STANFORD, Calif. – For the fourth straight year, every regular-season Stanford men’s basketball game will be televised. The Pac-12 Conference announced the league’s schedule along with game times and television information for the entire season on Thursday.
The Cardinal which is coming off a 24-win season and its second NIT Championship in four years, will have all 29 of its regular-season games nationally televised during the 2015-16 season. Stanford will make 10 appearances on the ESPN family of networks, five on FOX Sports with one on FOX and four on FS1, one on CBS and 13 on the Pac-12 Networks. Select games on the Pac-12 Networks may air on one of the outlet’s regional channels, however will be available to a national audience online through Pac-12.com and through the Pac-12 Now app.
In all, Stanford’s 2015-16 schedule features 17 home games, 11 contests against NCAA Tournament opponents from last season and the program’s fourth visit in three years to Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Season tickets are now available, starting at $199 for general admission. Season ticket plans offer the greatest value and access to the best available seats. New at Maples Pavilion this season to enhance the game day fan experience will be a state-of-the-art HD center-hung videoboard as well as new corner video panels.
Notes on the 2015-16 schedule:
The Pac-12 Networks will air the Cardinal’s first two games of the season with a 6 p.m. tip-off against Wisconsin-Green Bay on Nov. 13 and a 5 p.m. tip-off against Charleston Southern on Nov. 15. Both games are part of the NIT Season Tip-Off, a preseason tournament that will send campus hosts Stanford, Arkansas, Georgia Tech and Villanova to Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., two weeks later. Both Wisconsin-Green Bay and Charleston Southern participated in the NIT last season and will be facing Stanford for the first time.
Stanford’s 10 games on the ESPN family of networks include a Nov. 19 matchup against SMU on ESPN2 at 8 p.m. at Maples Pavilion. SMU reached last year’s NCAA Tournament as a No. 6 seed, finishing with 27 wins overall.
The Cardinal’s trip to Saint Mary’s will air on ESPNU at 8 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 22. The Gaels were eliminated from last year’s NIT by Vanderbilt, which Stanford defeated two rounds later to punch its ticket to New York. Stanford and Saint Mary’s will square off for the first time since a 76-58 Cardinal victory back on Dec. 14, 2002. It’s the Cardinal’s first visit to Moraga since Dec. 27, 1988.
Only the Brooklyn Nets might be more familiar with the Barclays Center than Stanford, which has visited the arena three times over the last two years. Now the Cardinal is back for the NIT Season Tip-off, drawing Villanova in the opener. The Wildcats finished 33-3 overall last year, earning a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament after locking up both the BIG EAST regular season and tournament titles. The Cardinal will be playing on Thanksgiving Day for the third time in six seasons with a 1:30 p.m. tip-off on ESPN2. Stanford’s opponent the following day would be either Arkansas or Georgia Tech. The Razorbacks finished 27-9 on the way to an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2015 while the Yellow Jackets posted a 12-19 record last season but return 10 letterwinners and add three transfers with immediate eligibility.
Stanford will play all five of its December games at home, representing the first time since November 2006 that the Cardinal will enjoy a month-long stay on The Farm. Following its extended break from final exams, Stanford hosts Dartmouth, which finished 14-15 last season and qualified for its first postseason appearance in 56 years.
Stanford welcomes DePaul three days later, with the Blue Demons – who return 11 letterwinners and three starters – becoming the first BIG EAST opponent to visit Maples Pavilion since Butler in 2011.
Texas finished 20-14 overall last season and qualified for the NCAA Tournament as a No. 11 seed, falling 56-48 to Butler in its opener. It’s a return game of a home-and-home series, as Stanford won 74-71 last December in Austin when the Longhorns were ranked No. 9 in both polls. Texas is making its first visit to Maples Pavilion since 1962 and the Longhorns will be the first Big 12 team to visit The Farm since Oklahoma State in 2009. Texas is led by first-year head coach Shaka Smart, who guided VCU to five NCAA Tournament appearances and the 2011 NCAA Final Four.
