GAME THREAD: MBB vs. Stanford

[PonyPride]

Mustangs (16-5) and Cardinlal (15-6) tip off at 5 p.m. at Moody Coliseum. The teams are tied for fourth in the ACC with record of 7-3 in conference games.

The game can be seen on ACC Network.

[PonyPride]

SMU freshman center Samet Yi─ƒito─ƒlu, who missed Wednesday's game against Cal with an injured shoulder, is in uniform and on the floor, warming up with his teammates.

[PonyPride]

SMU comes into today having won its last two and five if its last six games.

Stanford enters today's game on a four-game winning streak and wins in six of its last seven games.

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Stanford starters
G 4 Oziyah Sellers
G 5 Benny Gealer
G 11 Ryan Agarwal
F 42 Maxime Raynaud
F 52 Aidan Cammann

SMU starters
G 0 B.J. Edwards
G 2 Boopie Miller
G 3 Chuck Harris
F 33 Matt Cross
C 24 Samet Yi─ƒito─ƒlu

[PonyPride]

Senior forward Maxime Raynaud (7-1, 245) is a force, averaging 20.5 points per game and 11.9 rebounds per game.

He's shooting .488 (163/334) from the floor and is dangerous from behind the three-point line, shooting .351 (39/111) from long range.

If not for some freshman at Duke, this guy would be very much in the running for ACC Player of the Year honors.

[PonyPride]

Defending Raynaud is going to require a lot more than just sticking Yi─ƒito─ƒlu on him and letting the two big guys battle it out.

Mustangs start out in a zone, with Yi─ƒito─ƒlu jumping out to the perimeter when it looks like Raynaud is going to shoot.

Raynaud and Cross trade hoops to start the scoring.

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Cross 3 puts the Ponies ahead, 5-2

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Raynaud answers to tie it up

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Neither team is shooting well ΓÇö Stanford has hit 2/6 (.333), but SMU has hit 2/9 (.222)

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SMU with 7-4 edge in rebounds

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Miller puts SMU back in front, 8-5) with quick 3

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Oquendo bounces in a 3 to stretch SMU lead to 14-7

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The difference(s) so far:

Raynaud has hit 2 of 6 FGs, and SMU has hit 4 of 5 three-pointers

[PonyPride]

Great D by Harris: Stanford's Christian Okpara picks Cross clean, then gets tied up by Harris to force jump ball.

[PonyPride]

Nice start for the officials, who have blown two obvious out-of-bounds calls.

Yes, they have a hard job, and the game moves fast, but these weren't those players where two players reach and a call can go either way ΓÇö VERY obvious and beyond debate. Missed one in favor of each team.