No. 12 UNC men’s basketball loses first ACC road game as SMU pulls upset

This may have been North Carolina’s first trip to Texas for an ACC game, but SMU’s Boopie Miller has had plenty of experience playing the Tar Heels — from his stint at Wake Forest to his current role as a Mustang.

And Miller carried all that comfort and confidence with him into Saturday’s 97-83 win over No. 12 North Carolina at Moody Coliseum. Perhaps no play was more telling than when Miller drove right against Caleb Wilson early in the second half, crossed back over left — causing Wilson to fall in the process — and stepped back behind the 3-point line. All Miller had to do to complete the highlight was drain the triple.

Swish.

Miller recorded 27 points and 12 assists in the upset, dropping North Carolina to 13-2 overall and 1-1 in ACC play. The former Demon Deacon was one of two Mustangs, alongside Corey Washington, who hit three or more triples. SMU (12-2, 1-0 ACC) shot 51.9% from behind the arc and 60% from the field, showing why the Mustangs boast one of the top offenses in the ACC.

“When you have a point guard that can control the ball like Boopie did tonight, it definitely plays a factor,” UNC coach Hubert Davis said after the loss. “I thought he played a fantastic game.”

North Carolina fell behind by nine points early and, after managing to tie the game at 39-39, never led in the second half.

Naturally, there were plenty of moments of frustration that followed.

After Henri Veesaar was called for his third foul less than a minute into the second half, he took the basketball and smacked it against his forehead. Seth Trimble was coming off an 8-of-11 performance from the charity stripe against Florida State. Against SMU, he made three of seven attempts from the line. One late sequence saw Luka Bogavac close out late for yet another Mustangs triple and, on the other end, turn the ball over. He pressed his mouth into a thin line.

And, through it all, Miller seemed like he could do no wrong.

Play appears to be breaking down with an errant pass? Here comes a Miller dribble drive and a lob for a dunk. Turnover by UNC? There’s Miller again, taking advantage with a fadeaway jumper. Jarin Stevenson lays the ball in to cut the deficit to single digits? Watch Miller drive baseline and kick the ball out for SMU’s 12th 3-pointer of the night.

North Carolina had not allowed more than 74 points all season. But, with five minutes to play on Saturday, SMU had already notched 83 and, at that point, 25 came courtesy of Miller.

Wilson, meanwhile, went quiet late in the game. The standout freshman only attempted three shots in the final 16 minutes of the contest. Trimble led the Tar Heels with 22 points and Stevenson recorded a season-high 16, but it wasn’t enough on Saturday.

Here are three takeaways from UNC’s first ACC loss:

SMU’s fastbreak ability, UNC turnovers plague Tar Heels early

North Carolina was tested early in its first ACC road game of the season.

In the first six minutes, the Tar Heels had recorded as many points (4) as turnovers (4) and found themselves down 13-4.

The Mustangs, who rank first in the ACC in fastbreak points per game (16.5) earned 10 of their first 15 points via the fastbreak. North Carolina — a team that allowed an ACC-low 5.9 fastbreak points per game entering Saturday — was able to neutralize this aspect of the Mustangs’ offense as the game continued, but the same can’t be said for SMU’s 3-point shooting.

Stevenson said he felt like most of UNC’s defensive issues related to on-ball defending.

“There’s also some transition that we didn’t get back on, but yeah, mainly just on-ball defense,” Stevenson said. “That gets [us] into rotations that lead to open threes. We got to work on the on-ball.”

UNC scores (and gives up) a ton of threes

Florida State provided a preview, of sorts, for SMU’s high-octane offense.

The Seminoles, who North Carolina beat 79-66 on Tuesday, rank among the national leaders in 3-point attempts per game. Luckily for the Tar Heels, FSU only shot 30% from distance on 40 attempts.

This was not the case for the Mustangs. SMU entered the game ranked 12th in the conference in 3-point percentage at a 34.4% clip. But, on Saturday, the Mustangs made a whopping 14 of 27 attempts from deep.

Davis said the team emphasized not “over-helping” against the Seminoles — falling victim to dribble drives that led to kickouts and long closeouts. After Tuesday’s win, the head coach said he felt this contributed to a lot of open looks for FSU.

But North Carolina struggled again to contest on Saturday, leading to plenty of open or lightly-contested looks from deep for the Mustangs.

“We were soft on defense,” said Luka Bogavac, who finished with a team-high six assists.

“I think that we just expected them to miss the shots,” Bogavac later added, “and tonight they made it.”

Stevenson makes big plays in limited minutes

Prior to Saturday, Stevenson hadn’t hit a 3-pointer since Dec. 7. He’d missed his last 10 attempts since that win over Georgetown. And, since transferring to UNC from Alabama, the Chapel Hill native had yet to record multiple 3-pointers in the same game.

Stevenson changed all of that in Dallas. After subbing in with just over six minutes left in the first half, Stevenson hit two triples in a roughly three-minute span to help the Tar Heels cut away at an early deficit and enter halftime tied at 39-39. Stevenson, who averages 6.3 points per game, was UNC’s leading scorer at halftime with nine.

But Stevenson, as he usually does, did more than just drain a couple of early shots. He battled on the boards and, after hitting his first 3-pointer of the afternoon, earned a steal that led to a Wilson dunk at the other end — cutting North Carolina’s deficit to one point.

Stevenson then contested an SMU shot, UNC got the stop and Veesaar hit a 3-pointer of his own to give the Tar Heels their first lead of the game. That capped off a crucial 13-2 run that put North Carolina back in the game.

In the second half, another Stevenson 3-pointer with just over two minutes remaining put him up to 16 on the game. The junior finished 3-of-4 from deep. He and Trimble both hit three triples on the game.

It wasn’t enough to earn UNC a win, but if Stevenson can start hitting from deep, it will open up a new aspect of the Tar Heels’ offense.

“He definitely got into a rhythm offensively — probably the best going into early this season,” Davis said after the loss. “But, again, it just goes back to defense. It is what it is. For us to be the best team that we can possibly become, we have to be a good defensive team.”

This story was originally published January 3, 2026 at 4:33 PM.