Growing up a North Carolina Tar Heels fan, Jarin Stevenson had an easy choice of where to start his collegiate basketball journey.
A top-50 prospect in the 2023 recruiting class, Stevenson chose the Alabama Crimson Tide over his hometown team. Stevenson played his first two years in Tuscaloosa, even helping Alabama beat UNC in the 2024 NCAA Tournament, but never lived up to his full potential.
Now entering his final collegiate season, Stevenson is now primed for a superstar breakout role at North Carolina, with Friday night every indication of one.
After scoring a game-high 25 points during the Tar Heels' comeback, 88-70 victory over USC in a preseason exhibition from the old Greensboro Coliseum, Stevenson detailed his big performance and everything
that led up to it.
"I feel like there was a lot of things that put me in this situation," Stevenson said. "Again, the work that I put in, just staying present in the moment. That’s something I’ve been working on and not letting the crowd, past experiences, past misses and stuff affect what I’m doing. My teammates set me up really well, coach called a lot of good plays for me and I just have to build off that.”
Stevenson netted a career-best 25 points in a game-high 31 minutes, making eight of his 14 shot attempts, including a 4-of-7 mark from deep. Stevenson also drained five free throws, part of a much-improved team performance from UNC compared to last season, while adding 10 rebounds for a double-double.
Stevenson and his North Carolina teammates wait eight more days for another game, when they face the Indiana Hoosiers in Indianapolis. Can Stevenson continue Friday's level of play and, for the team he grew up rooting for, win a National Championship?
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This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire: Jarin Stevenson's career game leads UNC to exhibition win over USC
