UM wears down Okorie, rallies to beat Stanford 79-70 in a late-night thriller
University of Miami basketball fans who stayed up for Wednesday’s late-night game against Stanford were treated to a thriller, as the Hurricanes wore down sensational freshman guard Ebuka Okorie and rallied late to beat the Cardinal 79-70 at the Watsco Center.
“I worried about the start, especially when they had such a dynamic player who can change the game, so I wanted to make sure we gave him some different looks, which we did, and then we just gassed out halfway through and they were able to make a run,” said UM coach Jai Lucas.
“But our guys have shown the grit and resilience to be able to battle and keep competing and respond and to win by nine…I was very, very impressed with their fight.”
Miami improved to 17-4 with the win and 6-2 in the ACC.
Stanford coach Kyle Smith praised Lucas for what he’s been able to accomplish as a first-time head coach.
“We knew the talent they were bringing in was going to be pretty impressive, and to be able to put guys together this quickly and cohesively, that’s hard to do,” Smith said. “They play with purpose. They made adjustments in the second half, the double team that hurt us, and things like that aren’t easy to do with any team…to be able to do that first year, hat’s off. Kudos.”
Going into the game, the biggest question was whether the Hurricanes would be able to contain Okorie, who flew under the recruiting radar and has emerged as the second-leading scorer in the Atlantic Coast Conference with 21.7 points per game, just behind Duke star Cameron Boozer.
The secret was out on Okorie after he scored 28 points in an upset win over 16th-ranked Louisville, 31 points against Virginia Tech, and 36 points in a win over 14th-ranked North Carolina two weeks ago.
Miami freshman guard Dante Allen, who got his second start in a row Wednesday night, said in the lead up to the game that it would take a full team effort to stop Okorie, whose burst and creativity have been leaving opponents in his wake all season.
Asked what his strategy was against Okorie, Lucas smiled and replied: “We had like five contingency plans, we went through three of them.”
The first plan, he explained, was not letting Okorie split ball screens.
“This is high praise, because of how good I think he is, he is able to get through tight cracks and split the ball screen the best I’ve seen in college since Kemba Walker,” Lucas said. “The one thing that was really impressive in person and watching him on film is his burst and speed and ability to get through cracks.”
Part Two of the plan was going to a zone defense, and then finally, Lucas put muscular freshman Shelton Henderson on Okorie and face-guarded him and tried to take him out of the game.
The Hurricanes swarmed Okorie from the opening whistle, forcing him to take tough shots. He went 1-of-5 to start the game.
Meanwhile, Miami’s Tre Donaldson was perfect on his first five shots for 11 points in the first seven minutes, leading the Hurricanes to a 22-12 lead. UM was forcing turnovers and dictating the tempo, but Stanford responded with a 7-0 run, and Okorie scored nine straight points, including a thunderous dunk that closed the gap to two points.
The Cardinal took the lead for the first time with 1:55 to go in the first half during an 11-2 run while the Hurricanes went cold during a six-minute scoring drought. Miami missed its final six shots of the half and trailed 40-35 at the break.
Lucas’ halftime message to his players? “He said we weren’t playing desperate enough” Henderson said. “We had to be more desperate to get this win. The second half we locked in and just finished the game.”
Stanford led by as many as nine in the second half but the Canes were able to trim the lead to four following a pair of Timo Malovec three-pointers after he missed three consecutive free throws.
Donaldson tied the game at 51 with a step back three-pointer with 9:33 remaining. Miami regained the lead, 58-56, with just under six minutes left on a fastbreak layup by Dante Allen following a steal by Tru Washington. A 14-2 Miami run gave the Canes a comfortable lead they held onto until the final buzzer.
Okorie finished with 19 points on 8-of-21 shooting. Benny Gealer added 17 for the Cardinal.
“I think we did well containing Ebuka,” said UM forward Malik Reneau, the game’s top scorer with 20 points. “It took him a lot of shots to get what he needed. We had great team defense against their main scorer. Our strategy was showing him walls, making sure he would see all five of us when he’s going downhill and discourage him from making any splits and driving down the lane.”
The plan worked.
“Miami made a lot of plays down the stretch, their defense tightened up, turned us over a little bit and we couldn’t quite come up with enough key rebounds,” said Smith, whose team slipped to 14-7 and 3-5 in the ACC. “Their strength wore us down…[Okorie] was pretty fatigued, but it’s hard for me to take him out, to be honest. They’re rolling Dante Allen, whom we recruited, I know how tough he is, and Donaldson’s an experienced guy, Tru is from out west, I’ve seen him a lot. Running those guys at [Okorie] was going to affect him.”
Tre Donaldson had 18 for UM, and Henderson and Washington scored 12. Miami outscored Stanford 19-5 from the free throw line, 38-24 on points in the paint, 13-0 on fast break points and 17-8 on points off turnovers.
The Hurricanes are back home Saturday for a 4 p.m. game against Cal.
This story was originally published January 29, 2026 at 1:11 AM.