Virginia Tech led by 13 points with 3:36 remaining against Stanford but was outscored 17-3 the rest of the way and lost on Ebuka Okorie's game-winning 3-pointer with 2.8 seconds remaining.
"Disappointed with our lack of poise," Hokies head coach Mike Young said. "Disappointed with a couple of offensive possessions that we had up 13. You talk about kicking one, and that is my responsibility."
The Hokies (12-4, 1-2 ACC) fell apart in the waning moments, when everything that could go wrong did. Here's how it played out.
Benny Gealer sparked the Cardinal (13-3, 2-1) with a 3-pointer after a shot from Tech's Ben Hammond was blocked. Once Hammond was fouled and made two free throws, Ekorie responded with a three-point play. Still, the Hokies led 67-55 with 2:09 remaining.
Their freshman point guard, Neoklis Avdalas, tried to find Amani Hansberry on the inside but turned it over with eight on the shot clock. Okorie pushed the ball down the floor and got a fast-break layup to cut it to seven. However, Avdalas hoisted a three from the top of the key with 15 seconds on the shot clock on the next possession, which fell off the left side of the rim and into the hands of Stanford.
It pushed the pace again through Okorie, who found Cameron Grant in the corner for a three. Tech forward Tobi Lawal used his athleticism to block the shot, and though teammate Jailen Bedford saved the ball from going out of bounds, he threw it back to the Cardinal. It quickly moved to Okorie, who knocked down a triple to cut it to 67-63 with 1:09 remaining.
"A couple of horrendous offensive possessions," Young said. "Shots are too quick. We need time off the clock. We haven't played great. I thought we were very, very good defensively but sputtered, and Stanford has a good outfit on the defensive end on the floor."
Young called timeout, but Hammond almost dribbled out of bounds on the next play. Stanford head coach Kyle Smith challenged it, but it stayed Hokies ball. Still, they continued their scoreless streak — their last field goal was with 3:36 remaining — as a fadeaway foul-line jumper from Avdalas was short. Tech was discombobulated in transition, though, and Cardinal wing Donavin Young drilled a wide-open three from the top of the key to pull within one.
"I believe in momentum," Smith said. "Big believer in it, and we caught it, we captured it and we were able to steal one. But there was no magic in there other than guys just kept competing."
Stanford fouled Avdalas, who went 1-for-2 from the stripe to put the Hokies up 68-66 with 16.2 left. Then Okorie took over. He used a high ball screen to get the switch he wanted, putting Avdalas on him instead of Bedford, and Avdalas stopped, likely anticipating a drive. Instead, Okorie pulled up for the win and drilled the shot as Avdalas closed out late.
GAME WINNER BY OKORIE!!
? @accnetwork x @StanfordMBB pic.twitter.com/Pa6ATLGTa9— ACC Men's Basketball (@accmbb) January 8, 2026
"I saw a team that was searching for a matchup," Young said. "They were searching for the matchup that they wanted us to put onto Okorie, and we had our hands by our side and the kid shot a bomb and it went in the basket."
"After I got the switch, I saw he was like backing up or he wasn't coming out to guard me, and then I just took the shot and made it," Okorie said.
It was a dramatic ending to a game the Hokies controlled from start to finish, though it won't be remembered that way. They led for 36:09 of the game's 40 minutes and kept the Cardinal at bay for the majority of the second half, but they collapsed down the stretch.
"Things you talk about from the start of practice in June when you bring everybody together," Young said. "Saving a loose ball to a teammate, playing with high hands, especially against a great player, and if your hands are down, if you're not ready to play and your tips are up, kid rises up and makes a shot. And they hit a couple of bombs in that period that got them out of here."
It all revolved around Okorie, Stanford's true freshman from Nashua, N.H., averaging 22 points per game. He was held to five in the first half but exploded for 26 in the second, including 11 of the team's last 14 points. According to ESPN, he scored or assisted on 40 of the Cardinal's final 42 points.
