Stanford Basketball's Schedule Provides Challenges, Path to March Madness

Stanford men’s basketball begins in less than two months, when the Oregon Ducks come into town to play the Cardinal in a scrimmage, just a few days before the opener against Portland State.

Throughout the offseason, the Cardinal has made a number of moves. They lost their top three scorers, in Maxime Raynaud, Oziyah Sellers, and Jaylen Blakes, but second year head coach Kyle Smith has been able to retain some key pieces.

They return about 66% of their roster, an impressive number considering the new age world of college basketball. Among the stars for the program this coming season will be Ryan Agarwal, Benny Gealer, and Chisom Okpara, who look to be the upperclassmen leaders of the program in 25-26.

Not only did they retain some talent, but they have gotten some upgrades in the transfer portal and in recruiting. In the portal, they picked up Jeremy Dent-Smith, one of the best players in college basketball at the DII level, and AJ Rohosy, a former DI player under coach Smith at Washington State, who spent last season at Claremont McKenna, a DIII school, getting All-American honors.

On the recruiting side, Stanford signed Ebuka Okorie, a four-star New Hampshire Gatorade Player of the Year. They also got a pair of international signees in Kristers Skrinda and Oskar Giltay. Earlier this week, they also announced that 2026 commit Myles Jones would be reclassifying to the class of ‘25, attending campus early.

Stanford's 2025-26 men's basketball schedule

On September 9, Stanford fully announced their entire schedule for the 25-26 season. Here’s what it looks like:

Stanford plays an exhibition game against Oregon on October 30th, before opening their season on November 4th against Portland State. Then, they play two straight Montana schools, Montana and Montana State, on the 8th and 12th.

They wrap up the month of November with Louisiana on the 18th and Seattle on the 21st before playing their first non-home games of the year, Minnesota on the 27th, followed by the winner of Santa Clara and Saint Louis on the 28th, both in Palm Desert for the Acrisure Series.

Stanford comes home to play Portland on December 1, followed by UNLV on December 7. Then, they travel to the other side of Silicon Valley to play San Jose State on the 13th. Stanford will host UT Arlington on the 17th, before playing Colorado in Phoenix for the Hall of Fame game on the 20th. They wrap up their non-conference slate at home against CSU Northridge on the 27th.

The Cardinal play their first conference game of the season in a rivalry matchup against Notre Dame at home on the 30th. Then, they play Louisville at home on the 2nd of January. Stanford goes on a road trip to Virginia to take on the Hokies and Cavaliers on the 6th and 10th, before coming home for the biggest part of the season.

Stanford hosts North Carolina on the 14th, followed by Duke on the 17th, and Cal on the 24th. Those three games will easily be the biggest of the season.

They go back on the road to Florida after playing at Miami and Florida State on the 27th and 31st, respectively. Then, they come home to play Clemson on February 4th, and Georgia Tech on the 7th. Then they're back on the road to Boston College after on the 10th, then go to Wake Forest on the 14th.

Stanford stays in the Bay Area for the final three games of February: At Cal on the 21st, at home against Pitt on the 24th, and at home against SMU on the 28th. Finally, they go to Notre Dame on March 3rd, and to NC State on the 7th to wrap up their regular season.

Stanford has tons of potential this season, and their schedule may fit their needs perfectly for what could be a trip back to the March Madness in 2026. Their non-conference schedule should set them up nicely heading into the conference portion of their season, and some of their toughest games will be played at Maples, where they dominated in 2024-25.