STANFORD, Calif. - Stanford hosts UC Santa Barbara for its final preseason exhibition on Wednesday, October 28 at 6 p.m.
FOLLOW » Live stats will be available on GoStanford.com via StatBroadcast and Tim Swartz will have the radio call on GoStanford.com, the Stanford Athletics app and Learfield's Varsity Network.
PACIFIC RECAP » Stanford’s starting backcourt combined for 34 points and the Cardinal won its exhibition opener against Pacific last Saturday afternoon, 72-45. Sophomore Hailee Swain led the charge with a game-high 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting and junior Shay Ijiwoye had 16 on 6-of-10 shooting, including going 4-of-8 from behind the arc. Sophomore transfer Charlotte Tuhy led everyone with 15 rebounds, including five in the first quarter and six more in the third. She was responsible for the game’s highlight, sinking a half-court shot as the third-quarter buzzer sounded to push Stanford’s lead to 54-28.
AGAINST THE GAUCHOS » Stanford is 11-1 all-time in regular-season action against UC Santa Barbara and has won 11 straight. The last meeting came on December 28, 2014, a 90-34 Stanford win. Current assistant coach Erica McCall had eight points on a perfect 4-of-4 shooting and 12 rebounds in the victory.
TOP RETURNING TALENT » Among five returners are three who played major minutes last season in sophomores Hailee Swain and Alexandra Eschmeyer, and junior Shay Ijiwoye. Swain made the ACC All-Freshman Team and scored in double figures 23 times, the most for a Stanford freshman since Chiney Ogwumike in 2010-11. Eschmeyer led the team with 43 blocks, ranking sixth in Stanford freshman history and the most since Cameron Brink in 2020-21. Ijiwoye had high-level international experience this summer playing with Nigeria’s senior national team for two months in its preparations for the FIBA World Cup.
NIGERIA PIPELINE » Also back along with Ijiwoye are two other student-athletes of Nigerian descent Nora Ezike and Kennedy Umeh. Umeh returns to the floor after missing last season due to injury, while Ezike joined Ijiwoye with the national team in its World Cup run-up.
NEW FACES » Seven newcomers are on the roster in 2026-27, including four freshmen – Kiara Green, Elyse Ngenda, Gracyn Gilliard, Jordyn Wheeler - and three transfers – Ilse de Vries, Inés Sotelo Míguez and Charlotte Tuhy. Tuhy was one of only two freshmen in the country to average a double-double last season at American, while de Vries (Netherlands) and Sotelo Míguez (Spain) are the first Dutch and Spanish players in program history.
EARLY OPPORTUNITIES » During the nonconference, Stanford will play five Power 4 opponents and five true road games, the only Power 4 school to hit both of those marks. The Cardinal is tied with Louisville and Tennessee for the most nonconference true road games among Power 4 schools (5) and its five Power 4 opponents in the nonconference trails only South Carolina (8), Oklahoma (6), USC (6) and UCLA (6). The average Power 4 program plays just 1.87 true road games and 3.01 Power 4 opponents during the nonconference portion of its schedule.
YOUNG & HUNGRY » Hailee Swain’s one word to describe the upcoming season when asked at ACC Tipoff: ‘hungry.’ Stanford's 12-person roster includes four freshmen, four sophomores and four juniors. The Cardinal is one of three Power 4 programs without a senior or fifth-year on its roster along with Boston College and BYU.
STRONG WNBA LEGACY » It was yet another incredible year for Cardinal women’s basketball alumnae in the WNBA. Madame President, Nneka Ogwumike, was enthusiastically celebrated over the final month of the season after announcing her retirement on August 19, and Ashten Prechtel ’23 and Nadia Fingall ’20 both made their WNBA debuts for the Golden State Valkyries, upping Stanford’s total of WNBA pros to 36.