Stanford MBB Takes on UNLV for Sunday Afternoon Thriller

The Stanford bench reacts to a bucket late in their win over St. Louis University in the Acrisure Invitational Champioship game at Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert, Calif., Nov. 28, 2025. | Jay Calderon/The Desert Sun / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Stanford Cardinal are set to host the UNLV Rebels at 1 p.m. (PT) for what is expected to be an awesome matchup. The game will be at Maples Pavilion in Palo Alto, CA. It will be broadcast on ACC Extra.

Stanford is coming into the game on a roll. After a great 4-0 start including a win against Montana, they fell to a subpar Seattle squad, quickly hindering their chances at a potential tournament appearance. However, they bounced back with ease.

The Cardinal beat Minnesota and then St. Louis in the Acrisure Series, both while being down 10+ points during the contest. Then, they beat Portland on Monday to improve to 7-1, but this matchup with UNLV will be huge.

UNLV has had a very interesting start to the year. They lost to UT Martin to begin the year, which seemed like an awful loss. Later we learned that the Skyhawks are actually a solid team. They beat Chattanooga in game two, but lost to Montana by nine, the same team Stanford beat by 23.

After, they got impressive back-to-back wins against Memphis and St. Joseph, they went to the Players Era tournament, only to be blown out by Maryland, Alabama, and Rutgers. They now come off a nine-day break hoping to get a big-time road win to help improve their 3-5 overall record.

The Rebels are an interesting matchup for the Cardinal. They are led by Illinois transfer Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn, who does tons for the Rebels. The 6-foot-1 junior guard averages 16.6 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 3 assists this season.

They also have freshman guard Issac Williamson helping with 14 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 2.2 assists of his own. The guard duo seems to do it all, which is why it’ll be fun to see this matchup.

It's going to be a thrill to see how Stanford freshman Ebuka Okorie, the Cardinal’s key player, matches up with the UNLV duo. He averages 21.4 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 3.1 assists per game, and is solid defensively. The Rebels will also have to deal with senior guard Benny Gealer, a defensive menace, that also averages 10.6 points on 45% from three on the season thus far.

The difference in the game will likely be Chisom Okpara. After having a bit of an underwhelming junior season following a transfer from Harvard, Okpara has blasted onto the scene in his senior year. A big game from him could take away eyes from the guard competition in this game and onto the dominant power forward.

The Cardinal come in as 9.5 point favorites, but certainly are faced with a tough challenge. With the presence of Okpara and a slight edge on the guard play, Stanford should get the victory in this one, though it has the potential to be close. Perhaps something around 94-87. This has all the makings of an offensive battle.