UNC men's basketball can't contain Maxime Raynaud, Jaylen Blakes in loss to Stanford

The Dean E. Smith Center fell quiet. Both the fans in the stands and the Tar Heels on the floor were shell-shocked.

Stanford was trailing North Carolina, 71-70, with 7.7 seconds on the clock. Jaylen Blakes inbounded the ball to 7-foot-1-inch Maxime Raynaud. Blakes got it right back from Raynaud and speed-dribbled the length of the floor with junior guard Seth Trimble guarding him. Blakes stopped at the left block, leaned into Trimble and then stepped back. His fadeaway jump shot arced over Trimble’s outstretched left hand.

Dagger.

The Duke transfer took a victory lap on Roy Williams Court, pointing emphatically down at the hardwood and screaming in jubilation.

“We knew we had to lock in and get a stop,” Trimble said. “I’m gonna beat myself up for that one. I’d like to be the one to embrace that moment, step in and take pride in it. But Blakes got the best of me.”

That shot sank the Tar Heels, handing them their worst loss of the season — by KenPom metrics — after a four-game winning streak, 72-71.UNC was a double-digit favorite. The Cardinal had previously lost to Clemson, Pittsburgh and Wake Forest by double digits on the road.

It was fitting that the only two players to touch the ball on the game-winning possession for Stanford were Blakes and Raynaud, who the Tar Heels could not hold in check. The duo combined for 45 points Saturday afternoon.

"I know when things go right or wrong, we want a definitive answer why they went right and wrong," head coach Hubert Davis said. "There were times where we had wide open shots by the right people and it just didn't go in and they took a shot and it went in."

In North Carolina’s 26-point win over California on Wednesday night, the Tar Heels held Cal leading scorer Andrej Stojakovic to a season-low six points. In his postgame press conference, Davis said he had talked with his team about wanting to shut down opponents’ best players. 

Auburn’s Johni Broome, Alabama’s Mark Sears and Louisville’s Chucky Hepburn each lead their team in scoring. Those stars combined to score 69 points in three losses for the Tar Heels. Against Cal, it looked like the Tar Heels might have turned a corner in shutting down opposing stars with their defense on Stojakovic. 

Entering Saturday, Raynaud was averaging an ACC-high 20.5 points per game. He is a matchup nightmare with his size inside and his ability to stretch the floor.

“We didn’t lock him down,” Trimble said. “The scout at the end of the day was to take him away. Every time Maxime touches the ball in the post, we wanted to double him, get it out of his hands.”

UNC did bring the double and force Raynaud to give it up. He still scored 25 points but on 8-24 shooting — 3-13 in the second half. 

The three field goals he did make in the second half all came on defensive breakdowns. Junior forward Jalen Washington bit on a pump fake and Raynaud drove to the cup, finishing with a two-handed flush. Junior forward Ven-Allen Lubin closed out too hard, and Raynaud went past him for a layup.

Under two and a half minutes to play with UNC up by four, Lubin helped off Raynaud as Blakes drove into the lane. Blakes kicked it to Raynaud in the corner for a three that cut the lead to one.

Blakes was the primary ball handler for the Cardinal, controlling the offense and getting to the rim. He scored 20 points on 7-13 shooting.

“We were really loose tonight,” Trimble said. “We let [Blakes] get wherever he wanted to. We weren’t intent, and we didn’t have the intensity that we needed when it came to our ball screen coverages.”

North Carolina’s miscues allowed Stanford’s stars to give the Cardinal a chance to win in the final minute.

Blakes made the Tar Heels pay.

“We could have avoided that,” Lubin said. “By raising our intensity level, the little details of being very aware of what’s going on on the floor. So I believe it was everything before that. Something that we definitely got to improve on.”

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