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. Stanford's third season in the ACC begins on Monday, Nov. 2 at 7 p.m. against Eastern Washington. The contest will air on ACC Network Extra, while the radio broadcast can be found on GoStanford.com, YouTube, Varsity Network and Sirius XM.
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.
STANFORD IN OPENERS
Stanford has had strong performances in its season openers since 2011, winning its past 16 season openers. Over that stretch, Michael Jones set a program record for points in a debut, with 31 in 2023 vs. Pacific, and Ebuka Okorie set a freshman debut record in 2025, with 26 vs. Portland State.
PRESEASON COMPLETE
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 on Oct. 17. A second freshman, Aziz Olajuwon, led Stanford with 16 points in its final exhibition at Oregon, an 85-57 defeat in Eugene on Oct. 25.
Taking it to the Broncos, Anthony Batson Jr. scored 16 points, including an 8-for-10 tally at the free throw line, while Christian Bliss pitched in 15 points and Austin Maurer had a team-high nine rebounds. 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. Nick Townsend finished with 11 points, six rebounds and five assists in his first Stanford appearance at Oregon.
EAGLES FLY SOUTH
The battle with Eastern Washington will be the fourth in program history, with all four meetings coming in the past decade. In the most recent meeting on Nov. 17, 2023, Stanford earned a 95-70 victory behind five players in double figures. The Cardinal also earned a win on Dec. 15, 2018 behind a 19-point performance from Daejon Davis in a 78-62 triumph.