When: Saturday February 8, 7:00 PM ET
Where: Maples Pavilion, The Farm, Stanford CA
TV: ACCN
Opponent: Stanford Cardinal
Prediction – KenPom (KP) / Bart Torvik (BT): Stanford 72-67 / Stanford 72-66
Wolfpack Snapshot:
- Record: 9-13, 2-9
- Rankings: KP #103, BT #102, WAB -5.9 ranked 186th
- NET Ranking: NET 120, 13th in ACC Conf NET rankings
- NET performance: Q1 (0-6), Q2 (0-5), Q3 (2-2), Q4 (7-0)
Wolfpack Season So Far:
7 consecutive losses – longest losing streak of Coach Keatts’ career. We’ll be underdogs in 4 of the next 5 games starting with Stanford
Realistically, two sad goals remain this season:
- Make the ACC tournament – The bottom 3 teams aren’t invited. Currently we are out, ranked 17th. We have remaining games against the ACC’s 3 other worst teams, Syracuse, Miami, and Boston College.
- Avoid tying or exceeding the most losses in Wolfpack history – 2021-2022: 11-21 / 4-16
Wolfpack Player Notes:
- Michael O’Connell returns to his former home court where he played 89 games in three seasons for Stanford, starting 76.
- Mike James had arthroscopic knee surgery on 10/30 and has yet to play this season. Coach Keatts announced that he has not yet been ruled out for the season in his Monday (2/3) press conference. He expects to make a final decision soon.
- Brandon Huntley-Hatfield did not make the trip to California. His shoulder, injured in the Notre Dame game, continues to bother him.
Opponent Overview:
This is Coach Kyle Smith’s first season as Stanford’s coach. Coach Smith was named last season’s PAC-12 Coach of the Year while leading Washington State (25-10) to their first NCAAT appearance in 16 years. (Our new Wolfpack radio buddy, Matt Chazanow, did the radio coverage for Wazzu games last season) This is his fourth head coaching job, and he’s developed a reputation for rapidly turning around struggling programs.
As with most coaching changes, roster turnover was a problem. The Cardinal retained only six players, only two of which were significant contributors. Luckily for him, one of the returners was 2024 Pac-12 Most Improved Player and All-Pac-12 Second Team 7’1” senior forward Maxime Raynaud.
In the program’s first undergraduate transfer class since 2009, Coach Smith signed Chisom Okpara (Harvard), Oziyah Sellers (USC), Derin Saran (UC Irvine) and Jaylen Blakes (Duke).
The incoming freshman class consists of three-star recruits Evan Stinson, Tallis Toure, Donavin Young, and Anthony Batson Jr.
Opponent Snapshot:
- Record: 15-8, 7-5
- Rankings: KP #85, BT #78, WAB -1.7 ranked 77th
- NET Ranking: NET 77, 8th in ACC Conf NET rankings
- NET performance: Q1 (2-5), Q2 (1-2), Q3 (4-0), Q4 (8-1)
Team Stat Comparison
| Team | PPG | FG% | 3PT% | 3PT-M pg | Reb pg | Ast pg | TO pg | ST pg | BL pg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | PPG | FG% | 3PT% | 3PT-M pg | Reb pg | Ast pg | TO pg | ST pg | BL pg |
| NC State | 69.5 | 43.6% | 31.6% | 5.9 | 32.5 | 12.2 | 9.4 | 6.6 | 4.2 |
| Stanford | 75.8 | 44.1% | 33.4% | 8 | 35 | 14.3 | 10.7 | 7.2 | 3.3 |
Their ACC Rankings of Note – Conference Play: (Source: theacc.com)
- 1st in FT percentage
- 3rd in combined opponent rebounds
- 5th in assists
Opponent Season So Far
| Good Wins | Bad Losses | ACC – Wins | ACC – Wins | ACC – Losses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good Wins | Bad Losses | ACC – Wins | ACC – Wins | ACC – Losses |
| Santa Clara | Grand Canyon | Cal | Miami | Clemson |
| Cal Poly | Va Tech | FSU | Pitt | |
| Virginia | Wake Forest | |||
| UNC | SMU | |||
| Syracuse | Wake Forest |
Player Notes
- Raynaud – 4th in scoring, 1st in rebounding, 2nd in FT percentage
- Blakes – 6th in assists
Key Player Injuries
- Starting PG Jaylen Blakes missed their most recent two games with a head injury – status unknown.
Probable Starters
| Player | Class | Pos | Height | Weight | PPG | 3PT% | 3PTApg | REB | ASST | STL | BLK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Class | Pos | Height | Weight | PPG | 3PT% | 3PTApg | REB | ASST | STL | BLK |
| Maxime Raynaud | SR | F | 7’1″ | 245 | 20.2 | 34% | 5.4 | 8.4 | 1.9 | 1.1 | 1 |
| Oziyah Sellers | JR | G | 6’5″ | 190 | 14.3 | 41% | 4.2 | 2.9 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 0.3 |
| Ryan Agarwal | RS SO | G | 6’6″ | 195 | 7.7 | 28% | 4.5 | 5.1 | 2.2 | 0.6 | 0.2 |
| Jaylen Thompson | RS SO | F | 6’8″ | 210 | 1.7 | 20% | 0.4 | 1.1 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.2 |
| Donavin Young | FR | F | 6’8″ | 215 | 3.8 | 64% | 1.2 | 2.2 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| . | |||||||||||
| * Jaylen Blakes | GR | G | 6’2″ | 200 | 14.6 | 32% | 3.4 | 3.3 | 5 | 1.9 | 0.4 |
| * Starter missed WF game with injury |
** Prop Bets ** (it’s Super Bowl weekend)
- Over / Under: 8:37 – How much game time before Big Ben pick up foul #2? (8:37 at Cal)
- Over / Under: 24 – Diouf’s total minutes (24 at Cal)
- Over / Under: 7.3 – Number made 3PT shots (Average last three games)
- Over / Under: 2 – Number of players with 30+ minutes (2 avg in ACC play)
- Over / Under: 0 – Huntley-Hatfield minutes
- Over / Under: 1 – Trey Parker assists
- Over / Under: 19 points – Maxime Raynaud (translated: “big baller”) score. (average in ACC play)
- Pick One: Leading Rebounder – It was Styles at Cal, Taylor against Clemson, Hill at Duke
- Pick One: Who will score the most – Diouf, Heard, McNeil, Parker
- Pick One: Team lead in assists – It was O’Connell at Cal, Taylor against Clemson, at Duke it was tied, Middlebrooks & McNeil
