UNC basketball vs Stanford: Score prediction, scouting report for Tar Heels, Cardinal

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UNC basketball hasn’t lost since New Year’s Day and the Tar Heels have never been beaten by Stanford.

Coming off their fourth straight victory, the Tar Heels (12-6, 5-1 ACC) will host the Cardinal (11-6, 3-3) on Saturday (2:15 p.m., CW Network) at the Smith Center in the first ACC matchup between the programs.

UNC is 13-0 in the all-time series against Stanford, which lost 67-63 to the Tar Heels in 2020 at the Maui Invitational in Asheville. The Cardinal heads to Chapel Hill after a 13-point loss at Wake Forest.

Here are some other things to know and a score prediction for UNC vs. Stanford.

How will UNC’s defense deal with Stanford’s Maxime Raynaud, the ACC’s top scorer and rebounder?

The Tar Heels were able to limit Cal’s Andrej Stojakovic, one of the ACC’s top scorers, to his worst offensive output of the season on Wednesday night. UNC will need a similar effort against Stanford 7-footer Maxime Raynaud, who leads the nation in double-doubles (14) and paces the ACC with an average of 20.5 points and 11.5 rebounds per game.

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Raynaud, a 35.8% shooter from 3-point range, presents quite a challenge for Jalen Washington and UNC’s frontcourt. In the Tar Heels’ losses to Kansas and Auburn, Hunter Dickinson and Johni Broome — two of the nation’s top big men — averaged 21.5 points and 14.5 rebounds.

RJ Davis bounce-back game as the Tar Heels’ top scorer

With seven points against Cal, UNC’s RJ Davis had his lowest scoring performance since his junior year in the 2022-23 season. The good news for Davis? The last time he scored single-digit points (8 at Notre Dame), the fifth-year guard bounced back with 26 points against SMU at the Smith Center. Davis should have an opportunity to get going against a Stanford defense that is 173rd in efficiency, according to KenPom.com, and just allowed Wake Forest’s Hunter Sallis to score 30 points.

Former Duke guard…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/unc-basketball-vs-stanford-score-090213620.html

Author : The Fayetteville Observer

Publish date : 2025-01-17 09:02:00

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