STANFORD, Calif. – Ebuka Okorie broke his own freshman scoring record and became the first Stanford player in 24 years to score 40 points as Stanford ran past Georgia Tech, 95-72, at Maples Pavilion. The Cardinal improves to 15-9 this season and 4-7 in the ACC.
A historic performance, Okorie scored 40 points on 12-for-21 shooting with a trio of 3-pointers and a perfect 13-for-13 mark at the free throw line. The first Stanford player with a 40-point game since Casey Jacobsen scored 41 on Feb. 7, 2002 vs. Oregon, Okorie’s performance is the ninth in program history with at least 40 points. He joins Hank Luisetti (twice), Casey Jacobsen (twice), Tom Dose, Kim Belton, Claude Terry and Ron Tomsic in the Cardinal 40-point club. He is just the fifth Stanford player and seventh overall player to score 40 or more at Maples Pavilion in a men’s basketball game.
Okorie also broke the Stanford freshman record for free throws in a season, passing Todd Lichti on his sixth make of the evening. He moved within 23 points of breaking the program’s freshman record for points in a season. Additionally, Okorie’s fifth game this season with at least 30 points passed Duke’s Cameron Boozer for most in the ACC.
Jeremy Dent-Smith added 16 points, including four makes from 3-point range, while Donavin Young and Benny Gealer scored nine and AJ Rohosy eight. Young blocked a career-high five shots and collected two steals, while Okorie tied his career-high with four steals. Stanford shot 54.1 percent as a team and 44.4 percent from beyond the arc, making 12 3-pointers. Stanford has made double-digit 3-pointers in three of the last four games and 10 times this season.
The Cardinal tallied double-digit steals and blocks in the same game for the first time since at least 2004, as far back as online records can track. The Cardinal is just the sixth program in the country this season to accomplish the feat against a power conference opponent.
Stanford and Georgia Tech (11-13, 2-9 ACC) traded leads seven times in the first half, but the Cardinal jumped out to an 11-point led with 5:21 to play after a 14-2 run that spanned nearly three minutes. The Yellow Jackets closed the margin to two with 1:38 to play, and the Cardinal led at the half, 43-39.
Okorie scored 22 of his 40 points in the second half, but Rohosy got the Cardinal going with the first six points of the second half for Stanford. After the first of Dent-Smith’s four second-half triples, Okorie scored 10 straight for Stanford to push the advantage to nine, 62-53, and he later combined with Dent-Smith for a 9-0 run that pushed the margin to 17, 82-65, with 4:13 to play. Stanford ended the game on another 9-0 run to win by 23, its largest lead of the night.
The Cardinal improves to 3-2 all-time against Georgia Tech, and it returns to the road on Wednesday, Feb. 11 at 6 p.m. PT at Boston College. The game will air on ESPNU.