Sacramento State is coming off a record-setting season, finishing 21-12 overall while its 13 conference wins in Big Sky play were the most in school history. The Hornets welcome back 10 letterwinners and three starters. Stanford has won all four meetings in the series, with the last matchup resulting in an 84-58 home win on Nov. 27, 2007.
The Cardinal will close the calendar year with a Dec. 27 date against Carroll College at Maples. The Saints, under third-year head coach Carson Cunningham, doubled their win total last year, posting 18 wins in 2014-15. Carroll was the NAIA’s second-best free-throw shooting team last season.
Stanford will open its conference slate at home against Utah on New Year’s Day. Stanford is 19-18 in conference openers (14-7 home, 5-11 away), after defeating Washington State during the league’s opening weekend last January. Colorado visits Stanford on Sunday, Jan. 3 in one of only two Sunday games during the conference season. Both contests will air on ESPNU.
The first Pac-12 road contest of the year takes the Cardinal to the Beaver State, where it hasn’t played since an 82-80 victory over No. 13/17 Oregon in Eugene, Ore. on Jan. 12, 2014. Stanford will play four-straight games on ESPNU, including both contests in Corvallis and Eugene.
The first of two matchups with Bay Area rival California is at Maples Pavilion on Thursday, Jan. 14 on FOX Sports 1. The Cardinal has won three straight against the Bears.
The Arizona schools will visit Maples in late January, with the Arizona game on Thursday, Jan. 21 and the Arizona State contest on Saturday, Jan. 23. Both games will tip off at 8 p.m. with the Pac-12 Networks providing national television coverage. The last two Stanford-Arizona games at Maples have been decided by a combined 10 points, with the Wildcats coming away with an 89-82 victory last season. The Cardinal owns four straight victories over Arizona State at Maples Pavilion. The Sun Devils’ last win at Stanford came on Feb. 25, 2010.
Stanford closes its nine-game January slate on the road with trips to Boulder, Colo. (Jan. 27), and Salt Lake City, Utah (Jan. 30). The Colorado game is one of two Wednesday contests (Jan. 6 at Oregon State) the Cardinal will play during the regular season. Stanford’s first Saturday afternoon game of the regular season won’t come until Jan. 30 when Stanford plays the Utes at 2 p.m. on Pac-12 Networks.
The second Saturday afternoon contest comes exactly a week later with a 1 p.m. tip-off in Berkeley, Calif., against Cal. Stanford has won its last three games at Haas Pavilion, all by double digits, including a 69-59 victory on Jan. 14 of last season.
After 18 straight days away, Stanford will return to Maples Pavilion on Thursday, Feb. 11 in an 8 p.m. contest against Oregon State. Oregon comes to town two days later in the first of two Saturday afternoon home contests during the regular season. The Cardinal will play five Saturday games at home during the regular season with Oregon (1 p.m.) and UCLA (Feb. 27 at 1:30 p.m.) serving as the lone two afternoon tip-offs.
For the first time since the 2011-12 season, the Cardinal’s trip to the Evergreen State will begin in Pullman, Wash. Stanford has opened its road trip to the Northwest in Seattle the last two years and did not travel to the Washington schools during the 2012-13 season.
The first meeting between Stanford and one of the Los Angeles schools won’t happen until the 15th game of the conference slate when USC comes to Maples Pavilion on Feb. 25 (8 p.m. on Pac-12 Networks). In this year’s Pac-12 scheduling rotation, Stanford will miss a trip to Southern California. It’s the first time Stanford will not play at USC since the 1956-57 campaign. The Cardinal will also be missing a trip to Westwood for the first time since the 1955-56 season.
Stanford will host UCLA on Senior Day on Saturday, Feb. 27 at 1:30 p.m. on FOX. It will be televised on FOX broadcast network (not FOX Sports 1). The game will mark the first time Stanford has faced UCLA on Senior Day since the 15th-ranked Bruins closed the regular-season in Maples Pavilion on March 4, 2006.
For the second year in a row, the Cardinal will close the regular season in Tucson. Following a Thursday night game in Tempe, Ariz., Stanford will once again end its regular season in Tucson against Arizona in a game televised on CBS. Stanford is one of just two games between conference teams (UCLA at Oregon on Jan. 23) on CBS this year.
