On Wednesday, Stanford men’s basketball fell to Wake Forest at home by a final score of 79-73. It was the second meeting between the two teams this season after Wake Forest won the first meeting. Wake Forest guard Cameron Hildreth led the way for the Demon Deacons with 22 points while guard Hunter Sallis had 19 points and seven rebounds. Stanford center Maxime Raynaud was the top performer for the Cardinal with 16 points, 10 rebounds, and six assists while forward Chisom Okpara tied his season-high with 14 points. Wake Forest improves to 17-6 overall and 9-3 in the ACC while Stanford falls to 15-8 overall and 7-5 in the ACC.
VIDEO: Stanford MBB Postgame Press Conference: Wake Forest
BOX SCORE: Wake Forest at Stanford-Wednesday, February 5th
“Yeah, that was a tough loss for us,” Stanford head coach Kyle Smith said after the game. “I thought our efforts were pretty good. I thought our team came out to play. Played hard. Wake Forest came out. We really had a hard time guarding them first half, keeping them in front of us. Second half we did better, but they made tougher shots. Hildreth played much better this game, but Sallis made really tough twos over hand, which I thought were defended pretty well, but he’s a really good player and they kind of made some plays there and we sent them to the foul line too much and obviously, we turned it over too much. Now that’s what they do. They’re gonna try and turn you over. Play the ball hard and they forced turnovers and we had to keep that down to give ourselves the best chance to win and we’ll try to rectify that and get better for Saturday.”
Stanford was once again without guard Jaylen Blakes, who was still out with a head injury. Guard Benny Gealer was also out with an illness, meaning that Stanford had to get creative at point guard. Forward Donavin Young did return to the starting lineup after dealing with an ankle injury while forward Jaylen Thompson made the first start of his career. Ryan Agarwal, Oziyah Sellers, and Maxime Raynaud rounded out the starting five for the Cardinal.
Stanford led 12-11 with 14:55 to go in the first half. Jaylen Thompson and Ryan Agarwal both had five points for the Cardinal, bringing good energy out of the gates. Cameron Hildreth was leading the Demon Deacons with seven points.
Stanford would lead 18-16 with 11:59 to go in the half. Thompson was leading the Cardinal with seven points, continuing to be active inside. Stanford was shooting 7-14 from the field while Wake Forest was shooting 7-10.
With 7:49 to go in the half, it was tied up 25-25. Stanford was shooting 8-19 from the field while Wake Forest was shooting 9-15. Stanford was really going deep into their bench as 10 guys had seen action.
“It was tricky, it was definitely tricky,” Smith said of figuring out a lineup. “We got guys that would play with the flu a little bit after, you know, it happens. So we had some guys that were sick and wouldn’t even know who was gonna be available until tipoff and shoot around we kind of had had a good idea. And the guys have been practicing and played well. Jaylen and Cammann had been playing well. We didn’t know if Donavin was gonna be able to go. Donavin was ready to go, so I said let’s see what he looks like. He played pretty well, actually. He actually played healthy; he didn’t play as well as he’s played.
“So we got him in there and as far as Oziyah and Ryan just kind of shared the point guard duties and there’s really not another. Anthony did a good job. He’ll probably never be a point guard, but kind of put him in a tough spot there, but I thought Anthony played great defensively and actually played well offensively, too. Just gonna get that cap off the rim and make some plays, but he played the right way. He played to win.”
Wake Forest would lead 32-26 with 4:18 to go in the half as Hildreth was up to 15 points for the Demon Deacons. Stanford had to find a way to contain him.
At halftime, Wake Forest led 40-37. Maxime Raynaud was up to nine points and six rebounds for Stanford after getting a lefty floater to fall to beat the buzzer. That gave Stanford a bit of momentum heading into the break.
Stanford would take a one point lead 48-47 with 14:49 to go. Raynaud had a huge hoop plus the foul after Chisom Okpara dove on the floor to keep the play alive. The Cardinal were out there hustling. Raynaud was up to 14 points and eight rebounds.
With 10:50 to go, Wake Forest led 56-52. Stanford was still hanging around in no small part to Okpara, who was up to 10 points on 4-5 shooting from the field. He was doing work inside. Hildreth was up to 18 points for Wake Forest but had just picked up a critical 4th foul.
