STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — Sophomore KZ Okpala scored a career-high 29 points, added 10 rebounds, three blocked shots and led the team with five assists and Stanford opened the season with a 96-74 victory over Seattle on Tuesday night.
"He also had three turnovers," Stanford coach Jerod Haase joked.
"He likes being coached, he wants to be better and he has a very high ceiling," Haase said. "He should be a big-time defensive rebounder but that was an impressive performance."
Freshman Cormac Ryan scored 13 of his 16 points, including four of his five 3-pointers, in the second half for the Cardinal, who improved to 6-0 all-time against the Redhawks. Daejon Davis added 15 points and Marcus Sheffield had 10.
Terrell Brown, a high school teammate of Davis in Seattle, scored 16 points to lead the Redhawks. Matej Kavas and Anand Hundal each added 13 points. Morgan Means had 11.
THAT'S A BIG BOY MOVE ??
— Stanford Men's Basketball (@StanfordMBB) November 7, 2018
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Okpala helped Stanford open a big second-half lead, scoring 16 of his points after the break on 6 of 7 shooting. In the first half he was 2 of 5 from the field and 9 of 11 from the foul line.
"The pace was much better in the second half," Okpala said. "I think we can be much better."
Seattle matched Stanford's energy level and held the lead through much of the first half thanks in large part to Hundahl, who came off the bench and hit his first three 3-pointers.
AND THE FOUL.
— Stanford Men's Basketball (@StanfordMBB) November 7, 2018
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??: 41#GoStanford | ??: @Pac12Network pic.twitter.com/R9xPv29WNo
The Redhawks led by as many as eight midway through the first half and were ahead 35-30 before the Cardinal outscored Seattle 10-1 to take a 40-36 advantage into the intermission.
"I liked when we got the lead to 15 and then got it to 20," Haase said. "I like the way we responded offensively. We were one pass away from a really good offense in the first half and then we started making that pass, making hard cuts and that led to easier shots."
The Cardinal shot 60 percent from the field in the second half after a 42.3 percent effort in the first half.
"I liked some things that I saw tonight and there is a diamond in there that we can develop, but we're not ready to play 40 minutes," said Seattle Head Coach Jim Hayford. "We have to get serious about how we play defense. We can't let a lack of offensive success affect the other side of the court. We were guilty of that tonight and that's how Stanford got separation."
Stanford hits the road next, traveling to North Carolina for a pair of games. The Cardinal will face UNC Wilmington in Wilmington on Friday and North Carolina in Chapel Hill next Monday.