Jalen Haralson had a team-high 13 points as Notre Dame held off host Stanford for a 47-40 win to kick off ACC play on Tuesday night.
Carson Towt posted eight points and a team-leading 10 rebounds for the Fighting Irish (10-4, 1-0), who led by as much as 16 points midway through the second half.
Chisom Okpara posted 13 points and Oskar Giltay garnered 11 rebounds for the Cardinal (11-3, 0-1), who had won four straight games. Ebuka Okorie, who led the team with 22.8 points per game entering play, was held to seven points with six rebounds.
The Fighting Irish came from behind after a slow start and went on a 13-2 run to take a 17-12 lead with 7:13 left on the first half clock. Cameron Grant hit a three-point shot for Stanford to close the score gap to 20-17 with just 2:34 left in the half, but the home team would not score again as Notre Dame took a 22-17 lead into halftime.
Both teams shot poorly in the first half, neither reaching the 30% mark. Notre Dame misfired on all seven 3-point attempts, while Stanford hit only 2 of 15.
Haralson’s layup gave Notre Dame a 29-20 lead with 17:03 left in the second half and Logan Imes extended it to 31-20 with 15:14 remaining. Jeremy Dent-Smith got Stanford to the free-throw line to stop the visitors’ 10-0 run, but the Cardinal still trailed 38-22 with 11:46 left in the second frame.
Stanford would close the deficit to four points on two occasions in the final 5:52, but Notre Dame’s Garrett Sundra (8 points) responded with a made 3-pointer each time.
Giltay hit two free throws to get Stanford to within 45-40 at the 2:43 mark, but the Cardinal missed a pair of treys and a layup with a chance to make it a one possession game down the stretch.
Stanford shot just 23.2% (13 of 56) for the game and 13.3% (4 of 30) from 3-point range.
The Fighting Irish were marginally better at 32.1% (18 of 56) from the floor.
–Field Level Media
