Battle 4 Atlantis

 Stanford (2-1) vs. No. 25 Wisconsin (3-0) | Wednesday • 11:30 a.m. PT
Imperial Arena • Paradise Island, Bahamas
Television: ESPN | Radio: Stanford Cardinal Sports Network 
Game Notes: Stanford | Wisconsin
Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

CARDINAL MEETS WISCONSIN IN BATTLE 4 ATLANTIS OPENER
Stanford is in the Bahamas to compete in the eight-team Battle 4 Atlantis tournament over the Thanksgiving week. The Cardinal opens play Wednesday against No. 25 Wisconsin at 11:30 a.m. PT in the Imperial Arena on the Atlantis resort.
 
STANFORD AND THE BATTLE 4 ATLANTIS
The 2018 Battle 4 Atlantis field features Stanford, Florida, Butler, Virginia, Dayton, Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Middle Tennessee State. The Cardinal has faced six of the other seven teams in its history, having yet to meet Middle Tennessee State. Stanford's most recent contest against a member of the 2018 Battle 4 Atlantis field was Florida, which the Cardinal faced in the PK80 Invitational in Portland, on Thanksgiving Day last season.
 
Stanford is making its second appearance in the Battle 4 Atlantis. The Cardinal was part of the 2012 field, placing sixth in the tournament with losses to Missouri and Minnesota and a victory over Northern Iowa.
 
Head Coach Jerod Haase is making his second appearance in the Battle 4 Atlantis. In his third season as the head coach of UAB in 2014-15, Haase and the Blazers faced No. 2 Wisconsin in the 2014 tournament opener. UAB lost to the Badgers, 72-43. 
 
HOW TO FOLLOW
Wednesday's contest will be televised on either ESPN with Jon Schiambi and Dan Dakich on the call. The Stanford Cardinal Sports Network will have a live audio broadcast with Stanford alums Scott Reiss and John Platz bringing you all the action from the Bahamas. The broadcast is available on GoStanford.com/watch or via the TuneIn app on mobile devices.
 
OKPALA HONORED
Sophomore KZ Okpala, the Pac-12 Player of the Week last week, leads the Pac-12 in scoring at 22.7 ppg. He averaged 26.0 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.0 blocks and 2.0 steals in wins over Seattle and UNCW, and scored a team-best 16 points with nine rebounds at North Carolina. Okpala posted a career-best 29 points and collected 10 rebounds, five assists and three blocks in the 96-74 win against Seattle. In the 72-59 road win over UNC Wilmington, the forward scored 23 points and added three rebounds. Okpala also recorded three steals at UNCW, as Stanford matched its highest steal total in a game in the last 22 years with 15 swipes against the Seahawks.
 
THE ROAD MORE TRAVELED
Stanford will play more than half of its 12-game nonconference schedule away from Maples Pavilion. The Cardinal will hit the road for seven games inside and outside the United States. In Stanford's first eight games, the Cardinal will travel 16,339 miles, with stops in Wilmington, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Lawrence, Kansas and Paradise Island, Bahamas.

Stanford's 16,339-mile season-opening journey.
 

 
AGAINST WISCONSIN
Stanford is 6-3 in nine previous meetings with Wisconsin. The two teams last met Dec. 27, 1994, a 95-78 victory for the Cardinal at Maples Pavilion. Stanford has won three of the last four in the series. The only other neutral-site contest between the teams occurred Dec. 29, 1975. Stanford dropped a 70-64 decision to Wisconsin in the Milwaukee Classic in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
 
AGAINST THE BIG TEN CONFERENCE
Stanford owns a 35-37 all-time record against current members of the Big Ten Conference. The Cardinal has played Wisconsin (6-3) and Nebraska (6-3) the most among current members. The only school among the 14 members of the conference the Cardinal has not played yet is Penn State. Stanford last played a team from the Big Ten Conference in the PK80 Invitational last season, dropping a 79-71 contest to Ohio State in Portland.
 
