What happened to Stanford? ACC tournament loss hurts Cardinal’s bubble chances

Down 13 points at the beginning of the fourth quarter against Miami in the first round of the ACC tournament, it was going to take a furious comeback by Stanford to keep its NCAA Tournament hopes alive.

Coach Kate Paye’s team got close, clawing back in the fourth quarter to force overtime on Wednesday afternoon in Duluth, Ga. But No.12 seed Miami pulled away 83-76 over the No. 13 seed Stanford, who are now staring down the very real possibility of missing the NCAA Tournament for a second consecutive season. Prior to missing the Big Dance last year, the program had earned a March Madness berth 36 consecutive times, dating back to the late 1980s under coach Tara VanDerveer. Now, another early offseason may be on the horizon as the Cardinal continue to try to find their way in a new era.

Stanford went down 19-10 at the end of the first quarter, but then gained a two point lead, 39-37, at halftime thanks to 21 points off 3-pointers. The Cardinal were hot from beyond the arc all day, shooting nearly 50 percent from deep before some last-minute heaves but couldn’t keep up with Miami in the paint, scoring 28 points down low to the Hurricanes’ 40. The Hurricanes also outrebounded Stanford 46-30 and hit 79 percent of their free throws to Stanford’s 60-percent clip.

Ra Shaya Kyle, Gal Raviv and Amarachi Kimpson led the way for Miami with 25, 20 and 20 points, respectively, while Stanford forward Courtney Ogden scored a team-high 22 points.

The Cardinal almost certainly needed to make a deep run in the ACC tournament to secure an NCAA Tournament bid, but they are now left with more questions than answers as they head back to the West Coast.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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