On Wednesday, Stanford men’s basketball defeated Boston College at home by a final score of 78-60. Stanford center Maxime Raynaud led the way for the Cardinal with 23 points, 10 rebounds, and 1 block, passing Adam Keefe for the most double-doubles in a single season in program history. Stanford guard Oziyah Sellers (18 points), forward Chisom Okpara (season-high 15 points & 5 rebounds), and guard Jaylen Blakes (11 points) also scored in double figures for the Cardinal. Boston College forward/center Chad Venning (13 points & 4 rebounds) and guard Roger McFarlane (11 points & 5 rebounds) scored in double figures for the Eagles. Stanford improves to 18-10 overall and 10-7 in the ACC while Boston College falls to 12-16 overall and 4-13 in the ACC.
VIDEO: Stanford MBB Postgame Press Conference: Boston College
BOX SCORE: Boston College at Stanford-Wednesday, February 26th
“Yeah, I was really proud of the way our guys played,” Stanford head coach Kyle Smith said after the game. “Obviously first half we were terrific defensively, which was good. We had like eight kills against Cal, which was phenomenal and that was good for us. And kills are three stops in a row and I think we had five in the first half against a team that’s been playing really well and felt good.
“Second half, we exchanged baskets a little bit and they’ve been playing well. They’re a good team. So, everyone has good players in this league. I think we did an unbelievable job on Hand, who I think is an NBA prospect at the very least. I know he’s already that and probably player, but we did a great job on him and just any win in this league is good and that was a really pretty convincing good win for us.”
Stanford led 7-6 with 15:29 to go in the half as Maxime Raynaud had all seven points for the Cardinal. Guards Dion Brown and Donald Hand Jr. each had three points for the Eagles.
Stanford led 16-8 with 11:30 to go in the half as they were on a 12-2 run over the last 4:56. Oziyah Sellers was up to five points after nailing a corner three thanks to a nice behind the back assist from Raynaud. The Cardinal were starting to heat up.
Stanford continued to stay in front, up 22-13 with 7:55 to go in the half. Raynaud was up to 11 points on 4-5 shooting from the field, 2-2 shooting from 3-point range, and 1-2 shooting from the foul line. The Eagles did not have an answer for him.
With 4:43 to go in the half, Stanford led 29-15. Chisom Okpara was up to seven points for the Cardinal on 3-3 shooting from the field after making a nice step back 3-pointer.
“I thought Chisom, he’s been coming on in practice, been playing better in games,” Smith said of Okpara. “He’s in a great spot for us where he gives us another playmaker coming off the bench and he keeps coming. I’m not surprised. It takes a while for guys to transition. Like, my reference is always like when I have junior college guys at other places that, you know, they played two years and it takes about half the season to get going and learning things and that’s kind where, you know, he’s played two years at Harvard and it takes, our system is not easy for everyone as far as like learn what to do.
“But he’s comfortable out there and that’s good. You know, he’s been good offensively. He’s got to take care of the ball and he did that tonight. And he got on the glass, which is we’ve been begging him to do that and getting on him and it’s good to see it and love to see the improvement.”
“Yeah, me just really taking every opportunity,” Okpara said of the key to his growth. “Don’t take any opportunity for granted. Just keep hooping. Trusting my abilities and going in and impacting the game in any way I could. I feel like a lot of times with defenders I have a mismatch that if you give me space I’ll shoot it. If you draw up on me, drive. If you cut me up, pivot and then I have a great shooter at seven foot. So, the game is pretty simple. Slow it down for myself is what has been the key.”
Stanford continued to cruise, leading 37-19 at halftime as Raynaud was up to 16 points following a 3-pointer. As for Jaylen Blakes, he had five points following a steal and dunk in transition. The Cardinal had all the momentum.
“Our concentration was really good,” Smith said of their ability to force turnovers. “We just played man and I think against Cal we played more man, played mixed it up, and they’re really hard to keep in front and guard ya. And we had 16 deflections in the first half and a good game is 20. I think 20, I think Coach Shaw told me 20 is a good game. So you have 16 in the first half, that was very disruptive.
