On Saturday, Stanford men’s basketball defeated NC State at home by a final score of 74-73. Stanford center Maxime Raynaud led the way for the Cardinal with 25 points, 12 rebounds, and one block while guard Oziyah Sellers had 12 points. NC State guard Dontrez Styles was the top performer for the Wolfpack with 18 points and 7 rebounds. Stanford improves to 16-8 overall and 8-5 in the ACC while NC State falls to 9-14 overall and 2-10 in the ACC.
VIDEO: Stanford MBB Postgame Press Conference: NC State
BOX SCORE: NC State at Stanford-Saturday, February 8th
“Yeah that was I think it was a tremendous program win for us with having you know without Jaylen, without Benny; really short on ball handling and knowing that NC State understood that and they brought pressure for 40 minutes and we weathered it and it did great job second-half with only one turnover and just had a lot of individuals step up,” Stanford head coach Kyle Smith said after the game. “And with Ryan eight assists, two turnovers, playing de facto point guard, made the big shot winning shot and he's playing sick a little bit and you can see it and just Chiz, our bench played great. You know and I told our team I said they have seven guys I think on that roster that were on the Final Four team.
“So they've been kind of snake bit and playing tough games and they got good players that got the DNA what it takes to win and really the numbers are not much different statistically than Wake like as far as if you believe in NET rankings and Ken Pom and stuff like that. So it's like trying to our guys our guys respect it and then Max just played incredible second half. It was great.”
Stanford once again was without guards Jaylen Blakes (head) and Benny Gealer (flu) in this one, forcing the Cardinal to go deep once again into their bench. Maxime Raynaud, Oziyah Sellers, Ryan Agarwal, Jaylen Thompson, and Donavin Young was the starting five. Same as the previous game.
“He just has, a little bit it’s more like I like where Chisom [Okpara] is off the bench,” Smith said of starting Thompson. “And Donavin, you know, in that role, and just it’s like he’s more of a perimeter guy. We’re just out of perimeter guys. I didn’t think Evan or Anthony [Batson] were really ready. Jaylen gives us a long, rangy athlete that’s been playing well. So, like I said, he’s been getting stronger. He’s a really quiet guy and understated, but big heart and our guys really respect him. I do, too and I love what he’s about. It could be 14 minutes as a starting role, that’s fine. Get it started right and hit that shot and he’s just getting better.”
Stanford would lead 8-5 with 14:13 to go in the first half. Jaylen Thompson & Donavin Young each had a 3-pointer for the Cardinal while Oziyah Sellers had made a pair of free throws.
NC State would then lead 11-10 with 11:12 to go in the half. Trey Parker was leading the Wolfpack with 6 points. NC State was shooting 4-14 from the field while Stanford was shooting 3-7.
NC State would continue to lead, up 17-13 with 7:24 to go in the half. Stanford continued to struggle with their shooting: 4-13 from the field. They needed to get more shots to fall. Young was leading the Cardinal with four points.
NC State would expand their lead a bit to go up 33-27 with 1:15 to go in the half. Parker was up to 12 points for the Wolfpack while Sellers had 10 points for the Cardinal. Maxime Raynaud had two points for the Cardinal. He needed to get going.
NC State led 33-29 at halftime. Trey Parker (12 points) led the Wolfpack while Dontrez Styles had 8 points. Oziyah Sellers was carrying the Cardinal with 10 points. He needed more help. Maxime Raynaud (4 points & 6 rebounds) was really in need of waking up.
The second half was tight early on as NC State led 44-41with 15:17 to go. Styles & Parker each had 12 points for the Wolfpack while Raynaud was up to 11 points & 7 rebounds for the Cardinal. Ryan Agarwal just had an incredible pass inside to Raynaud for a bucket.
Stanford led 53-51 with 11:56 to go after a huge And-1 by Ryan Agarwal. Maxime Raynaud was up to 15 points & 8 rebounds for Stanford while Evan Stinson & Oziyah Sellers each had 10 points. Trey Parker was leading NC State with 14 points.
“Just proud of him man,” Smith said of Stinson’s performance. “He kinda got caught out of the rotation and didn’t play great against Wake. He got beat a couple times defensively and Anthony got the opportunity and did a great job and gave us a chance to win. Just freshmen being freshmen. He helped on the ball handling. Like, we’re playing with Jaylen and Donavin and Maxime and that front court. It’s fine. But without a point guard, it’s tricky. So playing him at like small forward in that gave us an extra shooter, an extra ball handler, and he’s got a good feel. Gotta tell him sometimes, give him permission. It’s okay. Knock it down. He did in a big way.”
“Yessir, my teammates were just finding me everywhere and I was confident enough to take a couple shots and thank The Lord that it went in today,” Stinson said. “So yeah, it was great.”
“I just want to say one thing real quick, this is Evan’s first one [press conference], so just y’all know, this is a big moment for him,” Agarwal said of Stinson. “I mean, he really deserves this. I just want to put that out there, man. He’s worked really hard this year just so you all know. So, I just wanted to congratulate him on that and let you guys know that as well.”
Stanford would grow their lead 61-55 with 7:55 to go. Raynaud had awoken like Rip Van Winkle: 19 points & 11 rebounds. He was starting to take over.
