Biggest challenge for UM against Stanford: How to contain freshman Ebuka Okorie
One of the biggest surprises in college basketball this season, Stanford freshman guard Ebuka Okorie, will be at Watsco Center with his teammates Wednesday night for a 9 p.m. game against the University of Miami.
The Hurricanes, and their fans, will get to see firsthand what all the fuss is about.
Okorie, who was not even a top 100-rated recruit coming out of Brewster Academy in New Hampshire, is the second-leading scorer in the Atlantic Coast Conference with 21.7 points per game, just behind Duke star and Miami native Cameron Boozer.
The 6-2 guard has been coming up big all season. He scored 28 points in an upset win against 16th-ranked Louisville. He had 31 points, including the game-clinching buzzer beater against Virginia Tech. And he put up 36 points with nine assists in a win against 14th-ranked North Carolina two weeks ago.
Not bad for a kid who flew under the recruiting radar and was fielding offers from the likes of Albany, Samford, Bryant, Brown and Harvard before Stanford got involved.
“We’ve got a big week ahead of us with the two California teams; they’re both really good,” Lucas said of back-to-back games against Stanford and Cal. “Stanford has one of the best backcourts in the conference with Okori and [Jeremy] Dent-Smith, who comes off the bench averaging 20 in the last three games. It’s a great challenge and a great test for us to see where we’ve grown and where we are.”
Lucas, Miami’s first-year head coach, was a top assistant at Duke and familiar with Okorie on the recruiting trail. He sheepishly admitted he did not predict Okorie would have this type of breakout freshman season.
Asked how a talent like Okorie could have been so overlooked, Lucas said: “One is regionally based, he is from New Hampshire, but he played at a big-time high school, Brewster, so people who watched them knew, `Oh, man, he’s a good player.’ Now, did I expect this from him? No. Absolutely not.”
Lucas credits Stanford coach Kyle Smith and his staff for not only signing Okorie but putting him in position to succeed. Okorie’s parents both went to Harvard and were seeking a school with high academics, and he has fit in perfectly.
“Sometimes, it’s just going to the right environment, the right place at the right time and being somewhere you can grow and develop as a freshman with ultra confidence from your staff, and you’re seeing the benefit of it,” Lucas said.
“I don’t know if he’d be who he is if he didn’t go to Stanford. They did a good job of evaluating him, finding him and putting him in the right situation.”
Lucas said Okorie’s speed and quick bursts were always there. What has changed, the coach said, is his ability to get fouled.
“That changes everything,” Lucas said. “His ability to get fouled and create so much pressure on the rim. He’s not 6-4 or 6-5, but his burst and ability to generate fouls and get downhill and make plays for others, and do everything, is very impressive.”
UM freshman guard Dante Allen said of Okorie: “He’s adapted really well to the college game and solidified himself not only as one of the best freshman guards, but one of the best guards overall in college right now. He’s definitely a really big task for us. Probably our main focus of the game will be stopping him, and it will take a full team effort.”
Stanford is 14-6 this season and 3-4 in the ACC. The Cardinal beat Miami by 37 points last season, but that was with an entirely different UM roster and coaching staff.
Miami, which is coming off a road win against Syracuse, is one of the most improved teams in the country under Lucas at 16-4 overall and 5-2 in the conference. The Hurricanes were 7-24 and 3-17 in the ACC last season.
This year, Miami is 11-1 at home and leads the conference in field-goal percentage (51%), ranks third in assists per game (17.7), fourth in scoring margin (plus-15.65), and fifth in scoring at 84.95 points per game.
Four UM players are scoring in double figures, led by Malik Reneau with 19.7 points, followed by Tre Donaldson (16), freshman Shelton Henderson (14.4) and Tru Washington (11.8). Ernest Udeh is the leading rebounder with 10 per game.
Lucas said the team will do nothing different to prepare for the 9 p.m. tipoff (ACC Network), but he hopes his players will be wide awake and pumped.
“I know we don’t play good early, so hopefully we’ve got some night owls on our team,” he said, smiling. “My thing about playing at nine o’clock is that means you are prime time. You’re the second game. That’s the game you want to be. That means everyone’s home, dinner’s over and watching you.”
Lucas urged Miami fans to show up for the game.
“I thought the last couple of games we had good energy and it felt like a home court advantage,” he said. “I’m excited to see what these two games can look like. We need students, fans, everybody.”
This story was originally published January 27, 2026 at 3:00 PM.