Freshman Ebuka Okorie scored a game-high 26 points and dished out five assists Tuesday night as Stanford improved to 4-0 with a 93-66 blowout of visiting Louisiana.
Okorie logged just 10 field-goal attempts but beat a steady path to the foul line, converting 11 of 13. Chisom Okpara added 22 points and Cameron Grant came off the Stanford bench to contribute 15, going 5 of 11 from 3-point range.
Joshua Lewis scored 16 points to pace the Ragin’ Cajuns (1-4), while Jaxon Olvera added 15 in a reserve role. Dorian Finister chipped in 12 points, but it wasn’t enough as Louisiana experienced difficulties defending the 3-pointer.
The Cardinal connected on 11 of 31 (35.5%) from the arc and held the Cajuns to 2 of 9 from long distance (22.2%). Louisiana also fouled incessantly, getting whistled 29 times. Stanford took advantage, netting 28 of 35 attempts (80%) at the free-throw line.
Ahead by 15 at halftime and by 18 early in the second half, Stanford gradually pulled away in the last 10 minutes. The Cardinal upped the lead to 20 for the first time with 9:26 left as Okorie fed Aidan Cammann for a dunk after a turnover. The margin grew as high as 30 on Okpara’s layup with 3:09 remaining.
The Cardinal needed a bit of time to warm to the task. They didn’t score for the first 3 1/2 minutes and were tied 5-5 nearly six minutes into the game before starting to find a little bit of footing.
Olvera put the Ragin’ Cajuns up 22-21 at the 5:45 mark on a jumper, but that was the Louisiana’s last lead of the night. Grant nailed a 3-pointer on the next possession to start a 19-3 run over the remainder of the half.
Okorie and Grant had a hand in the first 17 points of that run, with Okorie scoring nine points in less than four minutes and dishing out an assist. Okpara ended the outburst make hitting a pair of foul shots with two seconds left, giving Stanford a 40-25 cushion at halftime.
