On Wednesday night, Stanford started their two game road trip in North Carolina, against Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons entered the game 12-4, while also 4-1 in conference play, while Stanford entered 11-5, and 3-2 in the ACC.
Stanford came into the game hot, as they were riding off a two game winning streak, where they took down both Virginia schools at home, by double digits.
The Virginia Tech win was last Wednesday, in a 70-59 fashion, where Oziyah Sellers, Maxime Raynaud, and Jaylen Blakes all had monstrous games. On Saturday, Stanford took down Virginia 88-65, where Raynaud starred with 24 points. The Cardinal looked great, and it seemed like there was a chance of taking down Wake Forest on the road.
In the first half, the Cardinal started hot, leading 13-4 after two threes by Blakes. Although they stayed in the lead in the first half, the Demon Deacons started to inch their way back into it throughout the half, a lot of which coming from Hunter Sallis. At the end of the half, Stanford still had the lead, but it was just a two point difference, at 35-33.
The second half was similar, with neither team able to make a difference. Stanford was able to keep the lead until the nine minute mark, where another Sallis bucket gave Wake Forest the lead. With just four minutes left, an Agarwal bucket brought the lead down to just three, but then Sallis and the Demon Deacons started to go off.
Wake Forest ended up bringing up the lead into double digits, and finished off with the victory by 13, 80-67.
Four players for the Cardinal all had similar games, but no player could get more than 16. Sellers led the way with 16, with Blakes following with 15. Raynaud and Agarwal had 14 each, but the rest of the team didn’t provide much help. Outside of the top four, the rest of the team combined for just 8 points, an unacceptable number if they want to be able to win a big game.
Overall, it was a tough game for Stanford. On the east coast this season, Stanford sits at 0-3, losing to three good teams, but winless nevertheless. If the Cardinal want to be able to compete in the ACC, they will need to have a similar record on the road as they do at home. Currently they sit 9-1 at home, and just 2-5 outside of Maples Pavilion.
On a bright note, Stanford travels to Chapel Hill for a Saturday afternoon game against North Carolina, where they have an opportunity not only to get an upset, but beat a top tier program in a storied building.
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