SETTING THE SCENE
The Cardinal had another strong year on the hardwood under the leadership of Kyle Smith last season, with the program posting a 20-13 record with a 9-9 mark in the ACC, advancing to participate in the College Basketball Crown. The 2026-27 campaign will mark the program’s third in the ACC, and Stanford boasts a roster of eight returners, seven on scholarship, three transfers and a top-25 recruiting class.
Sunday's matchup at Oregon will tip off on Big Ten Plus at 1:30 p.m. The contest is a return game from an exhibition at Maples Pavilion a year ago, which Stanford won, 78-70.
THE STARTING FIVE
• Stanford’s young roster holds an exciting mix of returning players, transfers and freshmen. Stanford returns two major contributors in Aidan Cammann and Donavin Young and added a trio of instant impact transfers in Christian Bliss (Delaware), Austin Maurer (Seattle) and Nick Townsend (Yale).
• Kyle Smith enters his third season as Stanford’s Anne and Tony Joseph Director of Men’s Basketball. The 2024 Pac-12 Coach of the Year led Stanford to 21 wins in its first ACC campaign, the program’s most since 2014-15, and 20 wins a year ago.
• Stanford is adding its highest-rated recruiting class since 2023 and its fourth top-25 recruiting class since 2020. Four players are rated top-100 prospects by at least one recruiting service.
• The Cardinal was postseason bound for the second consecutive season in 2026, appearing in the College Basketball Crown. The postseason appearance was the fifth in a row for a Smith-coached program, and the first time with back-to-back postseason tournaments for Stanford since 2012-15.
• Stanford tallied an entrant to the NBA for the third consecutive season, as Ebuka Okorie was a first round draft selection to the Detroit Pistons with the 17th overall pick. Okorie joins Maxime Raynaud and Spencer Jones in reaching the Association over the last three seasons.
EXHIBIT(ION) A
Julius Price scored 26 points in his first appearance in a Stanford uniform, but Stanford men’s basketball fell late to Santa Clara, 83-78, in a preseason exhibition game. Price finished 5-for-11 from the floor with an eye-popping 15-for-19 mark at the free throw line. Anthony Batson Jr. scored 16 points, including an 8-for-10 tally at the free throw line, while Christian Bliss pitched in 15 points. Austin Maurer had a team-high nine rebounds in his Stanford debut. Stanford got to the free throw line 46 times, which would be Stanford’s most in a game since shooting 47 against Washington on Feb. 22, 2018 if the battle with the Broncos was a regular season contest. Only four freshmen tallied more than 19 free throw attempts in a game in 2025-26 across the country, one of which was Ebuka Okorie.