Stanford upsets No. 16 Louisville, deal Cardinals another road loss

Stanford earned its biggest win of the 2025-26 season so far on Friday. 

The Cardinal toppled No. 16 Louisville 80-76 in a game that was extremely tight throughout. 

Trailing by two with 9.8 seconds to go, Louisville had an opportunity to steal the basketball. The Cardinals nearly forced a five-second count before the ball was inbounded to Benny Gealer, who nailed two free throws to make it 78-74. 

The game ended after a Louisville layup led to two game-icing free throws from Jeremy Dent-Smith. 

The win, which is Stanford's first over Louisville, also denied Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey his 300th triumph. Kelsey and the Cardinals will have to wait until their Jan. 6 matchup against No. 6 Duke to try and get Kelsey win No. 300.

What it means

Louisville blew out California 90-70 in its ACC opener before stumbling on Friday. The loss is the third of the year for the Cardinals, all three of which have come on the road. Louisville also dropped road contest to No. 18 Arkansas and No. 19 Tennessee. 

Stanford fell to Notre Dame in a 47-40 rockfight to open conference play, but looked much smoother on Friday. The win is a huge resume builder for the Cardinal, who also have losses to Seattle and UNLV this season.