Stanford men’s basketball is set to begin its 2025-26 season by hosting Portland State on Tuesday, November 4 at 7 p.m. The team comes off a notable year under head coach Kyle Smith, tying the program record with 17 home wins and achieving its highest win total since the 2014-15 season, finishing with 21 victories.
The upcoming campaign marks Stanford’s second year in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), where it finished seventh during its inaugural season. The Cardinal returns a mix of experienced players and newcomers, including two starters and six of the top nine from last year’s rotation. Additionally, Stanford has added two transfers and a new freshman class.
Kyle Smith, who was named the 2024 Pac-12 Coach of the Year, enters his second season as head coach. He became only the second coach in program history to win at least 20 games in his first year and matched a record for most improved wins by a first-year head coach with seven more victories than the previous season. “Smith is also the second head coach in program history to win 20 or more games in his first season, while his seven-win improvement from the previous season matched a program record for a first-year head coach.” Last year’s success included Stanford’s first postseason appearance since 2018 with an invitation to the NIT tournament, marking Smith’s fourth consecutive postseason as a head coach.
Key player Maxime Raynaud graduated after one of the best individual seasons in school history and was selected by the Sacramento Kings in June. The Cardinal returns 52 percent of its minutes played from last year and brings back 11 players—nine on scholarship—for this season. This retention rate is unique among ACC programs; Stanford is the only team returning over half its minutes played and ranks fourth in returning scoring percentage within the conference.
In their final preseason exhibition game on October 30, Stanford defeated Oregon 78-70. Chisom Okpara led with 20 points, six rebounds, and three steals while making all three of his three-point attempts. Ebuka Okorie contributed 17 points, hitting nine out of ten free throws. Ryan Agarwal scored ten points, Benny Gealer added eight, and both AJ Rohosy and Aidan Cammann chipped in seven each; Cammann recorded a game-best plus-31 rating.
Stanford forced Oregon into committing 19 turnovers and capitalized by scoring 17 points off those mistakes. The team made use of free throw opportunities by converting on 25 out of their 32 attempts while limiting Oregon to just five successful three-pointers out of nineteen attempts.