With 4:32 to go, it was a 65-63 lead for NC State. Stanford called for time. They had the edge, but the Wolfpack were hanging tough. Raynaud was up to 21 points and 12 rebounds for the Cardinal.
Stanford led 67-63 with 3:54 to go. Raynaud now had 23 points for the Cardinal after making a pair of free throws. Those were big.
With 1:27 to go, Stanford led 71-69. Styles had a huge 3-pointer for NC State to keep the Wolfpack on the Cardinal’s heels. He had 18 points. As for Raynaud, he was up to 25 points and 12 rebounds.
“You know what, they did a great job of just blowing up him, trying to start the offense,” Smith said of Raynaud’s second half surge. “We were just trying to save our guards and it wasn’t pretty at the start of the game. Just the speed and their pressure bothers. Which is normal. And then we just made a concerted effort to get the ball into them from different angles and like I said, it worked.”
After Aidan Cammann went 1-2 at the foul line to give Stanford a 72-71 lead, Trey Parker answered with a layup on the other end for NC State, giving them a 73-72 lead with 17.3 to go. Stanford called for time, hoping to draw up something good.
Out of the time out, Stanford was looking to go to Oziyah Sellers, but NC State defended him well. As a result, Ryan Agarwal got the ball instead and boy did he make the most of his opportunity, driving to the basket and finishing it inside for the deuce, giving Stanford a 74-73 lead with 8.1 seconds to go.
“You know, it was, we told them we’re down one with 14 seconds and really, they took away Oziyah,” Smith recalled of Agarwal’s game-winning drive. “I thought, I decided I said Oziyah go. If we get it, clear it, I figured they’re gonna bring man pressure and just go downhill Oziyah. Kinda what Jaylen did and see. I wanted to get a stop and pop at worse and crash. And they took away Oziyah, Ryan got it, and he did the same, and he just kept going and he kinda stepped through there and made it happen.”
“Yeah, man, so the play was actually for Oziyah,” Agarwal explained of that final sequence. “But he was getting denied. I don’t think we had a timeout left at the end. No we didn’t. So, had to get it in, got it to Aidan, he handed it right back, went down the right side, got jammed up a little bit, brought it back, and then it was just downhill from there. Kind of just trying to go make a play, use my size and my bump to my advantage downhill and kind of moved while I was in the air to get the shot off and saw that thing go in. My first thought was get back on defense. No time to celebrate and then it was kinda confusing because it was like a whistle blown, but we didn’t know. But man, I blacked out after that, man. It was just a fun moment, man. So, yeah.”
NC State had one more chance to score and steal the game, but a contested corner 3-point shot by Parker rattled in and out. 74-73 Stanford survived. The place went nuts and Maxime Raynaud picked up a kid who was sitting courtside and gave him a little joy ride around the court in celebration. It was a fun moment for him and the Cardinal as NC State remained stunned.
“Not sure if my timeout was the right call, but I just think they have might have called one,” Smith recalled of that final sequence. “We call time out, set our defense, and then we had to, got very fortunate and the kid that made the pass and they got a shot the last play, incredible poise I thought with four seconds. Top of the key, drove down the lane, and kicked it out and then they saw it coming and I said, uh oh and we were very fortunate. They made a great attempt there.”
“Oh, man, let me tell you man, that’s whoever set up the rim today, that’s on him,” Agarwal said of NC State’s near game-winner. “Because if that thing is one inch to the left or one inch to the right, whatever it was, man, that thing is cashing. Looking at it, I was under the hoop and it looked good, man. Most of the times you can tell if a shot’s going in or not and if I had bet my money, it looked like it was going in. So, we got blessed. They got a good shot, they have a great coach, and they ran a good play, and we made just enough plays to get it done.”
For Stanford, this is a good win considering they were once again shorthanded. They could have fallen short, but instead they were able to dig deep and pull out the win. A lot of different players stepped up and when called upon in crunch time, Agarwal delivered the goods.
As for NC State, this loss really stings. They remain winless on the road after having their best chance all season to get a road win. They just have to make sure they don’t let this loss fester with a good chunk of the season to go. They still have an opportunity to make the conference tournament and as we saw last year from their Final Four run, they can get hot late in the season.
Up next for Stanford is a road game at Georgia Tech on Wednesday, February 12th. Tipoff is set for 4:00 PM PT on ACC Network.
“I think we’re really close on Jaylen,” Smith said when asked about Blakes and Gealer’s availability. “I think, I expect him. I don’t wanna [knock on wood] hopefully for Georgia Tech. And I think Benny should be okay, too. So that would be helpful, but it’ll be a little harder to integrate them. They missed a lot of time and doing that three games for Jaylen and hopefully we’ll have them back. But that was nice to get that win.”
“Hopefully we’ll get guys back a little bit flowing and now also the confidence of the guys that stepped up,” Agarwal added. “I mean, we’re gonna have a big, deeper roster than we did before just with having everyone healthy and then the confidence high. So, in a good way, we can look at this opportunity as a bright side, you know, with having guys down because other guys played roles and stepped up. And now, you know, you put those guys in situations, they’re ready for it.”
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