SETTING THE SCENE
On an afternoon where the program will honor its senior class, Stanford men's basketball welcomes SMU to Maples Pavilion on Saturday, Feb. 28 at 3 p.m. The contest will air on ACC Network.
THE STARTING FIVE
• Stanford is out to a 17-11 start and 6-9 mark in the ACC, 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 fifth in the country in scoring at 22.8 points per game and second among freshmen, behind only BYU's AJ Dybantsa, and he leads the ACC in scoring, just above Duke's Cameron Boozer. Named to the top-10 lists for national freshman of the year by ESPN, Bleacher Report, Field of 68 and Hoops HQ, Okorie 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 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 2.8. The double-double king at Stanford, with 25 in a single-season last year, Raynaud leads all NBA rookies with 11 double-doubles this season.
SENIOR SALUTE
Stanford will honor its six seniors - both athletically and in their academic class - prior to Saturday's contest with SMU. The program will recognize Ryan Agarwal, Jeremy Dent-Smith, Benny Gealer, Chisom Okpara, AJ Rohosy and Jaylen Thompson for their contributions to the program, and celebrate their success on the court, in the classroom and throughout the Stanford community.
OKORIE: ONE OF ONE
Ebuka Okorie has dazzled for the Cardinal this season with averages of 22.8 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.5 steals per game. Okorie ranks fifth nationally in scoring and second among freshmen, trailing only BYU's AJ Dybantsa nationally, and he leads the ACC, just ahead of Duke's Cameron Boozer. 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 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).