"I thought we did a really nice job of keeping him cocooned with a hedge," Young said of Okorie. "Kid's a really smart player, going to make the right basketball play. In the second half, he started beating that hedge a little bit to his outside shoulder, got downhill more. He's elite at getting fouled. ... But that's what great players do. They pick their spots, and then when it turns on, it turns on and they're hard to handle."
"He's such an easy guy to coach," Smith said of his point guard. "He's so level-headed and he's got great confidence. ... [After the loss to Notre Dame] I said, 'You don't have to chase it.' ... He's going to see coverages every game, people are going to game plan for him, and I thought he played within himself."
Young and Gealer were also clutch for Stanford, each nailing three of their five 3-point attempts. Oskar Giltay added eight points and 13 rebounds in the post while the Hokies shut down Chisom Okpara. The Cardinal's second-leading scorer was just 1-for-11 for four points.
"We got back on our heels a little bit," Young said, "but I thought through the first 37 minutes, [the defense] was really good. They were constantly at 35, 37, 36, 38 percent for field goal percentage offensively. We were guarding the arc, we were doing a great job. We were guarding Okorie, specifically, and they put a kid in the game that hadn't played a whole lot [in Donavin Young] and made a couple of threes, that was on me. But great players making great plays."
Tech played well for the majority of the game but didn't close it out — shades of the December win over George Mason, where it led by 23 in the second half but only won by 11. The Hokies didn't have a 20-point cushion to rely on this time, however. Instead, the victory evaporated right in front of their eyes — though Young didn't think his team completely relaxed.
"I didn't think so," Young said. "Our decision-making has got to get much better. What are we looking for? We're looking for time off that clock. We're looking for a great shot. There's a great shot to be had. We're not looking for anything in that middle section of the clock, we'll take a layup anytime. Hansberry at the top of the floor when we get into some actions has been great for us for most of the year, just poorly executed on our part, and it certainly comes back on me."
Avdalas' 21 points on 7-for-15 shooting led Tech. He was 6-for-8 from the foul line while adding three assists, two rebounds and three turnovers. Hansberry also posted his fourth consecutive double-double with 11 points and 11 boards. He's the first Hokies player to accomplish that feat since Jeff Allen in 2010-11, who had seven straight double-doubles.
Hammond took over in the second half, too, and had 14 points on 4-for-7 shooting. Moreover, the Hokies received some contributions from Bedford (seven points, four rebounds), Jaden Schutt (six points) and Christian Gurdak (two points, nine rebounds).
One of the highlights of the night was the return of forward Tobi Lawal. He averaged 12.8 points and 10.3 rebounds through the first six games before suffering an injury on Nov. 26 vs. Colorado State in the Bahamas. He was back in action on Wednesday, accounting for five points, three rebounds, two blocks and an assist in 18 minutes.
"Good to have him back in a Hokie uniform," Young said of Lawal. "He was, as expected, sluggish. He was searching a little bit, but helped our team, great to see him back in the lineup. Certainly did some really good things, and he's going to get better and better and better as we continue to go along here."
Both teams shot under 37 percent in the first half but heated up in the second — Stanford to 59.3 percent (16-for-27) and Tech to 43.5 percent (10-for-23). While the Hokies made most of their headway at the free-throw line, getting in the double bonus early and making 15 of their 21 second-half foul shots (and 19-for-25 for the game), the Cardinal was 8-for-15 from behind the arc.
"The main thing was defending without fouling," Okorie said. "They're getting a lot of free throws, and I thought we were getting good looks on the offensive end, but it just came down to defending without fouling. Once we started doing that, we just kept chipping away at the lead."
Virginia Tech has now lost its last two contests at the buzzer — by three to Wake Forest and by one to Stanford. It led with 90 seconds remaining both times. It has a chance to bounce back on Saturday vs. Cal, who lost to Virginia 84-60 on Wednesday night.
"That's disappointing as all get out, obviously," Young said. "We've got a lot of basketball to play. We've got a good Cal team coming to the house on Saturday and we'll play better basketball."
Box Score: Stanford 69, Virginia Tech 68