SETTING THE SCENE
The first edition of basketball's Big Game has arrived at Maples Pavilion, with Stanford set to host rival California on Saturday, Jan. 24 at 5 p.m. The action will air on ACC Network.
THE STARTING FIVE
• Stanford is out to a 14-5 start, including four quadrant one NET victories, marking its best start since 2019-20. Stanford has ACC wins vs. No. 14/15 North Carolina, No. 16/13 Louisville and Virginia Tech.
• Ebuka Okorie ranks seventh in the country in scoring at 22.1 points per game and third among freshmen. He joins only Duke's Cameron Boozer and BYU's AJ Dybantsa as freshmen nationally north of 20 points per night, and he was named in the top-10 rankings for national freshman of the year by ESPN, Bleacher Report and Hoops HQ.
• The Cardinal has earned a pair of ranked ACC victories to open 2026, against No. 16/13 Louisville and No. 14/15 North Carolina, and it has won five consecutive bouts with the Golden Bears.
• Stanford won the Acrisure Invitational in Palm Desert with wins over the Gophers and Billikens, with Benny Gealer's buzzer beater on Nov. 28 sending the Cardinal home victorious.
• 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. Raynaud, Brook Lopez, Spencer Jones and Ziaire Williams have each scored 20 or more in the NBA since Dec. 1. Raynaud is averaging 10.0 points per game, improving to 11.5 points per night in his 23 starts, while Jones has started 28 of his 39 appearances for the Denver Nuggets this season.
BROKE HIS OWN RECORD
Ebuka Okorie's freshman scoring record lasted just 26 days before he surpassed it again. The dynamic freshman poured in 36 points against No. 14/15 North Carolina on Jan. 14, finishing 12-for-20 from the floor with three triples and nine free throws. Okorie has four 30-point contests this season, each in the last seven games. His 36 points against the Tar Heels are tied for 15th-most in program history, and they were the most for a Stanford player since Chris Hernandez had 37 against UCLA in 2005.
BATTLE FOR THE BAY
A year ago, Stanford earned its third victory of the 2024-25 season over rival California, 78-73, in the second round of the ACC Tournament. The three-game sweep of Cal was the first for the program since 1962, and the regular season sweep was Stanford’s first over California since 2021, and Stanford went unbeaten against Cal for the first time since 2015. The Cardinal has won five straight games versus the Bears, marking the first 5-0 stretch since winning six in a row from March 8, 2003-Jan. 13, 2006. The Cardinal has won six consecutive battles with Cal at Maples Pavilion, dating back to 2020, marking its longest undefeated home stretch in the series since a 12-year period from 1994-2006, when it won 13 in a row. Stanford has won seven consecutive Bay Area clashes, also including wins over Santa Clara and San Jose State, and eight in a row against teams in Northern California, also including UC Davis.
THE NET RESULT
Stanford enters the matchup with the Bears at No. 67 in the NET rankings (Jan. 22). The matchup is currently a quadrant two contest, as Cal slots in at No. 60. 17 of Stanford’s 31 regular season games are currently slated to be in quadrant one or two, including 11 in Q1. Stanford has four quadrant one victories so far, against Saint Louis, Louisville, North Carolina and Virginia Tech, and it is one of three ACC teams that have at least four wins in quadrant one, along with Duke and Virginia. 16 other programs have at least four quadrant one wins, and each of those teams slots in the top-20 of the NET rankings.
vs. Quad 1: 4-2 (Wins over Louisville, Saint Louis, North Carolina, Virginia Tech)
vs. Quad 2: 2-0 (Wins over Colorado, Minnesota)
vs. Quad 3: 3-3 (Wins over UT Arlington, Montana State, Portland State)
vs. Quad 4: 5-0 (Wins over Montana, CSUN, Portland, San Jose State, Louisiana)