SETTING THE SCENE
Returning to Maples Pavilion for the final homestand of the regular season, Stanford welcomes Pittsburgh on Wednesday, Feb. 25 at 5 p.m. The action will air on ACC Network.
THE STARTING FIVE
• Stanford is out to a 16-11 start, including four quadrant one NET victories against then-No. 14/15 North Carolina, No. 16/13 Louisville, Saint Louis and at Virginia Tech.
• Ebuka Okorie ranks seventh in the country in scoring at 22.3 points per game and third among freshmen, behind only Duke's Cameron Boozer and BYU's AJ Dybantsa, 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 as one of 10 freshman and three players in the ACC.
• 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 36 teams nationwide have at least four quadrant one wins, with Stanford one of eight ACC teams to reach the threshold. Three of Stanford's wins are over current AP top-25 opponents, two are Q1A. The ACC's eight teams with four quadrant is third among all conferences (SEC - 11, Big 12 - 9, Big Ten - 6).
• 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 10.1 points per game, Ziaire Williams 9.5, Brook Lopez 7.1, Spencer Jones 5.9. and Dwight Powell 2.9. Raynaud is posting 11.9 points per game across 32 starts, while Jones increases his number to 7.5 a night in 34 starting appearances.
HOMESTAND BEGINS WITH PITT
Stanford is searching for its first victory against Pittsburgh as ACC opponents, and its second overall in a series that dates back more than 90 years to 1931-32, when Stanford earned a home victory, 22-11. The Panthers' first trip to Maples Pavilion comes after Stanford dropped an 83-68 decision in Pittsburgh a year ago, with last year's meeting the first in 12 years in the series history.
OKORIE: ONE OF ONE
Ebuka Okorie has dazzled for the Cardinal this season with averages of 22.3 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.5 steals per game. Okorie ranks seventh nationally in scoring, third among freshmen, trailing only Duke's Cameron Boozer and BYU's AJ Dybantsa nationally, 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).