Stanford Men's Basketball Drops Finale to Louisville, Awaits Fate

Stanford men's basketball had an incredible turnaround season in 2024-25, finishing the season at 19-12 with an 11-9 record in their first year in the ACC. New head coach Kyle Smith helped lead the Cardinal to their highest win total since the program finished 20-12 during the 2019-20 campaign.

Over the past decade, Stanford has finished with as many as 19 wins just three times, so this is certainly a step in the right direction for the program.

On Saturday, Stanford traveled to Louisville, Kentucky to face the No. 14/13 Cardinals, and came away with a 68-48 loss. Despite the lopsided score, big man Maxime Raynaud was still able to put up 17 points and collect 11 rebounds, giving him his nation-leading 23rd double-double on the year.

Stanford shot just 20% from the floor in the first half, which led to an 18-point deficit. The Cardinals' lead was trimmed to just eight early in the second half, with Raynaud coming out of the break hot, scoring 11 of his 17 in the first 6:27 of the half.

With his 11 rebounds, Raynaud tied Kim Belton ’80 for third place on Stanford’s all-time career rebounds list and he passed Rich Kelley ’75 for fourth place on Stanford’s single-season list.

The defense was also there for Stanford on Saturday, with the Cardinal holding Louisville to their second-lowest point total of the season. The 68 they scored was just slightly higher than the 65 they put up against Duke back in December.

It was the offense around Raynaud that didn't quite have as much punch as they needed in this one. Oziyah Sellers and Chisom Okpara scored eight points apiece, while Ryan Agarwal had seven. Jaylen Blakes scored five points with a game-high five assists

While the contest was fairly close overall, Louisville closed strong on a 13-3 run, turning a ten-point lead to a 20-point win.

With their record now settled for the season, Stanford will prepare for the ACC tournament, which begins next week. With their 11-9 mark against the conference, Stanford has earned the No. 7 seed in the ACC, along with a first-round bye.

The Cardinal will now await the winner of the 10/15 matchup, which will be Virginia Tech (No. 10) taking on Syracuse (No. 15). Stanford defeated each of those teams during the regular season, topping Tech 70-59 on January 8, and Syracuse 70-61 on January 28.

The one big difference between those games and the one that will be played on Wednesday is that the previous victories came at home, where Stanford went 16-2 on the year. By comparison, they went just 3-8 on the road, and 0-2 at neutral venues.

Tip-off for the second-round matchup is scheduled for 4 p.m. (PT) and will air on ESPN2.