SETTING THE SCENE
Returning home to open its penultimate homestand, Stanford men’s basketball welcomes No. 20/19 Clemson on Wednesday, Feb. 4 at 7 p.m. The contest will air on ACC Network.

THE STARTING FIVE
• Stanford is out to a 14-8 start, including four quadrant one NET victories and ACC wins vs. No. 14/15 North Carolina, No. 16/13 Louisville and Virginia Tech.
• Ebuka Okorie ranks 10th in the country in scoring at 21.8 points per game and third among freshmen. He joins only Duke’s Cameron Boozer and BYU’s AJ Dybantsa as qualified freshmen nationally north of 21 points per night, and he was named in the top-10 rankings for national freshman of the year by ESPN, Bleacher Report, Field of 68 and Hoops HQ.
• Stanford won the Acrisure Invitational in Palm Desert with wins over Minnesota and Saint Louis, with Benny Gealer‘s buzzer beater on Nov. 28 sending the Cardinal home victorious.
• The Cardinal will host its fourth ranked opponent in its last five home games, with Stanford 2-1 vs. the previous three. The last time Stanford hosted four ranked opponents in the same season was 2008-09.
•  Maxime Raynaud graduated from Stanford in 2025 after posting one of the top seasons in program history, and the All-American was drafted by the Sacramento Kings in June. Stanford’s NBA alumni are shining above expectations, with Raynaud scoring 9.6 points per game, Ziaire Williams 9.5 per game and Spencer Jones 6.1 per game, including 33 starts. Raynaud is posting 11.3 points per game as a starter, while Jones is at 7.7 – both could be prime for larger roles after this week’s NBA trade deadline.

RESILIENT CARDINAL
Stanford is in the midst of a tough stretch, entering the home battle with the Tigers on a four-game skid. The Cardinal has been strong at home against ranked opponents this season, including top-20 wins over Louisville and North Carolina, while Ebuka Okorie bounced back on Stanford’s Florida road trip with averages of 22.5 points and four assists per game. Benny Gealer made nine combined 3-pointers against Miami and Florida State, while AJ Rohosy scored 10.5 with two double-digit scoring performances.

RECORD BOOK WATCH
In a position to rewrite the Cardinal’s freshman record book, Ebuka Okorie already ranks fifth in points, standing 15 points away from matching Casey Jacobsen (1999-00) for fourth and 19 away from Tyrell Terry (2019-20) for third. His scoring average is on pace to top Todd Lichti (17.2, 1985-86) for the top spot.

Okorie has moved into eighth in field goals made (134) and is just seven away from moving into the top five, and ninth in 3-pointers made (36), 13 away from the top five. The Stanford freshman record for free throws is nearing a change, as Okorie stands just nine away from tying Lichti’s mark of 140. He passed John Revelli (130, 1980-81) on Jan. 31 vs. Florida State.

Not just a scorer, Okorie is two assists away from tying Wolfe Perry (1975-76) for 10th and he is currently tied for 10th in steals, along with Bryce Wills (2018-19). He is 11 assists and three steals away from tying for seventh in both categories. 

In Stanford’s overall season history, Okorie is 97 points away from the top-20 while his current scoring average of 21.8 points per game would rank fourth all-time, trailing only Adam Keefe (25.3, 1991-92), Landry Fields (22.0, 2009-20) and Casey Jacobsen (21.9, 2001-02).