How UNC men's basketball suffered an upset loss to Stanford, Ebuka Okorie

PALO ALTO, Calif. — Stop me if you’ve heard this before. The North Carolina Tar Heels have a comfortable, double-digit lead in the second half. They appear in control. It’s only a matter of time, surely before UNC puts this opponent away.

Insert your prototypical opposing guard. He’s shifty, quick and ready to exploit UNC’s switches. First it was Michigan State’s Jeremy Fears Jr., then SMU’s Boopie Miller. Wake Forest’s Nate Calmese and Juke Harris nearly had their way on Saturday night and, come Wednesday night in Palo Alto, it was Ebuka Okorie’s turn.

Okorie dropped a career-best 36 points to help the Stanford Cardinal upset No. 14 North Carolina at Maples Pavilion on Wednesday night.

The Tar Heels (14-3, 2-2 ACC) were 2,700 miles from campus and up 12 points in the second half when Okorie decided to take them to be school. To be clear, he’d already scored 17 in the first half.

Then, in the second half, he made two straight layups to help cut Stanford’s deficit to eight. UNC coach Hubert Davis pointed down his bench and put Jaydon Young into the game. The Virginia Tech transfer immediately picked up Okorie and fouled him. Okorie soon drained a 3-pointer to go up to 27 on the night.

On the next trip down the line, it was Stevenson who picked up Okorie. The crowd seemed to hold its collective breath. Caleb Wilson and Luka Bogavac soon gave the Tar Heel fans in attendance a reason to relax their shoulders and exhale — at least for a moment. The duo was able to draw UNC’s lead back out to six or seven points a few times, but Okorie — or his teammate Jeremy Dent-Smith — always seemed to have an answer.

Dent-Smith’s fifth 3-pointer of the night (on six attempts) finally put the Cardinal in front. Redshirt junior Ryan Agarwal followed that up with a triple of his own to put Stanford (14-4, 3-2 ACC) up, 91-87, with 32 seconds remaining.

North Carolina’s offense was, as a whole, stagnant. The Tar Heels registered just seven assists to 20 for Stanford. Okorie had nine, more than UNC’s entire roster.

So, in honor of Stanford’s thrilling halftime show that saw members of its student section compete in a multiplication tables challenge to win a Chess.com membership — yes, really — here’s a pop quiz to assess the Tar Heels’ performance in Palo Alto:

Can Tar Heels slow Ebuka Okorie?

The answer to this one is relatively easy.

Entering Wednesday night, the Tar Heels have struggled to contain players at the top of the scouting report.

Outside of North Carolina’s first game — a 94-54 blowout of Central Arkansas — opposing teams’ leading scorers have reached their scoring average or higher in every game. Davis is well aware of this fact, even pointing it out on his Monday radio show.

Wednesday was no different.

With the Cardinal’s Chisom Okpara out due to a lower-extremity injury, the Tar Heels could focus more closely on Okorie. At least, in theory. The standout guard — who entered the game averaging 22.1 points per game (eighth nationally and third among freshmen) — hit his season-high point total and set a Stanford freshman single-game scoring record.

Okorie continually attacked downhill off on-ball screens — forcing the Tar Heels into switches — to great success. He also got his teammates involved, with his nine assists helping his backcourt teammates Agarwal and Dent-Smith record 20 points a piece.

Will North Carolina show improvement on defense?

Another negative here.

Davis was blunt when addressing UNC’s recent defensive performance on Monday night.

“The last four halves have been our worst halves all year in regards to field-goal percentage,” Davis said, later adding, “the last two games — that’s not going to get it done.”

In North Carolina’s first two games in 2026, the Tar Heels ranked 363rd in effective field-goal percentage defense, allowing opponents to shoot 65.3% over that stretch. Only Wofford and Florida State have managed worse marks over that stretch.

Things didn’t look much better to start Wednesday night. UNC shot 52% from the field in the first half — including 71% from 3-point range — yet only carried a two-point advantage into the locker room. The Tar Heels allowed the Cardinal to shoot 57% from the field over that stretch, including six 3-pointers.

The second half spiraled further out of control, with Stanford shooting 57.1 from the field and 66.7% from deep after halftime.

And that’s without Stanford’s second-leading scorer, Okpara, available.

The Cardinal finished the night shooting 57.1%, including 16 of 28 on 3-pointers.

What more can Veesaar do for this team?

It’s hard to say.

Through 16 games, Henri Veesaar has arguably become the most indispensable player on this Tar Heels roster. He’s one of just three UNC seven-footers ever to make a 3-pointer (along with Serge Zwikker and Walker Kessler) and has quickly blown his counterparts out of the water.

Veesaar entered Wednesday night shooting 51.2% from behind the arc with 21 on the season. He added two more in the first half against the Cardinal, part of 16 points he poured in before halftime on 5-of-8 shooting. The rest of North Carolina’s starters had 22 during that stretch.

“Obviously, we count on him for a number of different things on both ends of the floor,” Davis said Monday on his radio show. “Defensively: blocking, altering shots, protecting the paint. And then, from an offensive standpoint, his ability to be able to score around the basket, shoot threes… we got to get him shooting more threes.”

Veesaar and Wilson helped limit Stanford’s starting frontcourt of Donavin Young and Oskar Giltay to a combined two points on the game.

Veesaar finished with 26 points on 9-of-12 shooting, including 6-of-11 shooting from the line.

Can UNC keep Wilson involved?

The issue on Wednesday night wasn’t so much keeping Wilson involved on offense — as was the case against Michigan State, SMU and Wake Forest — but getting him going in the first place. The freshman had seven rebounds at half, but only six points — a far cry from his usual production rate.

North Carolina seemed intent on getting the Atlanta native going in the second half and, at least in this respect, was successful on Wednesday. Wilson quickly made a trip to the foul line — knocking down one of two attempts — and finished inside for three points in roughly a minute and a half.

Then two straight steals by Seth Trimble led to two scores for Wilson. First, a lob from Kyan Evans was flushed home. Then, Trimble earned the second steal by denying Okorie, feeding Wilson in transition. Suddenly, UNC found itself up by 10. Stanford coach Kyle Smith called a timeout.

But, yet again, North Carolina couldn’t extend its lead and close out the game. And that’s not for a lack of production from Wilson, who led all Tar Heels in the second half with 20 points on a perfect 8-of-8 performance from the field.

When the freshman traveled with 3.7 seconds left on the clock, he was already in an impossible position with his team down by five points.