Julius Price wasted no time making his first Stanford appearance count. The freshman poured in 26 points, but Santa Clara had the final answer and handed the Cardinal an 83-78 loss in a preseason exhibition game in Santa Clara, Calif.
Price’s debut line stood out immediately: 26 points on 5-for-11 shooting, 15-for-19 at the free throw line, plus three assists and two steals. Stanford also got 16 points from Anthony Batson Jr., who was 8-for-10 at the stripe, and 15 from Christian Bliss. Austin Maurer chipped in a team-best nine rebounds in his Stanford debut.
The Cardinal spent much of the night living at the foul line. Stanford got there 46 times, a number that would have been its highest in a regular-season game since going 47 times against Washington on Feb.
22, 2018. Only four freshmen nationally had more than 19 free throw attempts in a game in 2025-26, and Ebuka Okorie was one of them.
Santa Clara controlled the early stretch, building a lead as large as 11 points with 4:48 left in the first half. Stanford answered before halftime, trimming the margin to five and going into the break down 37-32. Price and Bliss each had 10 points in the opening 20 minutes.
The Cardinal kept drawing contact after halftime and turned that pressure into points, going 23-for-25 at the line in the second half. Price took over there too, scoring 16 of his 26 after the break as Stanford pushed ahead by as many as seven, 69-62, with 6:52 remaining. But Santa Clara finished strong, and a clutch 3-pointer on its final possession sealed the Bronco win.
Stanford’s next exhibition comes Sunday, Oct. 25, at Oregon. Tipoff is set for 1:30 p.m., with the game broadcast on Big Ten Plus.
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