SETTING THE SCENE
Stanford wraps up its season-opening five-game homestand on Friday, Nov. 21 with a visit from Seattle. The 7 p.m. contest will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra.
THE STARTING FIVE
• Stanford is out to a 4-0 start with a trio of Big Sky wins over Portland State, Montana and Montana State, and a victory over Louisiana, outscoring its opponents by an average of 17.2 points per game.
• Ebuka Okorie ranks third in the country in scoring at 25.5 points per game and first among freshmen. Chisom Okpara is averaging a career-best 16.5 points per night, which ranks 16th in the ACC.
• 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). 2025-26 marks the program’s second year in the ACC, 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.
RAGIN' CARD
Stanford continued its winning ways at Maples Pavilion to open the season, defeating Louisiana, 93-66, marking the program’s second-consecutive 4-0 start under Kyle Smith. Ebuka Okorie led the scoring with 26 points, including three 3-pointers and 11 free throws, while Chisom Okpara notched his second 20-point game of the season, scoring a Stanford-high 22 points. Cameron Grant scored a career-high 15 points, going 5-for-11 from beyond the arc.
EBUKA EXCELS
As the college basketball season concludes its third week, Ebuka Okorie has dazzled for the Cardinal with averages of 25.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.3 steals per game on a shooting slash line of 57/42/85. Okorie ranks third nationally in scoring, and first among freshmen and players in the ACC and second among high major players, trailing only Kansas State's PJ Haggerty. He became the first Stanford freshman with four-straight 20-point games since Brook Lopez from Feb. 15-24, 2007, and should he get a fifth, would become the first freshman in program history to accomplish the feat.
Okorie opened the season with at least 20 points, multiple steals and two or fewer turnovers in the first 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 ranks ninth in field goal percentage (56.9%), seventh in steals (2.3) and third in minutes played per game (33.6). Chisom Okpara ranks 16th in the ACC in scoring (16.5) and 11th in field goal percentage (.550). Stanford joins SMU and Louisville in having two of the top-16 scorers in the league.
Okpara is one of two players in the ACC averaging at least 16.5 points and 2.2 offensive rebounds per game while shooting 55 percent or better from the floor, along with North Carolina's Caleb Wilson. Ryan Agarwal is one of 36 players atop the national leaderboard in free throw percentage at 100% (min. 2.5 made per game), and one of two in the ACC. Benny Gealer ranks 13th in the ACC with 2.3 made 3-pointers per game.
Aidan Cammann joins Okorie in the ACC top-15 in steals, with Cammann's 1.8 steals per game ranking 14th. Cammann is one of three players in the ACC averaging at least 1.8 steals and 0.8 blocks per game, along with North Carolina's Caleb Wilson and Wake Forest's Tre'Von Spillers. AJ Rohosy is tied for 26th in the ACC with 6.5 rebounds per game and 25th with 1.0 blocks per game, while Oskar Giltay ranks 14th with 1.3 blocks per game.
The Cardinal ranks second in the ACC as a team in turnovers forced per game at 17.8 and first in defensive rebounds percentage (80.9%, 6th nationally). Per KenPom, Stanford ranks seventh nationally in non-steal turnovers forced (12.6%) and sixth in opponent assists per field goal (36.5%). Stanford ranks in the top-10 nationally in limiting opponent steals (7th, 4.3%) and blocks (4th, 3.2%). Additionally, Stanford received its first votes in the AP poll (Nov. 10 and Nov. 17) since week two of the 2020-21 season.