AGAINST RANKED OPPONENTS
No. 25 Wisconsin is Stanford's second nationally-ranked opponent in as many games. Stanford is 1-14 vs. ranked foes in the AP poll in the Jerod Haase era, defeating No. 16 Arizona State (86-77) Jan. 17, 2018. Stanford's last road win over a ranked team came at No. 9 Texas (74-71 OT) Dec. 23, 2014. Jerod Haase owns a 3-22 record against ranked teams as a head coach. He played 10 ranked foes at UAB, leading the Blazers to a win over No. 9 Iowa State (60-59) in the NCAA Tournament on March 19, 2015, and a victory over No. 16 North Carolina (63-59) in Birmingham, on Dec. 1, 2013. Stanford, which played at No. 7 North Carolina in its last game, previously played ranked teams in consecutive games Jan. 17 and 20 of last season, defeating No. 16 Arizona State (86-77) and falling to No. 14 Arizona (73-71) at home.
 
NOTABLE MARKS FROM THE FIRST THREE GAMES
In the season-opening win over Seattle, Stanford posted a school-record 73.3 three-point field goal percentage. The Cardinal connected on 11-of-15 attempts, led by Cormac Ryan's 5-of-6 FG percentage. The old mark was 72.7 percent (8-of-11) against Oregon State on Dec. 17, 1988.
 
In the win at UNCW, Stanford recorded 15 steals, matching its best total in a game in the last 22 years. The only other time Stanford had 15 steals in a game during that span was against Oregon State on Jan. 5, 2006.
 
Twelve players saw action at North Carolina, the most members of the Cardinal to appear in a game since Feb. 3 of last season when 12 players appeared in a 96-61 victory over Oregon.
 
YOUNG SQUAD
Among the 15 players on the 2018-19 Stanford roster, 11 are in either their first or second year playing. Only senior Josh Sharma and juniors Marcus Sheffield, Trevor Stanback and Rodney Herenton entered 2018-19 with at least two seasons under their belt. Through three games, first and second-year players have accounted for 80 percent (79.2) of the Cardinal's scoring (190 of 240 points). The underclassmen have also accounted for 82.7 percent of Stanford's rebounding total (91 of 110 rebounds).
 
OKPALA'S IMPACT AS A SOPHOMORE
Sophomore KZ Okpala is averaging a team-best 22.7 ppg in 35.3 mpg through three games this season. He averaged 10.0 ppg in 33.0 mpg in his first three games last season.
 
RYAN POSTS THIRD-BEST POINT TOTAL IN DEBUT
Freshman Cormac Ryan's 16-point performance in his collegiate debut against Seattle was the third most by a true freshman in his debut in the 104-year history of the program. Ryan connected on five three pointers in the contest, similar to now-sophomore Isaac White's collegiate debut last season (17 points on five three pointers).
 
BACK-TO-BACK TOP-20 RECRUITING CLASSES
In Stanford's first three games, four true freshmen have made their first collegiate appearances. Cormac Ryan led the way with 16 points in 33 minutes in the season opener against Seattle. Jaiden Delaire had eight points in 25 minutes against the Redhawks. Lukas Kisunas had two points in five minutes. Bryce Wills made his collegiate debut last Friday at UNCW, with three points in 14 minutes. The Cardinal's class of newcomers was ranked as high as No. 20 nationally, giving the program back-to-back top-20 recruiting classes. Stanford's 2017 class of Daejon Davis, KZ Okpala, Oscar da Silva and Isaac White was ranked No. 8 nationally. 
 
SHEFFIELD RETURNS
Redshirt junior Marcus Sheffield has returned to the lineup, after missing the entire 2017-18 season. He injured his leg in practice a couple days before the regular-season opener last year. Sheffield, who poured in a career-best 35 points against Arizona State on Dec. 30, 2016, averaged 6.7 ppg during his true sophomore campaign in 2016-17. Sheffield is averaging 8.3 ppg in 19.3 mpg off the bench in the first three games of 2018-19.
 
DAVIS DIRECTING THE OFFENSE
Sophomore Daejon Davis, who broke Brevin Knight's school freshman assist record with 160 last season, has started all 36 career games he has played in. The point guard is averaging 10.7 ppg this year, with five steals in three games.
 
KISUNAS EARNS EXTENDED MINUTES AGAINST TAR HEELS
After playing five minutes in the first two games (did not see action at UNCW), freshman Lukas Kisunas played 12 minutes in the second half at No. 7 North Carolina last time out. The forward scored two points, collected four rebounds and a block in extended action against the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill. 
 
YOUNGEST PLAYER IN THE PAC-12
With a birthdate of October 13, 2000, freshman Bryce Wills is the youngest player in the Pac-12 Conference and one of the youngest in Division I college basketball. With most of the Division I schools reporting, Wills is the seventh-youngest player in the nation this season.