Stanford Cardinal vs. Sacramento STATE Hornets Pick & Prediction NOVEMBER 10th 2023

Stanford will attempt to accomplish a feat it was unable to complete each of the last three seasons when the Cardinal host Sacramento State in a nonconference game Friday night.

The Cardinal (1-0) got a combined 61 points from returners Maxime Raynaud (23), Michael Jones (20) and Brandon Angel (18) when it opened the season with an 88-79 home win over Cal State Northridge on Monday.

Raynaud also had a game-high 15 rebounds.

But Stanford also won its last three openers, defeating Pacific, Tarleton State and Alabama, before losing its next time out against Wisconsin, Santa Clara and North Carolina.

The last time the Cardinal won their first two games — to open the 2019-20 season — they went on to win their first seven.

Stanford trailed Northridge 76-74 with just 3:10 remaining before key three-point plays by Raynaud and Jones helped the Cardinal prevail in a high-scoring matchup.

“We have a really good shooting team, and there’s going to be times that there’s runs both positive and (negative),” Stanford coach Jerod Haase said. “We pushed the basketball (and) we shared the basketball pretty darn well. So this is a game I’m going to look at with lots and lots of positives.”

The Hornets (0-1) opened with a 77-63 loss at Nevada on Tuesday despite 15 points and eight rebounds from Duncan Powell.

The story of the game wasn’t anything that happened on the court, but rather something that happened above it when bats were seen flying around Nevada’s Lawlor Arena.

Unfortunately for the visitors, they were on a 12-2 run that got them within 63-56 with 5:40 remaining before the bat sightings prompted a short delay. After that, the Hornets were outscored 14-7 down the stretch.

The Sacramento State roster features nine international players, seven of whom played Tuesday. Zee Hamoda of Bahrain was the club’s second-leading scorer with 11 points.

“Everyone’s excited for all the international guys we’ve got,” said guard Austin Patterson, a native Californian. “It’s super interesting to have all those guys and I think the fans are gonna find it super cool as well.”

–Field Level Media