SETTING THE SCENE
The postseason begins on Tuesday, March 10 in Charlotte as the 10th-seeded Cardinal takes on 15-seed Pitt in the first round of the ACC Tournament. The tip is set for 11 a.m. PT/2 p.m. ET on ACC Network.
THE STARTING FIVE
• Stanford is out to a 20-11 start and 9-9 mark in the ACC, including five quadrant one NET victories against then-No. 14/15 North Carolina, No. 16/13 Louisville, Saint Louis, at NC State and at Virginia Tech.
• Ebuka Okorie ranks fifth in the country in scoring at 23.1 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, and it enters the ACC Tournament with an 8-5 record away from home, and a 3-0 mark in neutral site contests.
• Making its case for an at-large bid, Stanford is one of only 27 teams nationwide that has at least five quadrant one wins, with two in quadrant 1A, as well as a .500 or better record in quadrants one and two. Each of the other 26 are considered safely in the NCAA Tournament field projections.
• 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 10.6 points per game, Ziaire Williams 9.7, Brook Lopez 7.7, Spencer Jones 5.7, and Dwight Powell 3.3. The double-double king at Stanford, with 25 in a single-season last year, Raynaud leads all NBA rookies with 13 double-doubles this season.
STANFORD > STATE
Earning its fourth consecutive win to cap ACC action, Stanford earned an 85-84 victory over NC State at Lenovo Center on March 7. Ebuka Okorie tallied his seventh 30-point outing of the season, scoring 33 points with career highs of 13 field goals and five 3-pointers, while Jaylen Thompson scored a career-high 15 points. AJ Rohosy pitched in 14 points with seven rebounds while Jeremy Dent-Smith had 10.
OKORIE: ONE OF ONE
Ebuka Okorie has dazzled for the Cardinal this season with averages of 23.1 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.6 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 (twice) 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 and the first player of any season since Murray State's Ja Morant in 2018-19.
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).
Okorie's seven 30-point games are tied for the most by any freshman in ACC history with Marvin Bagley III (Duke) in 2017-18, and fourth in the conference's overall history. Okorie also co-leads the country in games with 25 or more points, with the most in the power five. 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 13th in the country with 6.1 free throws per game.
KYLE SMITH. NERDBALL
Kyle Smith became the first coach in program history to win 20 or more games in each of his first two seasons at Stanford. He has guided Stanford to a .500 or better mark in consecutive seasons in the ACC as one of just five teams to accomplish the feat. His next win will be No. 300 for his career.
SCENARIO PLANNING
Stanford finished in a tie for ninth in the ACC standings at 9-9, with Stanford one of just five ACC programs to finish each of the last two conference slates at .500 or better, along with Duke, North Carolina, Louisville and Clemson. The Cardinal is slotted into the No. 10 seed and will take on Pittsburgh in the opening round. The winner will take on seventh-seeded NC State on Wednesday, March 11 at 9 a.m. PT/noon ET.