Recap: Stanford Men’s Basketball wins home opener vs. Portland State
On Tuesday, Stanford men’s basketball won their regular season home opener against Portland State by a final score of 89-79. Stanford freshman point guard Ebuka Okorie led the way for the Cardinal with 26 points and 7 rebounds on 9-17 shooting from the field and 6-6 shooting from the foul line while senior forward Chisom Okpara had 21 points on 7-11 shooting from the field and 7-8 shooting from the foul line. Portland State guard Sebastian Tidor was the top scorer for the Vikings with 22 points and seven rebounds while guard Jaylin Henderson had 19 points and four assists. Stanford improves to 1-0 on the season while Portland State falls to 0-1.
VIDEO: Stanford Men’s Basketball Postgame Press Conference: Portland State
BOX SCORE: Portland State at Stanford-Tuesday, November 4th
“Yeah, that was a good opener for us,” Stanford head coach Kyle Smith said after the game. “We, obviously, we had a good exhibition game performance against Oregon and a big part of us, to see how we handled success. I thought we handled the Oregon situation great in the locker room and to be honest, I’ve coached against Portland State, and they play hard and we talked about their physicality, their enthusiasm, their loose balls, and they just won’t, they wouldn’t go away.
“And I think our guys learned a little, we didn’t handle success during the course of that game, but credit to them they just, and Chase is gonna have, he’s gonna have them competing. Then we go right to the final whistle, but we did a better job on the glass, which is a good service, but took some sets back in some other areas, but overall, really good win for us and that’s team is gonna win a lot of games in the Big Sky and they’re really athletic and that’s good for us to play against some teams like that.”
With 15:42 to go in the first half, it was tied 8-8. Stanford was on a 6-0 run. Okorie had five points for the Cardinal on 2-2 shooting from the field and 1-1 shooting from 3-point range.
Stanford would then pull ahead 18-12 with 11:39 to go in the half. Okorie was balling out with 10 points. Stanford was shooting 7-15 from the field and & 2-5 from 3-point range. It was a nice start for the Cardinal.
Portland State would then narrow the gap as Stanford led 26-24 with 7:13 to go in the half. Ebuka Okorie was up to 14 points for Stanford while Chisom Okpara had 8 points. Stanford was shooting 9-18 from the field while Portland State was shooting 9-17.
With 3:39 to go in the half, Stanford led 31-27. Stanford was shooting 10-23 from the field and 2-9 from 3-point range. While they’d gone a bit cold, the Cardinal were at least still in front.
At halftime, Stanford led 37-30. Okorie was leading the way for the Cardinal with 16 points and 3 rebounds on 6-11 shooting from the field and & 3-3 shooting from the foul line. He was balling out as the lone Cardinal in double figures. Henderson was leading Portland State with 9 points.
With 15:25 to go, Stanford led 46-42. The Vikings were on a 9-0 run over the last 1:42 as Henderson was up to 12 points. Stanford called for time.
Stanford would then lead 55-47 with 10:55 to go. Jeremy Dent-Smith had a pair of threes as he was up to six points for the Cardinal. Okorie (19 points & 4 rebounds) & Okpara (14 points) continued to lead the Cardinal.
“Yeah, no Jeremy’s just been coming on,” Smith said of Dent-Smith. “I sensed, he’s a very L.A. guy and I love that. I mean that in the most positive way. He just got the L.A. vibe and I was like; I think these guys can get the closer to games and get more in shape. Get, he’s a Division II All-American and it’s kind of, it’s been coming on the last two, three weeks. He’s getting more confidence in the adjustment and then you could see it tonight. They’re just like, he’s got a little killer in him, too. Little killer, like he’s not afraid of a big shot…Jeremy’s gonna get better and better and we only got him for a year but, he’s made tremendous growth in the last four weeks.”
With 7:57 to go, it was a 62-53 lead for Stanford as Okorie was catching fire with 24 points and five rebounds on 9-15 shooting from the field. He was balling out as his quickness with the ball was giving Portland State all sorts of issues.
From then on, Stanford would cruise to an 89-79 victory. Okpara did a great job of sealing the deal with a nice dunk in transition as well as a basket inside plus the foul. Together, he and Okorie formed a formidable duo that the Vikings could not contain.
“Yeah, no, I just coach called some plays that put me in position to score,” Okpara said. “Gave me into positions where personally I can use my strength. Saw a lot of mismatches later on and just my teammates, yeah, did a great job executing, creating plays.”
