By R.L. Bynum
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Jarin Stevenson’s teammates doused him with water in the dressing room with the same aggressiveness he showed during the best half of his North Carolina career.
He earned every drop.
After playing only 3½ scoreless minutes in the first half, Stevenson erupted for all 17 of his season-high points after halftime (in only 12½ minutes). The junior Alabama transfer punctuated UNC’s comeback with a dunk that gave the Tar Heels their first lead after halftime, a clutch 3-pointer with 5:09 left, as well as a three-point play with 2:09 remaining that put North Carolina ahead for good. His 6-for-9 shooting, including 2-for-4 from three, marked a season field-goal high.
No. 22 UNC almost certainly wouldn’t have erased a 16-point late first-half deficit to beat No. 14 Virginia 85–80 without him.
The outburst may have looked sudden, but Stevenson insisted it wasn’t. He said he saw it coming because of the work he has been doing behind the scenes.
“Yeah, I did,” he said. “I’ve been putting in a lot of extra work after practice, getting in late. So I definitely saw it coming. I’ve been doing different things, doing different movements with my shot and doing different things to work on my aggressiveness and getting in better shape, so I can run the floor, get easier baskets.”
Stevenson’s influence extended well beyond scoring. He drew a critical late charge, switched onto guards, and helped stabilize a smaller lineup that turned the game around. Coach Hubert Davis leaned heavily on him down the stretch because of everything he brought to the floor, not just the buckets.
“He just settles us out there on the floor. He knows what he’s doing. He’s a good communicator, even though he’s not a big talker,” Davis said. “Brings that size — 6‑10. So, in that quote, unquote small lineup, we still had size out there to be able to rebound and be able to switch on guards and be able to guard guards on the perimeter — something that is huge for us and valuable, and it really worked down the stretch.”
Caleb Wilson couldn’t stop smiling while talking about Stevenson’s takeover, the usually reserved junior who took on a different persona in the final 12 minutes.
“Yeah, he played ridiculous,” Wilson said. “It was crazy. He did stuff on both ends. He did everything, so ridiculous is a good word.”
Wilson even joked that Stevenson was playing so well that he wasn’t so sure he should be subbed back into the game.
“I was like, ‘Are you sure you want to put me back in?’ Because in there he was doing his thing,” Wilson said.
Derek Dixon, who turned in the best game of his freshman season with 11 points, seven assists and one turnover, had seen this version of Stevenson before and kept urging him to be that guy.
“We all have confidence in him. He’s really skilled,” Dixon said. “Some days in practice, he’ll just start going off, and I’m like, ‘Why can’t you do that all the time?’ I told him, ‘Keep it aggressive. Keep it aggressive.’ ”
Dixon said the team trusts Stevenson in big moments because he embraces them.
“He was making big plays,” Dixon added. “He’s a great player when he is aggressive.”
Seth Trimble has witnessed the same flashes during practices and wasn’t surprised that Stevenson finally unleashed it in a high-profile ACC road game.
“He goes out some days in practices, looks like a totally different player,” Trimble said. “He’s out there hooping, and when he’s free like that, he’s playing aggressive. It’s really fun to watch. He’s a really special player.”
Stevenson said his second-half mindset crystallized in the locker room at halftime, when the Tar Heels committed to meeting Virginia’s physicality.
“We came in the second half with an attitude of, ‘We’re gonna do what you do. We’re gonna win this game,’ ” said Stevenson, who added that the late-game charge he drew was instinctual. “I saw the opportunity and took a charge.”
He didn’t hide how much he enjoyed the moment once the game was in hand. Was it the most fun he’s had in a college game?
“It’s been a while, probably nothing like this,” he said with a smile.
A season high in points. A season high in field goals. Some of the best defensive possessions of his Tar Heel career. And a drenched jersey after his teammates showered him in celebration.
For Jarin Stevenson, it was more than a breakout.
It was a night he had been working toward all season — and one his teammates always knew he had in him.
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
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