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Stanford storms court, upsets No. 14 North Carolina behind record-setting performance

Danby: Daniel Hager01/15/26DanielHagerOn3

Led by superstar guard Ebuka Okorie (who scored a program freshman-record 35 points in the win), Stanford downed No. 14 North Carolina 95-90 inside Maples Pavilion Wednesday night. The win marks the second ranked victory in ACC play for head coach Kyle Smith‘s Cardinal (defeated No. 16 Louisville 80-76 on Jan. 2) this season.

Stanford was blistering hot from three-point range, as it hit 16 of its 28 three-point attempts (57%). Senior guard Jeremy Dent-Smith was blazing hot off the bench, hitting six of his seven three-point shots. With the win, the Cardinal improve to 14-4 on the season and certainly look capable of making a run to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014.

North Carolina won the first half 47-45, and led by as many as 12 points with 15:19 remaining in regulation. From that point on, however, Stanford outscored Carolina 44-27 to earn a victory over the Tar Heels for the second consecutive season.

Kyle Smith‘s first season in charge last year marked immediate progress inside the program, as the Cardinal won seven more games than the previous season and advanced to the Second Round of the NIT. In year two of the Smith era, Stanford has evolved into a true threat to knock off any ACC team on any given night.

While Stanford will enjoy a massive win over the blue-blood Tar Heels, North Carolina is reeling a bit. Hubert Davis‘ program is now 2-2 in ACC play, with both losses coming to unranked opponents. It lost just one of its first 14 games, but has now dropped two of its last four games.

The game served as a true emergence on a national landscape for Ebuka Okorie, who is one of the most underrated freshmen in the country. Everyone knows about the Cameron Boozer’s and the Darryn Peterson’s, but Okorie is driving his Stanford program to potentially its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 12 years.

The Nashua, NH native is averaging 22.1 points and 2.9 assists per game. He has scored at least 28 points in five of his last seven games, all of which resulted in wins. Entering the season, not much was expected of the program in what was seen as a building season for Kyle Smith. With Okorie driving the ship, however, nobody would want to see the Cardinal in the NCAA Tournament.