Hubert Davis Credits Stanford Accuracy in UNC's loss

The North Carolina Tar Heels lost for the second time in three games after falling to the Stanford Cardinal 95-90 on Wednesday night.

Elite guard play has been the Tar Heels' kryptonite in recent memory, and that reared its ugly head again, as Ebuka Okorie scored 36 points while shooting over 50 percent from the field.

While speaking with the media during his postgame press conference, head coach Hubert Davis explained how North Carolina's defense was hit from all directions.

Davis' Thoughts

Jan 14, 2026; Stanford, California, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Hubert Davis looks on against the Stanford Cardinal in the first half at Maples Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Eakin Howard-Imagn Images | Eakin Howard-Imagn Images

"Yeah, I would respectfully disagree with that in regard to it was coming from, as I said before, a number of different situations," Davis said when asked if Stanford's isolation was the main problem for North Carolina. "They were scoring threes, you know, in transition. It was coming off of isolation. It was coming off of ball screen late communication."

"Closeouts in in terms of rotations," Davis continued. "And so, whether it was, you know, running a consecutive play, they were getting different things. And so, you know, when you have, they shot 16 for 28 from three. I mean, it wasn't just Okorie. They had a number of guys, Agarwal and that were shooting the ball really well from three."

Jan 14, 2026; Stanford, California, USA; Stanford Cardinal guard Ebuka Okorie (1) drives to the basket against North Carolina Tar Heels guard Seth Trimble (7) and forward Jarin Stevenson (15) in the first half at Maples Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Eakin Howard-Imagn Images | Eakin Howard-Imagn Images

Davis spoke glowingly of Okorie and how the freshman guard was able to dictate terms against the Tar Heels defense.

Yeah, I mean, you know, obviously he's a really gifted player and it's much different from a guard who has the ball in his hands and something else that should be talked about with him is he's an elite and a willing passer as well," Davis said. "And so, it's not just, you know, he can get fouled and get to the free throw line."

"[We] put a number of different defenders, our best one-on-one defenders," Davis continued. "We did things differently defensively where didn't do any switching off the ball to keep matchups, keep our best defenders on him. And again, he had a big night, but there were others that stepped up and did the job."

Jan 14, 2026; Stanford, California, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels forward Caleb Wilson (8), guard Kyan Evans (0), and Stanford Cardinal forward Aidan Cammann (52) reach for a loose ball in the second half at Maples Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Eakin Howard-Imagn Images | Eakin Howard-Imagn Images

North Carolina sent help defenders multiple times throughout the game, but Stanford was able to find the open man along the perimeter and hit the three. Davis dissected those sequences.

"Yes. They were able to convert a few times after that, too.," Davis said. "They were they able to convert threes. Be able to split, get around. The rotations weren't there, you know, interceptors, goaltenders, and so that's something that we got to look at, and we got to get better at because it's got to be a part of our defense."

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