SETTING THE SCENE
Looking to close its season-opening homestand at 3-0, Stanford welcomes Rice to Maples Pavilion on Monday, Nov. 9 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 is out to a 2-0 start with four players averaging double-figure scoring and six players scoring at least eight points per game. Nick Townsend leads the team with 18.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 3.0 assists per game as the only player nationally to hit those benchmarks in the first week of the season.
• 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 has added 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.
TALK OF THE TOWNSEND
Completing an unblemished opening week to the college basketball season, Stanford earned an 81-63 victory over Oakland at Maples Pavilion. Nick Townsend led the Cardinal with 25 points, eight rebounds, four assists and four steals, finishing 8-for-11 from the floor and 8-for-9 from the free throw line. Christian Bliss added a season-best 17 points with eight rebounds, including a 4-for-5 tally from beyond the 3-point arc. Aidan Camman was in double figures for the second consecutive game, finishing with 13 points and two steals. Stanford limited Oakland to just four assists while forcing 14 turnovers.
FRESHMAN PHENOMS
Stanford has added its highest-rated recruiting class since 2023 and its fourth top-25 recruiting class since 2020, as the haul is ranked No. 22 nationally by 247 Sports and On3/Rivals, and No. 24 from ESPN. The Cardinal class is highlighted by consensus top-70 wing Aziz Olajwuon, who is the son of former NBA All-Star Hakeem Olajuwon, as well as four-star prospects Julius Price, Isaiah Rogers, Elias Obenyah and Drew Anderson. Price, Rogers, Obenyah and Anderson were each selected to the MaxPreps All-California first, second or third teams, while Price joins Olajuwon with international experience at the FIBA youth levels, with Olajuwon representing Canada and Price, Sweden. An electric scorer, Price ranked second in scoring at the 2024 FIBA U-18 European Championships at 21.6 points per game and he earned his first call-up to the senior national team in August of 2026. Rogers holds the Centennial High School record for 40-point games, while Obenyah led Salesian to the California title game.
Price has posted 12.5 points and 4.0 assists per game during the first week of the season, while Olajuwon and Rogers are close behind and nine and eight points per game, respectively. All three started the second game of the year vs. Oakland, marking the first game Stanford started three freshmen since Jan. 3, 2019 vs. UCLA.