Dec 30, 2025; Stanford, California, USA; Stanford Cardinal forward AJ Rohosy (4) drives to the basket against Notre Dame Fighting Irish forward Carson Towt (33) during the second half at Maples Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Robert Edwards-Imagn Images

On Tuesday, Stanford men’s basketball fell to Notre Dame at home by a final score of 47-40 to open up ACC play. Notre Dame guard Jalen Haralson (13 points & 4 rebounds) and Stanford forward Chisom Okpara (13 points & 3 rebounds) were the only players to score in double figures. Notre Dame forward Carson Towt (8 points & 10 rebounds) nearly had a double-double while Stanford forward Oskar Giltay (2 points & 11 rebounds) was the top rebounder of the game. Notre Dame improves to 10-4 overall and 1-0 in the ACC while Stanford falls to 11-3 overall and 0-1 in the ACC.

VIDEO: Stanford Men’s Basketball Postgame Press Conference: Notre Dame

BOX SCORE: Notre Dame at Stanford-Tuesday, December 30th

“Yeah, that was a tough one for us tonight,” Stanford head coach Kyle Smith said after the game. “I thought, you gotta tip your hat to, they were the tougher team. They kind of set the tone, wanted to play on their terms, which was be really physical and get on the glass and they exposed us early in that first half. Credit to our, we did a good job on their two best players. I thought we guarded them well. But just that physicality wore us down a little bit. A lot of it. And then obviously we didn’t make shots and our offensive execution was, I’ll own that one. We can, we can do better. I can help our guys out better.

“But proud of them, too. We cut that thing to four and you know, like I said, same thing, Sundra hit two, two big shots. I mean, he was one for three or one for four outside of that, whoever, two for three from three, and those are winning shots and that’s what you need to do on the road. He took it four to seven both times. That was just a little too much to overcome.”

“You know what? That was THE defensive effort that we’ve put in since we’ve gotten back from Christmas,” Notre Dame head coach Micah Shrewsberry said of his team. “That’s how we need to play because if we shoot it well, or if we don’t shoot it well, we’ve got a chance to win every night.”

Stanford led Notre Dame 10-6 with 15:28 remaining in the half. Chisom Okpara was on fire early for the Cardinal, having scored six points on 2-3 shooting from the field and 1-2 from the free throw line. Stanford had shot 4-5 from the field, while Notre Dame had shot 3-7.

The score was tied at 10-10 with 11:11 left in the half. Stanford had not scored any points in the previous 4:57. Notre Dame had gone on a 6-0 run over the last 4:42, with Carson Towt leading the Irish with six points.

“We started off with great energy,” Chisom Okpara said. “Great amount of energy. Played together as a team. I just felt like personally, me personally, I took some pretty bad shots and got a little foul happy. And yeah, no, credit to them, they played hard. They kept rebounding. We were a little off on the glass in the first half a little bit and they came in here and played with a lot of energy. So a lot of credit to them.”

Notre Dame led Stanford 16-12 with 7:13 remaining in the half, having gone on a 12-2 run over the last 8:20. It was honestly a squandered opportunity for Notre Dame, given that Stanford had shot just 5-16 (31.3%) from the field. Stanford needed to wake up fast.

Notre Dame was ahead 20-14 with 4:18 left in the half. Stanford had shot 6-19 (31.6%) from the field, while Notre Dame had shot 8-25 (32.0%). Both teams were struggling offensively.

At halftime, Notre Dame led Stanford 22-17. Both teams ended the half cold; Notre Dame made one of their last 10 field goals, while Stanford made one of their last nine. Stanford had a 2:34 scoring drought to end the half. Haralson led Notre Dame with seven points and two rebounds, while Okpara’s six points led Stanford.

Notre Dame led Stanford 29-20 with 16:52 remaining. Haralson had increased his total to 12 points for the Irish. Stanford had not scored in the previous 2:13, and their offense continued to sputter.

Notre Dame extended the lead to 31-20 with 14:56 left, going on a 7-0 run. Stanford’s scoring drought had reached 4:09.

