SETTING THE SCENE
Stanford men’s basketball 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, opening with Portland State, will mark the program’s second in the Atlantic Coast Conference, after Stanford finished seventh in its maiden season.
THE STARTING FIVE
• Stanford’s young roster holds an exciting mix of returning players, transfers and freshmen. Stanford returns two starters and six of the top nine in its rotation while adding in a pair of highly-touted transfers and a strong freshman class.
• 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.
• Smith 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 after posting one of the top seasons in program history, and the All-American was drafted by the Sacramento Kings in June.
CONTINUITY AT STANFORD
Stanford returns 52 percent of its minutes played from a year ago and 11 of the Cardinal’s players (nine scholarship) are back in 2025-26. The Cardinal is the only program in the ACC with more than 50 percent of its minutes returning, and one of only two with 40 percent or more returning (Notre Dame), while it also brings back 37.4 percent of its scoring, which ranks fourth in the ACC. Stanford joins only Marquette and Houston among power conference programs to bring back nine scholarship student-athletes.
EXHIBITION SUCCESS
Competing in its final preseason tune-up, Stanford downed former Pac-12 foe Oregon, 78-70, in an exhibition contest on Oct. 30. Chisom Okpara led the Cardinal with 20 points, six rebounds and three steals, including a perfect 3-for-3 mark from beyond the 3-point arc. Ebuka Okorie finished with 17 points, including a 9-for-10 mark at the free throw line, while Ryan Agarwal was also in double figures with 10 points. Benny Gealer chipped in eight, while AJ Rohosy and Aidan Cammann had seven apiece – with Cammann posting a game-leading plus-31 plus/minus on the night.
Stanford forced 19 Oregon turnovers and scored 17 points off of those Duck mistakes. The Cardinal took advantage at the charity stripe, going 25-for-32 as a team, and held Oregon to just 5-for-19 shooting from beyond the arc.