On Sunday, Stanford men’s basketball defeated UC Davis at home by a final score of 79-65. Stanford senior big man Maxime Raynaud led the way for the Cardinal with a career-high 33 points and 14 rebounds while graduate student point guard Jaylen Blakes had 17 points and three rebounds. Raynaud was named ACC Men’s Basketball Player of the Week as a result of his performance. UC Davis senior guard TY Johnson was the top scorer for the Aggies with 26 points and four rebounds. Stanford improves to 4-0 overall while UC Davis falls to 2-2.
VIDEO: Stanford MBB Postgame Press Conference-UC Davis
BOX SCORE: UC Davis at Stanford-Sunday, November 17th
“Yeah, that was a lot of what I expected as far as UC Davis play so hard,” Stanford head coach Kyle Smith said after the game. “Throw so many different looks at you defensively. To go in at halftime with a significant lead and thought we didn’t shoot the ball that well. I know we didn’t. Hard to sustain it and they made a good hard run at us and they’re gritty and tough and TY Johnson’s a really good player. We got to battle through some foul trouble and I think when Jaylen [Blakes] got back in there late in the game for us in a good way and pleased to be 4-0. Can’t be better.”
UC Davis would get off to an early 5-3 lead, but it wouldn’t last long as a 3-pointer by Raynaud made it a 6-5 lead for Stanford with 16:48 to go in the first half. Stanford would continue to expand their lead, going up 24-15 with 10:12 to go in the half after another 3-pointer from Raynaud. He was now up to 13 points for the Cardinal.
“It’s the unicorn,” Smith said of having a seven footer in Raynaud who can hit threes. “It’s what you’re looking for all the time. I’ve been fortunate enough to coach a couple over my career, maybe not as good as him, but we had a guy when I was an assistant at Saint Mary’s: Daniel Kickert, some people might remember him. He could really shoot at 6’10”, guy like that and they just put a lot of pressure on the defense and to Davis’ credit, they kind of iced the ball screens on the side and weakened it and kind of let them pop and throw it to them there and it’s like, he kind of had uncontested shots and he made five or six and that’s playing with fire a little bit.”
In the final ten minutes of the half, Stanford would continue to dominate UC Davis as Raynaud got a nice tip in to beat the buzzer, making it a 41-23 lead for Stanford at halftime. Raynaud was leading the Cardinal with 17 points & 8 rebounds. The Cardinal ended the half on a 9-0 run.
Stanford would continue to be in a good spot to start the second half as they led 44-27 with 15:49 to go. Stanford was shooting 33.3% from the field, but thankfully they were making that up at the foul line shooting 15-17 (88.2%). UC Davis also was shooting 33.3% from the field, but only was shooting 4-9 (44.4%) at the foul line.
With 12:24 to go in the game, Stanford led 48-36 as UC Davis was making a bit of a comeback. TY Johnson was up to 12 points for the Aggies while the Cardinal had made just two of their last 11 field goal attempts. The Cardinal offense needed to get back on track.
Stanford would see their lead shrink even further as it was a 50-44 lead for Stanford with 10:17 to go. UC Davis had made six of their last six field goal attempts while Stanford had made one of their last eight, a tip in by Raynaud. He was up to 21 points and 10 rebounds.
It would continue to be tight as Stanford led 56-50 with 7:24 to go. Raynaud was up to 23 points and 11 rebounds for the Cardinal. UC Davis had now made eight of their last 10 field goal attempts. Stanford needed to wake up on defense.
To Stanford’s credit, they would finally start to put UC Davis away as they led 67-55 with 3:54 to go. Raynaud was up to 27 points and 13 rebounds for Stanford, just two points shy of his career high.
“You know, I’ve always believed in him, even before he started at Stanford because I was trying to get him to Washington State,” Smith said of Raynaud. “And it’s a process that people got to understand, like he’s grown at his own pace and be a 7’1” guy and you’re a 7’1” guy, you always have a lot of expectations and now he’s getting into the meat of his prime of his college career where he can be the lead dog and he’s only going to get better.
“And that doesn’t mean he’s going to go out and get 35 and 20 the next game. But he’s just like understanding there’s still a lot of room for growth, so I can think of eight to ten plays where hey, we could maybe do better, but that’s just part of the process and him just playing that hard and producing like that is, it’s exciting to see.”
In the end, Stanford would win by a final score of 79-65. Raynaud was able to set a new career high in scoring with 33 points to go along with his 14 rebounds while Jaylen Blakes very quietly accumulated 17 points.
“I think it was really Jaylen just drove the thing, got to the foul line, and got put it in the basket,” Smith said of the key to their ability to finish strong. “We did some silly things like Max tried to dunk one on a good pass from Benny like in that stretch and it tightened us up a little bit. So, I just felt like when Jaylen kind of asserted himself, because they’re going to pressure and lock up on some stuff.
“We just had to get to the rim and he did a good job there and it kind of helped us. I think at the foul line he made one of two in that stretch and kind of just like okay, we’re okay. And it’s more of an emotional things. Like him coming out there in his leadership kind of helped that a lot.”
“Yeah, they’re a great program,” Blakes said of UC Davis. “They have a lot of history as well and I think they’re very well coached, so you knew they weren’t going to go away. No matter how much we went up in the first half, we knew that the second half they were going to come out ready to fight and that’s what they did and I think for us, it was just never wavering. I think for us when you look at the sideline, you see Coach Smith, you see all of them, and their face stays the same the whole game regardless if we’re up 20 or if we’re up by five. Their face stays the same and I think for us, our confidence never wavered.
“We knew that, when you have a guy like Maxime, but all of us, we knew that we’re better together and that if we stayed together, we will ultimately pull out the victory and get back on track to where we were in the first half and I think one key was just to be tougher and I think you get tougher when you rely on each other and I think that’s something that we did.”
Overall, Stanford should be happy with the outcome. While it was a bit closer than they would have liked, they still were able to pull away in the end. Their defense stepped up and then Raynaud showed why he is one of the top big men in the country. Stanford really couldn’t ask to have a better start to their season.
“I think it started yesterday, really,” Raynaud said of his performance. “I think our football program had an awesome win against a top ranked opponent. Like, everybody rushed the field and I told the guys like, you know, we’re gonna keep that going, keep rolling. So yeah, we’re already on the cloud and then obviously, made the first three threes in a row, so that was like, that made me feeling good and yeah, it’s really like I was in the zone really. Started making the first couple shots and then JB [Jaylen Blakes] is such a great passer…got me a lot of open shots and yeah, keep rebounding, getting a couple offensive rebounds that get me touches close to the basket. So, I don’t know. Just there is a full circle moment, really. Just everything came together.”
Up next for Stanford is a home game against Norfolk State on Wednesday, November 20th. Tipoff is set for 7:00 PM PT on ACCNX.
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