“Yeah, no, I just think we were a little bit deer in the headlights a little bit,” Smith said. “We were just a little frozen. Moving the ball, playing through the post, like they’re big, big double. They doubled us, they mixed it up a little bit, but I thought we got some good shots out of the double. I think Chiz got a late three. We got a layup for, I don’t remember, someone on the cut in the first half, but we were a little hesitant to throw it in there. We settled for, you know, some long threes, especially first half, and we’ve been doing that and it caught, bit us today and like I said, I think they did a great job on the hard show and they really did a good job on Ebuka and he’s going to see different coverages. He’s going to see different things and like I said, I was proud of Ebuka.

“Because I knew, I didn’t talk to him about it, but I mean, he was freshman of the week, whatever, in the ACC, and they, their locker room knows that and they can read, too. And so, you know, he’s gonna get shots like that and he kept his, he was frustrated in the sense he didn’t play well, but he kept competing and for a young guy to have to go through all, I mean they run a lot, you’re going through a lot of screens guarding their actions and then he has to bring the ball up the floor, then we’re counting on him to make shots. So, we need to help him out more and play with a little more purpose as a group and I just think we were a little giddy, you know, and there’s a couple moments where we come out of the huddle. We said we’re gonna run something specifically and we kind of went rogue and that’s not like us. So, we’ll address it and try to get better and got a quick turn here before we play Louisville.”

With 11:33 to go, Notre Dame led Stanford 38-22. Chisom Okpara and Ebuka Okorie had combined for eight points so far, which was not enough for the Cardinal. It was an awful offensive display. Notre Dame was out-rebounding Stanford 38-22, which matched the score.

Notre Dame led Stanford 39-27 with 7:59 remaining. Stanford showed a bit of life as Okorie reached seven points and four rebounds, finally starting to get to the basket.

With 3:47 left, Notre Dame led Stanford 45-38. Stanford hung around as Okpara reached 13 points. Garrett Sundra had eight points for Notre Dame, having recently hit a pair of clutch 3-point shots.

“That really was a huge thing,” Shrewsberry said of Sundra’s late game performance. “Yeah, I thought we got away from our discipline for a little bit. They started getting to the rim. Then we started fouling them a lot more. And then they were kind of scrambling and how they were guarding us and trapping screens in the backcourt – we didn’t handle it very well, but those two threes by Garrett were huge, right? Getting those just quick swings out of actions and being able to make those (threes) just kind of steadied us in that moment.”

Notre Dame led Stanford 45-40 with 1:23 to go. Stanford had possession and still had a chance, but needed to find a way to score. In the end, Notre Dame would win 47-40, scoring two fewer points than their football team did when they came to The Farm last month. It was an ugly game for both teams, but Notre Dame managed to make shots when they mattered.

“Yeah, I mean, I think we just sometimes we rush shots,” Stanford guard Benny Gealer said. “We wanted to play out of the post, so probably play out of the post a little bit more and you know, we gotta move better without the ball, but I think we gotta, you know, they just out-competed us. Were a little tougher tonight and you know, it started with the rebounds. You know, they had a ton of rebounds So as a team, as a collective, we gotta get more rebounds and we did a good job taking care of the ball, to be honest and we did a lot of, I mean, we did a lot of good things, but in a game like that where every possession really matters, you know, you can’t, we can’t get out-rebounded and we gotta, you know, like you said, we gotta get some better shots up there.”

For Stanford, this is obviously a disappointing loss. They came in favored to win and ended up falling short, really struggling to put up points. Notre Dame did a great job of double teaming Ebuka Okorie and taking him out of the game. A lot of teams are going to follow that blueprint, so Stanford better figure out how to not come to a complete halt on offense when that happens.

“Yeah, we are a full-team defense, and we talk about “we versus the ball,” and I thought (guard) Logan Imes did a great job of guarding him, staying in front of him, challenging every shot,” Shrewsberry said of how his team defended Okorie. “But I thought the other guys were really helpful in gaps, not allowing them to see a lot of space when he wanted to drive it.

“We have the ability, and we know how good they are as a rebounding team. That’s what we wanted to hang our hat on, and I thought we did it on both ends of the court – really hitting the glass. They went on a stretch there, where they got some offense, but overall for the game, I thought we did a great job cleaning up rebounds on both ends.”

At this point, all that Stanford can do is shake this loss off, learn from it, and get ready to face a No. 16 Louisville team that dominated Cal in Berkeley 90-70. That game will be on Saturday at 5:00 PM PT on ACC Network.

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