SETTING THE SCENE
Stanford men's basketball begins a stretch of three consecutive games on the road on Wednesday, Feb. 11 with a trip to Boston College. The 6 p.m. PT (9 p.m. ET) tip will air on ESPNU.
THE STARTING FIVE
• Stanford is out to a 15-9 start, including four quadrant one NET victories and ACC wins vs. No. 14/15 North Carolina, No. 16/13 Louisville and Virginia Tech. A 16-9 start would be the second in a row through 25 games under head coach Kyle Smith.
• Ebuka Okorie ranks seventh in the country in scoring at 22.4 points per game and third among freshmen. He joins only Duke's Cameron Boozer and BYU's AJ Dybantsa as qualified freshmen nationally north of 21 points per night, and he was named in the top-10 rankings for national freshman of the year by ESPN, Bleacher Report, Field of 68 and Hoops HQ.
• Stanford won the Acrisure Invitational in Palm Desert with wins over Minnesota and Saint Louis, with Benny Gealer's buzzer beater on Nov. 28 sending the Cardinal home victorious.
• Only 30 teams nationwide have at least four quadrant one wins, with Stanford one of seven ACC teams to reach the threshold. Three of Stanford's wins are over current AP top-25 opponents.
• 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. Stanford's NBA alumni are shining above expectations, with Raynaud scoring 9.7 points per game, Ziaire Williams 9.4, Brook Lopez 6.6, and Spencer Jones 6.0. Raynaud is posting 11.4 points per game across 28 starts, while Jones increases his number to 7.5 a night in 34 starting appearances.
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK, AGAIN
Ebuka Okorie has earned his second Rookie of the Week honors from the ACC, sharing the Feb. 9 honor with North Carolina’s Caleb Wilson. Posting a Stanford freshman record 40 points against Georgia Tech, he became the first Stanford player with a 40-point game since Casey Jacobsen scored 41 on Feb. 7, 2002 vs. Oregon. He was also the national freshman of the week from the NCAA's Andy Katz.
RECORD BOOK WATCH
In a position to rewrite the Cardinal's freshman record book, Ebuka Okorie already ranks third in points, passing Casey Jacobsen (1999-00) against Clemson (Feb. 1) and Tyrell Terry (2019-20) against Georgia Tech. He is just 19 away from Chasson Randle (2011-12) in second and 23 away from Todd Lichti (1985-86) in first. His scoring average is on pace to top Lichti (17.2) for the top spot.
Okorie has already broken the Stanford freshman record for free throws made (148) and free throw attempts (177) in a season. He has moved into third place in field goals made (152) and eighth in 3-pointers made (41), eight makes away from the top five. Not just a scorer, Okorie ranks eighth in assists and seventh in steals.
In Stanford's overall season history, Okorie is 39 points away from the top-20 while his current scoring average of 22.4 points per game would rank second all-time, trailing only Adam Keefe (25.3, 1991-92) and just ahead of Landry Fields (22.0, 2009-20) and Casey Jacobsen (21.9, 2001-02). He is also just five free throws from the top-15 in any Stanford season.
BIG SHOT BENNY
One of the top 3-point shooters in the ACC, Benny Gealer is posting a career-best 42.1 percent mark from beyond the arc, including 13 games with at least three triples. Gealer has made multiple threes in four straight games - his longest stretch of the season - going 14-for-32 over the span (43.8%) while averaging 11 points per game over the sample.