“He played great,” Smith said of Okpara. “And told him in the locker room that I thought against Syracuse he played great to be honest at home. He played well and he hurt his shoulder in that game or something. I don’t know. And he got sick, but even though he produced more offensively, he shot it well. I felt that he was same mentality as Syracuse. He’s getting more comfortable, he played within himself, he’s playing to win, and the points and that stuff will take care of itself. But you know, defend, rebound, don’t put as much pressure on himself. I thought he did a good job.”
Thanks to some clutch layups from Ryan Agarwal and Anthony Batson Jr., Stanford tied it up 56-56 with 9:46 to go. Batson had a really nice reverse layup, showing off his ability to finish around the rim.
Stanford would lead 61-58 with 7:28 to go. Raynaud was up to 14 points and nine rebounds for the Cardinal while Agarwal and Okpara each had 10 points. Stanford had made five of their last six field goals.
The game would remain tight as it was a 69-67 lead for Wake Forest with 2:56 to go. Hildreth was up to 20 points for the Demon Deacons while Raynaud had 16 points and nine rebounds for the Cardinal. Wake Forest was starting to get going a bit. Stanford needed to find a way to get some stops.
“It was not a surprise,” Raynaud said of Wake Forest’s resilience. “I mean, if you watched them play throughout the year, all of their games are close and then the last two to three minutes, that’s when they go on the run and win the game most of the times. So, we knew that was coming. They’re a good team, they’re a tournament team, so obviously they’re very experienced. And yeah, obviously we could have taken better care of the ball, knock down a couple more shots, but overall they’re a good team. I thought we played the right way. Turning it over a little bit too much, but yeah, sometimes it goes your way, sometimes it doesn’t.”
After a huge transition layup by Okpara, it was tied 69-69 with 1:38 to go. He was playing fantastic, giving the Cardinal the kind of scoring he was expected to bring at the beginning of the season.
“I think it was just the coaches instilling confidence in me,” Okpara said of his performance. “We’re a couple players down, so just trusting my abilities, you know, taking what the defense gives me. I like getting to the basket, so they backed up, so I’m pretty confident in my three, so I just shot it. And to pick it up on me, it’s downhill from there and just continuing to trust in my abilities and trusting my teammates.”
Wake Forest would then take a 73-69 lead with 59 seconds to go as Hildreth and Sallis each went 2-2 at the foul line. Wake Forest would then go up 75-69 with 43 seconds to go after Ty-Laur Johnson made a pair of free throws. Evan Stinson would finally get to the line for Stanford and make both free throws, making it a 75-71 game with 35 seconds to go. On the next inbounds, Stinson would get a steal only to turn it over, giving the ball back to Wake Forest. Stanford had a chance to make it a one possession game, but Stinson’s bad pass took away that opportunity.
From there, Wake Forest would hang on to win 79-73. Stanford battled hard, but in the end they were not able to overcome the absences of Blakes and Gealer. This game was a reminder of why point guard play is so important.
“We want to win and we want our best chance,” Smith said. “But every team goes through a stretch or has some like illness or injury and we’re not exempt from it. So we’ll have to, it would have been nice to get that one done shorthanded and you don’t know what we’ll have Saturday, so we can’t worry about it.”
At the same time, Stanford had their chances. It was a close game all the way through. Stanford has been knocking on the door with respect to the NCAA tourney, but so far the door isn’t quite opening for them. Perhaps that will change if they get their pieces back soon.
“We’re not worried about that,” Smith said candidly when asked if he was worried about what this loss could mean for their NCAA tourney odds. “You get caught up in that, it’s not worth doing. Just go game by game…You just gotta win games and control what you can control.”
As for Wake Forest, this is a good win for them. Stanford has been tough to beat at home as they’ve only lost at Maples Pavilion twice all season long and only once in league play. Wake Forest should feel good to escape with the win even with Stanford being short-handed. This is certainly a nice feather in their cap as they go about building their NCAA tournament resume.
Up next for Stanford is a home game against NC State on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 4:00 PM PT on ACC Network.
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