There was a short period of time where things looked bleak for Stanford going into its first year of the ACC.

Senior center Maxime Raynaud entered the transfer portal on March 19 after coach Jerod Haase was let go. The Cardinal also lost shooting guard Kanaan Carlyle (Indiana), Max Murrell (UC-Santa Barbara), forward Brandon Angel (Oregon) and small forward Andrej Stojakovic (California).

Stanford hired coach Kyle Smith from Washington State on March 25, and Raynaud elected to return April 12.

Stanford won its first six games this season, but then lost to Grand Canyon on Nov. 26 and Cal Poly on Nov. 30. Stanford has been streaky since those two upset losses. The Cardinal had a three-game skid with losses to Oregon, at Clemson and at Pittsburgh from Dec. 21-Jan. 4. Then came four straight ACC wins Jan. 18-29.

Stanford was blown out at SMU and then lost vs. Wake Forest on Wednesday and are 15-8 overall and 7-5 ACC.

Stanford hosts NC State at 7 p.m. tonight on the ACC Network. The Wolfpack are on a seven-game losing streak and are 9-13 overall and 2-9 in the ACC.