Stanford Basketball Unable to Overcome Wake Forest

On to the next

Feb 5, 2025; Stanford, California, USA; Wake Forest Demon Deacons guard Parker Friedrichsen (right) leaves his feet while guarding Stanford Cardinal forward Maxime Raynaud (42) during the first half at Maples Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images | D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images

Too much to handle. On Wednesday night, the Stanford Cardinal (15-8, 7-5 ACC) hosted Wake Forest, and after a back-and-forth contest that saw multiple lead changes, the Cardinal ultimately came up short, falling 79-73.

Maxime Raynaud once again put on a show, scoring 16 points and grabbing 10 rebounds en route to recording his nation-leading 19th double-double on the season. He also matched a career high in assists, recording six in the game to lead all Stanford players.

The lead changed eight times throughout the second half, with neither Stanford or Wake Forest leading by more than two possessions. Eventually regaining the 48-47 lead after Raynaud converted on an and-one, the Cardinal got out to a three point lead at one point, leading 65-62 with six minutes to go in the game.

While it looked like Stanford would be able to hang on and win, they started to miss a lot of their shots towards the end, ending the night making only one out of their last seven shots. This lead to Wake Forest taking over and regaining a lead to take home the game.

Chisom Okpara contributed 14 points for Stanford while Ryan Agarwal had 12 and Oziyah Sellers had 10. Okpara shot 6-of-8 from the field and 2-of-3 from three. Jaylen Thompson, who earned his first ever start, scored seven points.

Thompson's points came all within the first 5:30 or so minutes of action, which led to Stanford taking a 14-11 lead. After Wake Forest responded with a run, taking a 35-26 lead, the Cardinal ended the first half on an 11-5 run, cutting the Wake Forest lead to 40-37 at the half.

Stanford will next play on Saturday, when NC State comes to town for a big matchup. Tip-off is slated for 4 p.m. (PT) at Maples Pavilion and will air on the ACC Network.