SETTING THE SCENE
The Pac-12 slate arrives on Thursday, with all 12 teams league-wide opening the conference schedule. Stanford welcomes No. 21/21 UCLA on Dec. 1 at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN2.
THE OPENING TIP
• The Cardinal is 3-4 to open the campaign, including home wins over Pacific (88-78) and Cal Poly (80-43) and a win over Florida State (70-60). The program went 1-2 at the ESPN Events Invitational in Orlando.
• Through seven games, Spencer Jones leads the team with 10.7 points per game, while Harrison Ingram and Michael Jones are also in double figures with 10.4 and 10.3 points per game, respectively.
• Harrison Ingram, who was Stanford’s first Pac-12 Freshman of the Year since Casey Jacobsen in 2000, withdrew his name from the 2022 NBA Draft to return to The Farm for his sophomore campaign. He is averaging 10.4 points, 5.4 rebounds and a team-best 3.3 assists per game.
• The Cardinal returns eight of its top nine rotation players from a year ago, ranking seventh nationally in minutes continuity, per KenPom, while also bringing in the program’s first transfer in 12 years and the first graduate transfer in program history in Michael Jones (Davidson). Jones had a debut to remember in the season opener, with his 31 points the most by a Stanford player in his team debut on record.
• Stanford is 2-0 in December Bay Area home Pac-12 games since the conference expanded to a 20-game schedule. The Cardinal downed Arizona in Santa Cruz in 2020, 78-75, and beat Oregon last season at the buzzer, 72-69.
PRESEASON PROGNOSTICATION
Stanford was picked fifth in the Pac-12’s preseason poll, earning one first place vote while slotting in behind UCLA, Arizona, Oregon and USC. Spencer Jones and Harrison Ingram were each on the Pac-12 preseason first team, with Stanford joining only UCLA and USC with multiple players on the first team. Ingram also earned a selection to the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year watch list for the second consecutive season, as well as nods to the Naismith Trophy and Wooden Award watch lists.
The Cardinal opens Pac-12 play with UCLA at home Dec. 1 and its first road contest of the year at Arizona State Dec. 4.