for Carolina at both ends, he had an off night, leaving the backcourt largely ineffective outside of Young.
