SETTING THE SCENE
Stanford continues its homestand with the fourth of five straight games at home to open the season, as the Cardinal welcomes Louisiana on Tuesday, Nov. 18 at 7 p.m. The contest will air on ACC Network Extra.
THE STARTING FIVE
• Stanford is out to a 3-0 start with a trio of Big Sky wins over Portland State, Montana and Montana State, outscoring its opponents by an average of 14.0 points per game.
• Ebuka Okorie ranks fourth in the country in scoring at 25.3 points per game and first among freshmen.
• The Cardinal posted a successful first season under the leadership of Kyle Smith, winning the program’s most games since 2014-15 (21) and matching a program record for wins on its home court (17). The 2025-26 campaign marks the program’s second in the Atlantic Coast Conference, after Stanford finished seventh in its maiden season.
• Kyle Smith enters his second season as Stanford’s Anne and Tony Joseph Director of Men’s Basketball. The 2024 Pac-12 Coach of the Year led Stanford to 21 wins in its first ACC campaign, the program’s most since 2014-15. He is also the second head coach in program history to win 20 or more games in his first season, while his seven-win improvement from the previous season matched a program record for a first-year head coach. The Cardinal was postseason bound for the first time since 2018, appearing in the NIT. The postseason appearance was the fourth in a row for a Smith-coached program.
• Maxime Raynaud graduated from Stanford in 2025 after posting one of the top seasons in program history, and the All-American was drafted by the Sacramento Kings in June.
MASTERED THE MONTANAS
Stanford earned a 91-68 victory over visiting Montana on Saturday, Nov. 4, led by a career-high 29 points, to go with four rebounds and four steals, from freshman Ebuka Okorie, and a 77-68 victory over Montana State, with four players finishing in double figures. Stanford has forced at least 16 turnovers in each game, including 20 against Montana with 14 steals. The Cardinal finished its game with Montana State on a 22-7 run to secure the win and its second consecutive 3-0 start under Kyle Smith.
EBUKA EXCELS
As the college basketball season enters its third week, Ebuka Okorie has dazzled for the Cardinal with averages of 25.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.0 steals per game. Okorie ranks fourth nationally in scoring, and first among freshmen and players in the ACC. He is one of seven high major players with multiple games of at least 25 points this season and he is the only freshman to accomplish the feat. He became the first Stanford freshman with three-straight 20-point games since Tyrell Terry from Nov. 21-26, 20219, and he is also the first Stanford freshman on record with three straight 20-point games to both open a season and the first of any year since Reid Travis in 2017.
Okorie has recorded at least 20 points, multiple steals and two or fewer turnovers in all three games this season - the only other player in the last 30 seasons to start his Division I career with three such games was Maine’s Justin Edwards in 2011-12. The 26 points in Okorie's debut marked the most for a Cardinal true freshman in program history against a Division I opponent - only Mark Pitchford had more, coming against Division II Cal Poly in 1977. He was the first freshman point guard to start the season opener since Tyrell Terry in 2019 and just the third freshman overall to start the opener since 2019, joining Ziaire Williams (2020) and Harrison Ingram (2021).
FUN WITH SMALL SAMPLE SIZES
In addition to Ebuka Okorie leading the ACC In scoring he also co-leads the ACC with 3.0 steals per game and ranks 15th nationally. Okorie (85.0%, 15th) joins Benny Gealer (90.0%, 7th) in the top-15 in the conference in free throw percentage while Gealer ranks seventh in the ACC in 3-point percentage (47.1%) and eighth in 3-pointers made per game (2.67).
Aidan Cammann joins Okorie in the ACC top-15 in steals, with Cammann's 2.0 steals per game ranking eighth. Cammann is the only player in the ACC averaging at least two steals and one block per game, and he is one of five major conference players hitting those defensive metrics, along with three players from the Big 12 (Darryn Peterson, Kansas; JT Toppin, Texas Tech; Joseph Tugler, Houston) and one from the Big East (Dillon Mitchell, Cincinnati).
AJ Rohosy is tied for 18th in the ACC with 7.0 rebounds per game and 15th with 1.3 blocks per game, while Chisom Okpara, who scored a Stanford-high of 21 points against Portland State in the opener, is one of 10 players in the ACC averaging at least 14.7 points and 2.0 offensive rebounds per game while shooting 50 percent or better from the floor.
The Cardinal ranks first in the ACC as a team in turnovers forced per game at 19.0 and is one of five teams in the league with at least 9.7 steals per game. Stanford is 14th nationally in turnovers forced per game and 18th in turnover margin. Additionally, Stanford received its first votes in the AP poll (Nov. 10) since week two of the 2020-21 season.