Stanford men’s basketball loses key starter for rest of season

After splitting tough games last week against No. 22 North Carolina (15-4, 3-3 ACC) and No. 5 Duke (17-1, 6-0 ACC), and with Cal (14-5, 2-4 ACC) coming to Maples on Saturday, things just got tougher for the Cardinal. Stanford (14-5, 3-3 ACC) will be without senior forward Chisom Okpara for the remainder of the season.

Okpara, who suffered a lower extremity injury in Stanford’s road loss to Virginia on Jan. 10, is the Cardinal’s second-most prolific scorer this season. The forward from New York was averaging 13.9 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.1 steals through 17 games. Much like with freshman guard Ebuka Okorie, a good performance from Okpara largely led to a Stanford win. Stanford is 9-0 when Okpara cracks 15 points and he is the only other player to join Okorie with multiple 20+ point performances this season. He also lands behind only Okorie with games this season leading Stanford in assists, as Okpara was the assist-leader for five games compared to Okorie’s eight games. 

Finding ways to win games without Okpara will prove to be a challenge for the Cardinal. Okpara is Stanford’s most physical player, and although the team was able to pull off an impressive win against the Tar Heels without him, the loss in physicality was on full display in the game against the Blue Devils. Stanford was unable to break the paint consistently all game, which is a skill Okpara excels at as he ranks top 40 nationally in fouls drawn per 40 minutes. Okpara’s presence would have certainly lessened a free-throw disparity that saw Duke shoot 28 attempts from the charity-line, while the Cardinal managed only 10.

Since Okpara went down with his injury, sophomore forward Donavin Young has filled in as starter, but it has been graduate student guard Jeremy Dent-Smith that stepped up for Stanford. Dent-Smith has been averaging 19 points during the current homestand and led the Cardinal in scoring in the Duke loss. With Okpara out, Stanford will need to find another source of physicality as they prepare for a Saturday contest against Cal that will certainly be feisty. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m. 

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