Stanford Sports Schedule Filled with Hoops Action!

Stanford athletes had a light week overall this past week due to a break for finals, but over the next seven days, both men's and women's basketball will be hitting the court numerous times.

Before we get started, it's worth mentioning that the Stanford women's volleyball team won their match on Thursday, December 12 against Florida, which saw them advance to the Elite 8. Unfortunately, they ended up losing that matchup against a tough Louisville program three sets to one on Saturday, ending their season.

Monday, December 16

Women's basketball returns to Maples following a loss to a tough California Golden Bears team, 83-63, in their first taste of ACC action. The loss drops them to 7-3 overall, 0-1 in the conference, and gives the Cardinal a two-game losing streak entering their game against UTSA on Monday.

The women's team is leading the nation in 3-point percentage (95-of-228, 42.8%), and first-year head coach Kate Paye became just the 16th person to both play for, and coach a program that has been ranked by the AP.

Monday's matchup with UTSA will be their first time meeting. Since the American Athletic Conference was formed in 2013, Stanford has played a team from the league five times and gone 1-4. The Cardinal was 1-3 against UConn from 2013 through 2017 and lost to South Florida in November 2021. This will be Stanford’s first time hosting an opponent from The American since it beat No. 1 UConn in overtime on Nov. 17, 2014, 88-86, ending the Huskies’ 47-game winning streak.

This game will be at 12 p.m. and can be seen on ACC Network.

Tuesday, December 17

The Stanford men's team had all of last week off, with their previous game being a win over Cal, 88-81 in Berkeley. Following a close loss to Cal Poly at the end of November, Stanford is riding a two-game win streak that began on December 3, and their record on the year is an impressive 8-2, which includes a 1-0 record in conference following their win over the Golden Bears.

This is the first time that the Stanford men have started 8-2 since 2019-20 when they began the year 15-2. Later this week will see the competition level rise just a bit when the Cardinal travel to San José to face Oregon in the San José Tip Off. Oregon is currently the No. 12 ranked team in the nation in the AP poll.

Luckily, the men's squad will get a bit of a tune-up game against Merrimack on Tuesday, with this game also taking place at Maples. Tip-off for this one will be at 7 p.m. and will air on ACC Network.

Friday, December 20

The Stanford women have already played some big games, most notably on the road against Indiana and LSU, both of which saw the Cardinal leave in defeat. But Friday's matchup could be the highest profile game they've had to date under coach Paye.

They'll travel up to San Francisco in the Invisalign Bay Area Women's Classic where they'll face No. 11 ranked Ohio State. We already saw them hang tough with No. 4 LSU on the road, and this will be more of a home game for the Cardinal, so this could be a great test for the program as conference play nears.

This game is set to begin at 5:30 p.m. from Chase Center and will air on FS1.

Saturday, December 21

This will also be the first real big test for the Stanford men's program, with Oregon representing their first ranked opponent of the season. In last week's AP poll, aside from the 25 ranked teams across the nation, another 22 programs also received at least one vote. Stanford, at 8-2, was not one of them. A win, or even a good showing here could start to open the eyes of the voters.

There will be a lot of opportunities this season for Maxime Raynaud to showcase his own abilities this season as ACC play will begin on January 1 against Clemson, but this is also the first big spotlight game for Raynaud this season. With dreams of making it to the NBA, these games against tougher competition will matter.

Saturday's game will begin at 5 p.m. and can be seen on the Big 10 Network.

This will be the end of the sports calendar until after Christmas, with the next event scheduled being wrestling on December 29, followed quickly by the men's basketball game against Clemson on New Year's Day.