SETTING THE SCENE
Winner of seven of its last 10 games, Stanford men's basketball heads to the East Coast for the third time this year, starting at Georgia Tech on Wednesday, Feb. 12 at 4 p.m. PT on ACC Network. The radio call can be streamed on GoStanford.com, the Varsity Network App or on Sirius XM channel 386.
THE STARTING FIVE
• The Cardinal is off to a 16-8 start (8-5 ACC), including conference wins over North Carolina, California, Virginia Tech, Virginia, Florida State, Syracuse, NC State and Miami, and quadrant one NET wins over Santa Clara and the Tar Heels. The Cardinal is 13-2 at home this season and 6-1 in ACC play.
• Stanford’s roster holds an exciting mix of returning players, transfers and freshmen, led by the premier center in the country, Maxime Raynaud. The Pac-12 Most Improved Player last season, Raynaud is 11th nationally in scoring at 20.4 points per game and third in rebounding with 11.7 per night. He leads the ACC in scoring and rebounding, and his 20 double-doubles this season pace the nation. No other player nationally has more than 17 and no major conference player has more than 14 (Johni Broome, Auburn).
• Three players are averaging double figures, paced by Raynaud but also including Jaylen Blakes (14.6) and Oziyah Sellers (14.3). Both players are posting career-best numbers by a comfortable margin.
• Blakes has showcased his clutch gene this season with game winning baskets in the closing seconds against both Santa Clara and North Carolina. Blakes made national headlines on Jan. 18 with his last-second winner against the Tar Heels, while his sister, Mikayla, a freshman at Vanderbilt, scored a game-winner of her own less than 24 hours later against Tennessee.
• 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.
33-YEAR RECORD READY TO FALL
With his 20th double-double of the season against NC State, Maxime Raynaud tied Adam Keefe (1991-92) for the Stanford single-season record. Raynaud is just the sixth major conference player to have at least 20 double-doubles in a season over the past five years, joining Zach Edey (Purdue, 2x), Oumar Ballo (Arizona), Joel Soriano (St. John's), Oscar Tshiebwe (Kentucky, 2x) and Armando Bacot (North Carolina).
CARDIAC CARDINAL
Jaylen Blakes has led Stanford to a pair of quadrant one wins on the road this season, scoring in the closing seconds to secure wins at Santa Clara (Nov. 23) and at North Carolina (Jan. 18). Stanford rallied from an eight-point deficit in the final four minutes to defeat Santa Clara, 71-69, with Blakes scoring the game-winning basket from 18 feet with two seconds to go, fading away from the elbow and sinking a jump shot. The heroics continued at the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill, as Blakes received the ball with just over seven seconds to play before driving coast-to-coast and hitting a fadeaway 12-foot jumper to give Stanford a 72-71 win over the Tar Heels. Ryan Agarwal joined in the late-game fun with the game winning lay-up against NC State with eight seconds left on Feb. 8, 74-73.