SETTING THE SCENE
Looking for revenge in the second of its rivalry clashes this season, Stanford men's basketball travels to Berkeley to face California on Saturday, Feb. 21 at 3 p.m. on ACC Network.
THE STARTING FIVE
• Stanford is out to a 16-10 start, including four quadrant one NET victories and notable ACC wins vs. No. 14/15 North Carolina, No. 16/13 Louisville and at Virginia Tech.
• Ebuka Okorie ranks sixth in the country in scoring at 22.5 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 22 points per night, and he was on the top-10 lists for national freshman of the year by ESPN, Bleacher Report, Field of 68 and Hoops HQ. He was added to the Naismith Trophy Late-Season Team on Feb. 19.
• 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 35 teams nationwide have at least four quadrant one wins, with Stanford one of 10 ACC teams to reach the threshold. Three of Stanford's wins are over current AP top-25 opponents, two are Q1A. The ACC's 10 teams with four quadrant one wins leads all conferences (SEC - 9, Big 12 - 9, Big Ten - 5).
• 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 9.8 points per game, Ziaire Williams 9.7, Brook Lopez 6.8, Spencer Jones 6.0. and Dwight Powell 2.9. Raynaud is posting 11.6 points per game across 30 starts, while Jones increases his number to 7.5 a night in 34 starting appearances.
CAL, PART II
Stanford is looking for its first win of the season against Cal, and the sixth in the last seven games, with a visit to Berkeley on Feb. 21. Stanford, which swept Cal 3-0 a year ago in the first season under Kyle Smith, has not lost consecutive games vs. the Bears since 2022 and 2023, and it has not been swept in the series since 2009-10. Jeremy Dent-Smith led three in double figures for the Cardinal with 20 points on Jan. 24.
OKORIE: ONE OF ONE
Ebuka Okorie has dazzled for the Cardinal this season with averages of 22.5 points, 3.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.5 steals per game. Okorie ranks sixth nationally in scoring, third among freshmen, joining Duke's Cameron Boozer and BYU's AJ Dybantsa as the only three freshmen nationally above 22 points per game, and second in the ACC. Okorie became the first Stanford freshman with four-straight 20-point games since Brook Lopez from Feb. 15-24, 2007, and the first Stanford player with back-to-back 30-point games since Landry Fields from Jan. 23-28, 2010. He would be the first freshman to meet his averages in points, rebounds, assists and steals, along with Boozer, since Oklahoma's Trae Young and Howard's RJ Cole in 2017-18.
Okorie has toppled the Stanford freshman scoring record three times this season. First, he broke the standard with 32 points against Colorado (Dec. 20) and then topped his own mark with 36 points against North Carolina (Jan. 14). Scoring 40 points against Georgia Tech (Feb. 7), Okorie became the first Stanford player with a 40-point game since Casey Jacobsen scored 41 on Feb. 7, 2002 vs. Oregon, and Okorie’s performance is the ninth in program history with at least 40 points. He was just the fifth (now six) freshman in ACC history to score 40 points in a game, joining Cooper Flagg, Tyler Hansbrough, Harrison Barnes and Olivier Hanlan, and since, Mikel Brown Jr. The last ACC freshmen guards to average at least 20 points per game were Kenny Anderson (Georgia Tech, 1989-90) and Mark Price (Georgia Tech, 1982-83).
His 18 made free throws against Colorado are the second most in a single game by any player in program history, trailing only the 19 by Reid Travis on Dec. 3, 2016 vs. Kansas. The 18 makes and 21 attempts at the line are the sixth- and fifth-most by any player in the country this season, and he ranks ninth in the country with 6.5 free throws per game.