Stanford Men's Basketball Earns Opening Night Victory Over Eastern Washington

What a start to the season for Stanford men's basketball. Hosting Eastern Washington for the first regular-season contest of the 2026-27 campaign on Monday night, the Cardinal came back to win 74-65 thanks to 17 points from freshman guard Julius Price. In the process, Kyle Smith picked up his 300th career win as a head coach.

Price, who scored 11 of his 17 points in the second half, led the program in scoring for the game and was instrumental in a 10-0 run by Stanford to close the game. Down 65-64 with 2:45 left, the Cardinal took a lead after a layup from forward Nick Townsend and never looked back. Townsend scored 12 points in his official debut for the program, adding six rebounds and five assists as well.

Price and Townsend were among the five Cardinal players to score in double figures, along with Aidan Cammann (13 points), freshman Aziz Olajuwon (12 points) and freshman Isaiah Rogers (10 points).

Rogers came off the bench but still played nearly 30 minutes. Defensively, the Cardinal played well, especially late in the game. Olajuwon contributed six steals and became only the fifth Stanford player over the last 20 years to achieve that feat, joining Benny Gealer (2026), Chasson Randle (2014), Fred Washington (2005) and Chris Hernandez (2005), according to the Stanford website.

Stanford won its 17th consecutive opening-night game, but what makes this win so impressive is how deep it had to dig to pull it off. Down by as much as 13 in the first half (trailing 28-15 with just over six minutes left), the Cardinal ultimately rallied to start 1-0.

The Cardinal took the lead in the second half and led for much of the half, except when Eastern Washington held that one-point lead late in the game. Out-rebounded 32-26, Stanford took full advantage of Eastern Washington's carelessness with the ball, totaling 25 points off 13 turnovers.

As for Smith, his 300th victory is a major milestone in what has been a successful coaching career. Starting his head coaching career at Columbia in 2010-11, he won 101 games with the Lions and led them to a CIT championship in his final campaign. He then took over as San Francisco's head coach, going 63-40 in three seasons and posting 20-win campaigns in each year.

Ahead of the 2019-20 season, he took the Washington State head coaching job and spent five seasons there, guiding the program to its first NCAA tournament since 2008 in his final season.

He went 94-71 before leaving for the Stanford job. Currently holding a 42-27 record on The Farm, he hopes that this is the season that the Cardinal can make the NCAA tournament for the first time since the 2013-14 season.

The Cardinal will use these next few days to rest and recover ahead of their next game on Friday, Nov. 6. They will stay at Maples Pavilion to face Oakland at 7 p.m. in the second game of a three-game homestand to begin the new year.