Stanford Cardinal forward Chisom Okpara (10) throws down on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish forward Carson Towt (33) at Maple Pavilion in Palo Alto on Tue Dec 30, 2025 (Stanford Cardinal photo)

By Michael Roberson

STANFORD, Calif. — The Stanford Cardinal (11-3, 0-1 ACC) allowed good fortune for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (10-4, 1-0 ACC) by losing to the visitors from the Midwest 47-40, on Opening Night of the 2025-26 Atlantic Coast Conference league play, inside the confines of Maples Pavilion.

Notre Dame opened the conference contest with a tip-in layup. However, the Cardinal followed that with an 8-0 run to go up by six…The Fighting Irish topped that with a 10-0 run of their own, to lead by four. They eventually extended the margin to six. The guests from South Bend settled for a five point advantage at recess, 22-17.

The shooting in all three aspects was poor, at best. Both squads shot a putrid 27% from the floor. Stanford was 27% from beyond the arc, and 50% from the charity stripe, within the initial 20-minute half. Notre Dame was awful from threeland (0%) and 67% from the free throw line.

Cardinal top scorer Ebuke Okorie was scoreless for nearly the first 14 minutes of the game. He finally scored on a layup at the 6:02 mark of the half. That was his only tally in the first half. Okorie was working on a 30+ points consecutive streak, which was in dire jeopardy. Two points at the half would have required a 28-point explosion. That seemed to be very unlikely at the midway point of the battle.

Neither team produced a double-digit scorer in the very low scoring half of regulation play.

The second half had the Fighting Irish scoring first, as they did in the first half, on a basket by senior forward Carson Towt. They later extended their lead to as much as 16 points midway through the final half. Although they reached that wide of a margin, Stanford was still battling the Fighting Irish.

The Cardinal indeed fought back enough to get into striking range, cutting the deficit to single digits down the stretch. They were as close as five points behind at just under three minutes left in the game. Unfortunately for the home team, that was as close as they got in the second half, thanks to a couple of dagger threes by sophomore forward Garrett Sundra.

After 40 minutes of abysmal shooting on both sides, the Hoosier State hoopers prevailed and held on to victory by seven points, 47-40. The game could also be viewed as a defensive struggle, but the average fan on either side would have preferred an offensive masterpiece.

Stanford presented one player with more than ten points. Chisom Okpara contributed 13 points, while the high scoring freshman sensation Ebuke Okorie managed to chip in seven points and six rebounds.

Notre Dame also had a lone player reach that standard plateau. the aforementioned Jalen Haralson put up 13 points too, while his teammate Carson Towt grabbed 10 rebounds and scored eight points

The Cardinal will next be in action Saturday, January 2, as they host the Louisville Cardinals at 5 PM PT on the ACC Network. The Fighting Irish head across the Bay to take on the California Golden Bears, on the same date at 8 PM PT on ESPN2.