SETTING THE SCENE
After a season-opening victory on Monday over Eastern Washington, Stanford continues its three-game homestand with a visit to Maples Pavilion from Oakland on Friday, Nov. 6 at 7 p.m. The action will air on ACC Network Extra, while the radio feed can be found on YouTube, Sirius XM or GoStanford.com.
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, and three freshmen finished in double figures on opening night: Julius Price, Aziz Olajuwon and Isaiah Rogers.
• 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.
EAGLES SCOUTED
Kyle Smith earned his 300th victory as a collegiate head coach, and Stanford men's basketball earned a hard-fought victory on opening night against Eastern Washington, 74-65. Julius Price led five players in double figures with 17 points, while Aidan Cammann had 13, Aziz Olajuwon and Nick Townsend had 12 apiece, and Isaiah Rogers scored 10. Olajuwon starred defensively with six steals, becoming just the fifth Stanford player since 2005, and first freshman, to record six takeaways. The win was Stanford's 17th consecutive season-opening victory.
FUN WITH SMALL SAMPLE SIZES
Through just one game, Stanford ranks sixth nationally as a team in two-point percentage (74.6%) and 14th nationally in limiting opponent assists at 30.4 percent. After co-leading the country through Monday's action, Aziz Olajwon's six steals per game now ranks fourth nationally and tied for first among true freshmen players, and he is fifth nationally in steal percentage. Julius Price is the ACC's fourth-leading scorer (17.0 ppg) among freshmen. Stanford also paces the country in transition eFG%, per Bart Torvik, as the Cardinal allowed zero fast break points to Eastern Washington.
NOT THAT OAKLAND
Stanford welcomes Horizon League foe Oakland for the first meeting in program history on Friday, Nov. 6. Stanford is just 3-0 all-time against current Horizon League teams - 2-0 vs. Green Bay, last meeting in 2022, and 1-0 against Cleveland State, in 2011.