Stanford Falls to Notre Dame in Offensive Disaster

Coming into Tuesday’s game against Notre Dame, Stanford basketball was smooth sailing en route to a successful 11-2 start in non-conference play. But when they took on the Fighting Irish, those waters turned into a tsunami.

Without star player Markus Burton, and an embarrassing recent slip up against Purdue Fort Wayne, it looked like Stanford would easily take down the Irish at home. Unfortunately for the Cardinal, they didn’t just lose, they got dominated in an extremely low-scoring affair.

From the start, it was clear that it would be a defensive battle at Maples Pavilion. Stanford did have the upper edge initially though, leading 10-4 at the under 16 timeout. But that lead didn’t last long, as the Irish came storming back early. With 10 minutes left in the first half, Stanford still had just 10 points, while Notre Dame matched them with 10 of their own.

By halftime, the score was shockingly low, with Notre Dame leading 22-17, in a game that seemed almost unfathomable with how little offense was being displayed for either program.

Neither coach did a great job with their halftime speech, as both teams stayed exactly the same offensively after the break.

Notre Dame started to build a lead, but it wasn’t by scoring as much as it was stopping the Cardinal from doing anything offensively. All night, the offense looked stagnant, uncoordinated, and as if they had just been put on a team together for the first time.

There was 11:46 left in the second half when Notre Dame built their biggest lead of the game, a 16 point, 38-22 advantage over the Cardinal. While Stanford attempted to bring it back, they fell just short, as the offense just couldn’t put together enough competent possessions to keep it close enough.

The Irish came out with a 47-40 victory, in a defensive masterpiece on both sides, and an offensive crime.

Chisom Okpara was his consistent self and led the Cardinal with 13 points. Crazy enough though, he shot just 3-14 from the field. Ebuka Okorie matched Okpara’s 3-14, but finished with just 7 points, a career low. The difference between the two was that Okorie went 0-for-6 from three, while Okpara drained a pair of his seven attempts.

While nine of 10 players that played scored, none put up more than five points outside of Okpara and Okorie. However, Oskar Giltay’s 11 rebounds did help the Cardinal continue to compete and were a welcome addition off the bench.

Notre Dame was led by star Jalen Haralson, who matched Okpara’s 13 points. Garrett Sundra and Carson Towt put up 8 each en route to their strong victory.

But it wasn’t just individual statistics that tell the full story. The team stats are absurd on both sides. The two teams combined for just 31-112 (27%) shooting, hitting just 7-of-46 (15%) three pointers taken.

It was about as disorganized of a basketball game as you'll see. On the bright side, some of the praise can be given to strong defensive performances on both sides, but certainly not all of the praise. The one bright spot is that Notre Dame came into this game ranked as the No. 76 program in the NET ratings, whiel Stanford was at No. 85.

The loss is brutal for the Cardinal, and the schedule won’t get any easier. They host ranked Louisville on January 2nd with hopes of getting a massive upset over the Cardinals to make up for last season's near upset in the ACC tournament.

Notre Dame’s turnaround in momentum will be put to the test on the 2nd as well, when they head up to Berkeley to face Cal.

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