Recap: Stanford Men’s Basketball falls to Pitt in ACC tourney opener
On Tuesday, Stanford men’s basketball fell to Pittsburgh in the first round of the ACC tournament by a final score of 64-63. Pittsburgh guard Barry Dunning Jr. led the way for the Panthers with 16 points and eight rebounds while forward Roman Siulepa had 14 points and seven rebounds. Stanford point guard Ebuka Okorie was the leading scorer for the Cardinal with 14 points and three rebounds. Pittsburgh improves to 12-19 overall (5-13 ACC) while Stanford falls to 20-11 overall (9-9 ACC).
VIDEO: Stanford Men’s Basketball Postgame Press Conference-ACCT Round 1 Pittsburgh
BOX SCORE: Stanford vs. Pittsburgh-Tuesday, March 10th
“That was a classic postseason grind,” Stanford head coach Kyle Smith said after the game. “Hats off, Pittsburgh competed really hard. Especially on the glass. We gave up 20 offensive rebounds, which resulted in a lot of second chance points for them. Proud of our way, our guys really played second half. Down eight at halftime. Took a big punch. We came back.
“Really proud of Ebuka. Challenged him to play the right way he did as a point guard. Really got us back in there. Made a big shot. Made his free throw. We needed one stop and we just couldn’t come up with it and hopefully we’ll learn on that, but we defended well enough to win. We took care of the ball, shot it well enough, but we just couldn’t keep them off the glass.”
Stanford led 12–5 with 13:25 to go in the half. Back-to-back triples from Ryan Agarwal gave the Cardinal early momentum. Agarwal picked a good day to get his 3-ball to fall. Stanford was 4-for-5 from deep as a team.
Pitt led Stanford 16–15 with 7:58 to go in the half. Stanford had all of its points coming from three-point range. Points in the paint made a huge impact when they beat Pitt last month, and the Cardinal needed to find a way to get going inside.
Pitt led 21–15 with 7:35 to go in the half. It was a 10–0 run for the Panthers as Barry Dunning Jr.and Izan Indrusaitis each had five points. The Cardinal needed to wake up offensively.
Stanford trailed Pitt 31–23 at halftime. The Panthers closed the half on an 8–0 run, and Stanford scored zero points in the final 3:49. Roman Siulepa led the Panthers with eight points and four rebounds, while Dunning Jr. had seven points and five rebounds. Benny Gealer had eight points to lead Stanford, while Ebuka Okorie was held to just two points. Okorie needed to get going.
Pitt led Stanford 39–36 with 15:50 to go as Stanford began to fight back. Okorie was up to six points, and the Cardinal needed him to have a huge second half.
Okorie moved up to 11 points after knocking down a triple. Stanford led Pitt 45–41 with 12:57 to go following a 7–0 run over the previous 1:35. Gealer also had 11 points. It was a strong response by Stanford to start the second half.
Pitt answered with a 6–0 run to take a 47–45 lead with 11:40 to go. Kyle Smith furiously called for time, looking to rally the Cardinal.
Pitt extended its lead to 55–50 with 7:26 remaining after another 6–0 run. Stanford went scoreless over the previous 2:06, and the Cardinal once again needed to pull themselves out of a rut.
Pitt led Stanford 59–58 with 2:24 to go and had possession. The game turned into a real rock fight. AJ Rohosy was up to 10 points and seven rebounds for Stanford and had been huge inside for the Cardinal.
Donavin Young scored on a bucket inside for Stanford before Dunning Jr. responded with a three-pointer for Pitt. Stanford had the ball down 62–60 with 1:00 to go.
Pitt missed the front end of a one-and-one, resulting in a tie-up. Stanford gained possession, trailing 62–60 with 31.2 seconds to go.
Stanford took a 63–62 lead after Okorie converted a hoop plus the harm. The and-one gave the Cardinal the advantage with 23.0 seconds remaining. Pitt had the ball. It was a big-time play by the freshman.
“Yeah, so like when I would come off the ball screens, I was seeing a lot of defenders, multiple defenders,” Okorie said. “So I was just trying to get off of it early and just continue to flow into the offense.”
Pitt defeated Stanford 64–63 in the final. It was a heartbreaking loss for the Cardinal as the Panthers scored on a tip-in at the buzzer by Damarco Minor to win the game, a result that likely burst Stanford’s NCAA tournament bubble.
To touch quickly on Pittsburgh, they deserved this win. They were the more physical team, out-hustling Stanford. As a result, they had a 41-28 (+13) rebounding advantage and a 20-7 (+13) offensive rebounding advantage. It was fitting for them to win off a hustle play like they did. Okorie showing up to the postgame presser with a bloody lip embodied the type of battle it was.
More broadly speaking, Pitt has been playing good basketball as of late, having won four of their last six games. They’ll face NC State on Wednesday at 9:00 AM PT/12:00 PM ET. I would not be shocked if they found a way to upset the Wolfpack.
As for Stanford, this loss really stings. With a win, their NCAA tournament odds would have been good. Now, they are facing a situation where their odds of making the NCAA tournament are well below 50%. They simply needed to win this game if they wanted to have any confidence of making the tourney.
At the same time, Stanford’s NCAA tournament odds aren’t zero, either. CBS had Stanford in the field as an 11 seed in a play-in game before the ACC tourney even began. There is a chance that with five Quad 1 wins and playing in a strong ACC, Stanford still finds a way into the field of 68. But if they do, they’re going to need a lot of help.
“I haven’t given it much thought,” Smith said when asked about making a case to the selection committee. “I just know we’re really be honest, still in the heat of the of the moment. We have one of the best players in the country and we got a lot of Quad 1 wins and really competitive conference and it’d be a shame if like Oklahoma gets to go last year being 6-12 in the SEC and the ACC doesn’t get rewarded the right way. I think our league was awesome. So, I don’t know? Any other bullet points you have for me? I’ll put this on Twitter. But you know, I thought it was a farce last year when SEC got this narrative or whatever. So, our league is good and I’ll be shocked if we’re not in it.”
Expanding more on that, Smith really praised the strength of the ACC and how good of a league it has been for the Stanford program. He isn’t afraid to say he thinks it’s the best league in the country.
“Just a lot better talent,” Smith said of the ACC. “I think our conference was really impressive. I think we led all the power four conferences in Quad 1 wins and had the most wins and winning percentage versus other power fours. So, argument to me is we’re really the best conference. You know, under Jim Phillips’ leadership and everything else. And I think we had, our coaches, we met last year. We made it a big point to earn the respect. I mean, this is the basketball conference. I mean, like I said, Stanford has elevated their program because of the ACC. Cal, too. This is the first postseason tournament, this is the ACC, this is tobacco road. Time to start beating our chest a little bit. We got the best team in the country [Duke]. You run around out here, you gotta play them. That ain’t fun.”
Looking ahead, Stanford will return to The Farm to find out their postseason fate on Sunday, March 15th. They need to stay mentally ready for the chance of playing in the NCAA tournament and if they miss the tourney, they better be ready to get a good seed in the NIT. Either way, they’ll be playing postseason basketball and whichever tournament they end up in, they’ll want to be ready to make some noise.
CardinalSportsReport.com on Facebook, IG, Threads, X (Twitter), & Bluesky: @StanfordRivals
Ben Parker on Facebook, IG, Threads, X (Twitter), YouTube, & Bluesky: @slamdunk406
Email: slamdunk406@yahoo.com
Join the conversation on CardinalSportsReport.com
