Stanford Men's Basketball Unveils Non-Conference Schedule
· Yahoo Sports
Stanford's third season under head coach Kyle Smith is set to tip off on Monday, November 2 against Eastern Washington at Maples Pavilion. They will also partake in two official exhibition matchups on October 17 against Santa Clara and October 25 against Oregon, with both games being played on the road.
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The program has also made its non-conference slate official for the 2026-27 season.
Monday, November 2 — Eastern Washington (H)
Friday, November 6 — Oakland (H)
Monday, November 9 — Rice (H)
Friday, November 13 — UNLV (A)
Tuesday, November 17 — UC Irvine (H)
Thursday, November 19 — Sacramento State (H)
Acrisure Series
Tuesday, November 24 — Colorado (N)
Wednesday, November 25 — Grand Canyon/Saint Louis winner (N)
Sunday, November 29 — Portland (H)
SEC/ACC Challenge
Wednesday, December 2 — Texas A&M (A)
Sunday, December 6 — Pacific (H)
Monday, December 14 — Northern Colorado (H)
Friday, December 18 — San Jose State (H)
Tuesday, December 22 — St. Thomas (H)
As you can see, 10 of Stanford's 14 matchups to begin the regular season will be at home, and two of those four away games will be played at neutral sites for the Acrisure Series. The other two will have Stanford facing UNLV in Las Vegas and Texas A&M in College Station.
The Aggies made the tournament last season and defeated St. Mary's in the first round before falling to No. 5 Houston. This could end up being Stanford's biggest litmus test of the first half of the season.
Last year the Cardinal went 20-13 overall with a 9-9 conference record and an 11-4 record in non-conference games. Stanford also went 3-2 in neutral site games, including winning last season's Acrisure Series in come-from-behind fashion.
After being a bubble team last season, the Cardinal's best bet to improve its odds for an NCAA tournament berth will be to have a more dominant non-conference run.
They'll also have to achieve that feat without Ebuka Okorie this season, after the star freshman guard who led Stanford last season was selected 17th overall in the NBA Draft, ending up on an already-dominant Detroit Pistons squad.
This year on The Farm, coach Smith has a mix of four-star recruits and tall veteran players, like Aidan Cammann (6-10) and transfer Austin Maurer (7-foot) who will provide the size and veteran presence needed to complement the incoming freshmen and replicate pieces of Stanford's winning formula the past two seasons.
In year one under Smith, the Cardinal relied heavily upon Maxime Raynaud's size and his consistent double-doubles before he was drafted to the NBA by the Sacramento Kings. This past season it was Okorie's ability to take over a game. Get him the ball and let him do the rest.
This coming season, they'll have an interior anchor with size in Maurer, and a lot of extremely talented incoming freshmen like Isaiah Rogers, Aziz Olajuwon, Julius Price, Elias Obenyah, and Drew Anderson.
Olajuwon (No. 69), Price (No. 88), Obenyah (No. 99), and Rogers (No. 107) are all ranked as top recruits nationally coming into this season.
Finding the right mix between the incoming freshmen and the veterans on the roster early on will be key to Stanford's success this season.