SETTING THE SCENE
Stanford men's basketball continues its week at home, and stretch of seven in 10 games at Maples Pavilion, as Virginia arrives for a 1 p.m. tip on Saturday, Jan. 11. The contest will be broadcast on ESPNU.
THE STARTING FIVE
• The Cardinal is off to a 10-5 start (2-2 ACC), including conference wins over California and Virginia Tech and a quadrant one NET win over Santa Clara. The Cardinal is 8-1 at home this season.
• Stanford’s roster holds an exciting mix of returning players, transfers and freshmen, led by one of the premier centers in the country, Maxime Raynaud. The Pac-12 Most Improved Player last season, Raynaud is 10th nationally in scoring at 20.7 points per game and third in rebounding with 11.6 per night. He leads the ACC in scoring and rebounding, and his 12 double-doubles this season pace the nation. No other major conference player has more than 10 and no other ACC player has more than seven.
• Three players are averaging double figures, paced by Raynaud but also including Jaylen Blakes (14.8) and Oziyah Sellers (14.1). Both players are posting career-best numbers by a comfortable margin.
• Stanford opened ACC action with an 89-81 victory Dec. 7 on the road over California. The triumph was the first for Stanford at Haas since 2021 and its third straight overall in the series. Stanford added to the conference tally with a 70-59 victory over Virginia Tech on Jan. 8.
• Kyle Smith joined the Cardinal from Washington State as the reigning Pac-12 Coach of the Year, where he led the Cougars to 25 wins and the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2023-24. Smith brought his entire staff from Washington State to the Farm along with program icon Eric Reveno, who was at Oregon State from 2022-24 and was previously on the Cardinal bench from 1997-2006.
CARD MEETS CAVS
Stanford is 7-1 all-time against Virginia, including six straight wins from 1992-2010. The contest marks the fifth meeting between the teams at Maples Pavilion, with Stanford going 4-0 in those matchups. Stanford won the last meeting by 21 points, 81-60, in 2010, led by Jeremy Green's 21 points. The contest also pits Cole Kastner against his former school, with Kastner a three-time All-American lacrosse player at Virginia.
THE NATION'S LEADING CENTER
Maxime Raynaud has been the nation's premier center this season, averaging 20.7 points and 11.6 rebounds per game, ranking 10th and third nationally, while also leading the country in double-doubles (12). He was the first Stanford player with seven consecutive double-doubles since Reid Travis accomplished the same feat from Feb. 24-March 19, 2018.
He ranks first in the ACC in scoring and rebounding and fourth in field goal percentage. Stanford has never had a player finish higher than third on the national rebounding leaderboard (Curtis Borchardt, 2001-02), while his scoring average is on pace to be a top-eight average in program history. The closest statistical comparison at Stanford to Raynaud is Adam Keefe, who was 11th in scoring (25.3) and fourth in rebounds (12.2) in 1991-92.
Raynaud became the program's 51st member of the 1,000-point club at Stanford, and he currently ranks 34th in program history in scoring with 1,227 points. Next up on the list are Arthur Lee '99 with 1,229 and Kris Weems '99 with 1,235. Raynaud is also 10th on the all-time rebound list (792) and is six away from ninth (John Revelli '84, 798). He will be the seventh player in Stanford history to reach 1,200 career points and 800 rebounds.