Stanford Basketball Announces Matchup with Oregon at SAP Center

Dylan Grausz | Aug 16, 2024

Jan 12, 2019; Stanford, CA, USA; Stanford Cardinal forward KZ Okpala (0) dribbles the ball up court during the first half of their NCAA mens basketball game against the Arizona State Sun Devils at Maples Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Robert Edwards-USA TODAY Sports / Robert Edwards-USA TODAY Sports

The Stanford basketball season is still a couple of months away, but that does not mean that the anticipation for another campaign is not already here. Recently, part of the Cardinal’s 2024-25 schedule was released and in the recent announcement, the Cardinal will face off against former conference rivals, the Oregon Ducks, at the SAP Center in San Jose on December 21.

Part of a double-header night, Cal will also face off against San Diego State at the same venue on the same night. Stanford’s game against Oregon will be the first time since 1967 that the two teams will face off as non-conference opponents, and in what will be the 153rd meeting all-time between the two programs, the Cardinal will go into it hoping to improve their series record even more, as they currently lead the all-time matchups 95-57.

With the travel commitments of the ACC and the Big Ten, the conference that Oregon will join this year, it comes as no surprise that the two teams elected to play each other on the West Coast, as this matchup mitigates any excess travel while allowing two strong teams to go up against each other in preparation for a grueling conference schedule. Anybody who buys a ticket to the event will be able to use a single ticket to get into both the Stanford-Oregon game and the Cal-San Diego State game. 

Stanford is still finalizing both its conference and non-conference schedule, but it has been announced that the team will play 17 conference opponents in a 20-game conference schedule most notably Boston College, Florida State, Miami, NC State and Syracuse among others. The only other games that are already listed on Stanford’s schedule are games in the Acrisure Holiday Classic in Thousand Palms, California where the Cardinal will play Grand Canyon on November 26 at 8:30 p.m. at Acrisure Arena. All the other games on the team’s schedule are still TBD.

Entering the season with a new head coach since firing Jerod Haase in March, the Cardinal will go into their first season in the ACC with Kyle Smith at the helm, who has compiled a lifetime record of 258-193 as a head coach between three prior jobs, including going 94-71 at his last job at Washington State where he led the Cougars to their first NCAA tournament berth in 16 years. Coming to Palo Alto with a roster that has a lot of returning talent, Smith will utilize players such as rising senior veteran Maxime Reynaud to help usher in the new era of Stanford basketball.