UNC basketball advances to Maui Invitational championship game with win over Stanford
No. 14 North Carolina remained perfect in its series history against Stanford with a 67-63 win in the Maui Invitational on Tuesday. The Tar Heels (3-0) will face No. 17 Texas, which beat Indiana 66-44, for the tournament title Wednesday at 4 p.m., at the Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville.
Carolina moved to 13-0 all-time against the Cardinal (1-1), which is the second-longest streak without a loss to an opponent in program history. The Heels had to earn this one by making plays down the stretch.
The game was tied at 60 with four minutes left in the game. UNC freshman guard Caleb Love unknowingly gave the Heels the lead for good with a step back jumper. Love led the Heels with 16 points – 12 of which came in the second half.
The Heels kept Stanford without a field goal the remainder of the game. The Cardinal had two 3-point attempts to try and tie the game while trailing 66-63, but R.J. Davis blocked one shot and Spencer Jones just missed his attempt.
UNC coach Roy Williams ran his record to 5-1 against his former player and assistant coach Jerod Haase, who is in his fifth season as the head coach of Stanford. Haase did beat Williams out for forward Ziaire Williams.
And One
Freshman forward Day’Ron Sharpe’s strength as a rebounder is known, but he showed his ability to see the floor and make solid passes may be his most underrated skill. Sharpe had four assists, which is a season-high. He spotted R.J. Davis as he was being double teamed and completed a skip pass for a Davis 3-pointer. On a high-low set with Armando Bacot, he showed nice touch in lobbing the ball over a Cardinal defender for Bacot to convert a layup. And he flipped a pass to Garrison Brooks as he was anticipating a double team for another layup.
Lane Violation
North Carolina was entirely too careless with the ball, finishing with 24 turnovers. It was a poor start in the first half as the Tar Heels racked up 11 turnovers, which led to 12 Cardinal points. Stanford could take credit for forcing some of them. It employs the same scramble defense that Carolina uses, and senior guard Andrew Platek threw a bad pass out of it once. But many more came down to the Heels playing without any urgency. Freshman guard Kerwin Walton got called for a travel when he wasn’t being pressured. Love threw an inbounds lob too soft for senior forward Garrison Brooks. Junior forward/guard Leaky Black got the ball stolen while dribbling through his legs.
ICYMI
Right before halftime, UNC sophomore center Armando Bacot cleared a rebound with 50 seconds left and got the ball to Love. Instead of running clock, Love saw a slither of an opening and immediately drove for a shot. His layup with 44 seconds ensured Carolina would get another shot before halftime. There aren’t many schools who adhere to the 2-for-1 principle that’s a staple of NBA games, but Love recognized the situation and took advantage of it.
Making sense of the numbers
68.7 The current free throw percentage for the Tar Heels, and they’re trending in the wrong direction with their free throw shooting. After they shot 79% in the opener making 19-of-24. They shot just 65% against UNLV making 21-of-32. And against Stanford they shot 62.5% making 15-of-24.
This story was originally published December 1, 2020 at 6:28 PM.