“And I think Jaylen, I think Jaylen is finally back as far as he missed about ten days. Got back playing. It takes about another ten days and I think he’s finally, because I think he had like seven deflections in there in the half. So I think that was the biggest part. He’s always spearheading it for us that way and we were playing on a string. Like, we were connected, like some of those turnovers like it was when the ball screen covers and they tried to throw it cross court. We got a hand on it and the next guy was running through there and some picture perfect plays, in fact.”
Stanford came out of the gates strong in the second half, leading 49-28 with 15:59 to go. Raynaud now had 18 points and five rebounds for the Cardinal while Blakes and Sellers each had nine points. Boston College needed to make a run if they were to get back in this game.
With 11:34 to go, Stanford led 59-36 as Boston College remained incapable of flipping the switch. Raynaud was up to 21 points and seven rebounds for Stanford while Sellers had 14 points. As for Boston College, Chad Venning had nine points having made four straight field goals. He was starting to get going a bit, but it wasn’t making any sort of dent in the margin.
Stanford would lead 66-48 with 7:11 to go. Stanford was shooting 25-49 from the field (51.0%) while Boston College was shooting 18-43 (41.9%). Stanford simply was in a much better rhythm.
With 2:53 to go, Stanford led 74-60 as Raynaud had his program-record 21st double-double of the season with 23 points and 10 rebounds. At this point, it was beyond clear how this game was going to end.
“He broke the double-double record at Stanford and that’s quite an accomplishment,” Smith said. “Especially, I think it was Adam Keefe and that’s pretty good company to say the least.
“It feels really good,” Raynaud said of breaking Keefe’s record. “I didn’t get emotional, but I was you know, it feels kind of special just coming here four years ago as a French freshman that had really no idea how this was gonna turn out. So it definitely, being in the books is particular and also because I tied the record like six games ago and I could just not get one for five games. So, yeah, feels special and I love the way we did it. Our first half was absolutely amazing. Second half wasn’t as great, but still won the game by almost 20. So, yeah. I’m so happy to share it with these guys. I think they’ve been really good for me and I’ve been really good for them. So, yeah, it’s really special.
“I definitely talked to his son [James] about it because I played with him and we saw them at Duke. I think he [Adam] was courtside when I tied the record against NC State. I haven’t talked to him directly about it, but I think there’s a common understanding of we’re all trying to raise the bar for the Stanford program and he’s been so good for us. I remember the past couple of years when we played UCLA or USC, he would always host a team dinner at his house or something like that.
“And even to this day he’s been around the program a lot. He used to play with our coach Eric Reveno as well. So, it’s really good to see that like being a Cardinal is not just a four year decision, but a lifetime decision. So yeah, it’s awesome to see these Cardinal families still being really tight and all together.”
The final scored ended up being a bit better for Stanford as they walked out with a 78-60 victory. Maxime Raynaud had another fantastic game while also making program history in the process. On top of that, he got a good deal of help from Sellers, Okpara, and Blakes. It was an all-around good win for Stanford even though Boston College is beyond bad.
“Oziyah is sometimes a guy I rarely talk about just because you could take him for granted,” Smith said of Sellers. “He’s so steady, he’s so consistent, and tonight, forget the points, he had Hand. He was the guy that was guarding Hand and he was locked in. He did a great job of limiting his catches, touches, and then super efficient. He made a couple questionable decisions for him, but he’s easy to coach and he just keeps playing and I love to see him when he gets up to the foul line. It’s a nice feeling. Him doing more of that, too is good.”
Up next for Stanford is a home game against SMU on Saturday, March 1st. Tipoff is set for 2:00 PM PT on ACC Network.
“We’ll look at, like we weren’t healthy, but they were better,” Smith said of the previous matchup with SMU. “I’ll say that. We gotta play better. They’re a team that doesn’t have a lot of weaknesses. I don’t know if their point guard will be back. But still, like their eighth, ninth guys are pretty significant recruits. Their one through nine are really, really impressive. So, we’ll look at that film and see areas that we can do better. I know right away we need to do a better job at transition D. I can assure you that. At least get that straightened out.”
Connect with CardinalSportsReport.com on Facebook, IG, Threads, X (Twitter), & Blue Sky: @StanfordRivals
Connect with Ben Parker on Facebook, IG, Threads, X (Twitter), & Blue Sky: @slamdunk406
Email: slamdunk406@yahoo.com