For Stanford, this was a solid win. Portland State is a competitive team in the Big Sky and so to win by double digits and control the second half has to feel good. That’s not to say Stanford couldn’t have played better. They had nine assists and 17 turnovers, so ball movement is something they need to work on. But on the whole, for a first game of the season, they should feel good about how this one went.
Touching more on Okorie, he had the most points (26) in a freshman debut for Stanford since at least 1996 (I guess the record books after that get fuzzy). He was sensational all night long and looks like a guy who could be in the mix for the ACC All-Rookie team.
“I’ll just say, I was reading the defense, seeing what they gave me,” Okorie said of his success. “Whether it was driving, kicking out to my teammates, or just like going all the way to the hoop, taking an open shot. So, yeah, just say trusting my instincts, trusting the hard work I’ve put in, and just taking what the defense gives me.”
“Ebuka had a ridiculous game,” Smith said with a chuckle. “And the secret’s out that he’s pretty good…I understand that was a Stanford record potentially for a debut. He’s a really good scorer, really good talent, obviously, a really good kid, and we’re just, we’re very fortunate to have him. And like I had little chat with him before shoot around, I said look, we know what’s going on. I said as much as you know, I’m with you, buddy. I said you’re gonna get a lot more attention moving forward because you’re important to us.
“There’s a lot of things to get better at. Like I was like, hey defensively, you gotta compete on every possession. I think he had seven deflections tonight. He had seven rebounds, he’s gotta rebound better. He got seven rebounds and then he scores 26 and he’s just pretty gifted. He just seems to get better every day. So, you know, there’ll be some rough patches I’m sure, but it’s normally when you have a conversation with a freshman it’s like, I’ll only concern about you academically and socially getting adjusted to college life. You play; it’s bonus. I said, you’re not in that seat.
“Our guys know, coaching staff knows, and we’ll makes sure you knew. Make sure, hey, you give him permission you’re a good player. We’re gonna need you to get better. We’re gonna learn on the fly and see where this takes us. But just enjoy it, embrace it, and the better he gets, because he plays such an important position. He laughed and I said you’re our Lamar Jackson. I said I’m John Harbaugh his rookie year, I said you’re our Lamar Jackson. So there’ll be some rough patches I’m sure, but let’s just see where this takes us.”
As for Okpara, 21 points is the most of his Stanford career. He too is looking like the real deal and a guy who should be a major contributor to the Cardinal this season. Together with Okorie, the two of them form a nice one-two punch at point guard and forward.
“You know what, I’ve never been more, I’ve been doing this a long time. Never been more proud of a guy for where he’s come, like the end of the season ‘til now,” Smith said of Okpara. “Just his attitude, his skill development, I love coaching him and he’s just been, it’s been good and yeah I think you see like, that’s funny because you know, we just, more confident around the rim, just confident scorer, confident player. He’s gonna get better. We turned it over a little bit tonight, and we need him to be a playmaker to our passing. Like, we only had nine assists, and he should be good for three. Two to three a night. You know, he should, he’s very good there.
“And that’ll come, too. When they start, he’ll start getting doubles in the post. You know, we play him at the 3 a lot, you know, which I think helps us and we go big there and I don’t, there’s not even many three men that can match up with a 6’7” 250-pound 3 man. So, but I just think he’s more confident. His ball handling, his scoring, his shooting, free throw shooting. We gotta get the rebound going…Just really tickled with how much he’s improved.”
Up next for Stanford is a home game against Montana on Saturday, November 8th. Tipoff is set for 1:00 PM PT on ACCNX.
“Coach DeCuire has been there a while now and has won several, I think they won it last year, too,” Smith said of facing the Grizzlies. “Really good coach. Comes off Coach Montgomery’s coaching tree. Worked with him at Cal…But he’s part of that, one of the most successful coaching trees if anyone does the research on it and got a pretty nice little gig up there and I know their staff really well and they’ll be motivated. Their best player is from the Bay Area…So they’ll be good, they’re well coached, got a lot of pride that program does.”
CardinalSportsReport.com on Facebook, IG, Threads, X (Twitter), & Bluesky: @StanfordRivals
Ben Parker on Facebook, IG, Threads, X (Twitter), YouTube, & Bluesky: @slamdunk406
Email: [email protected]
Join the conversation on CardinalSportsReport.com
