By Samuel Curry on November 2, 2017

The Stanford Cardinal will warm up for the regular season and give fans their first taste of Cardinal basketball action with an exhibition matchup against the Chico State Wildcats on Thursday night at Maples Pavilion.

The Wildcats, an NCAA Division II program, are the reigning NCAA West region champs from last season’s NCAA Tournament, and finished with a 26-8 overall record last season. They finished with a 15-5 conference record, putting them at fourth in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. The Wildcats made their sixth consecutive NCAA Division II Tournament appearance and second elite eight appearance in four years.

Chico State has four returning starters from that team, including senior forward Isaiah Ellis, who led the Wildcats in scoring and rebounding last season, averaging 13.3 points and 6.4 rebounds per contest. Ellis also earned First-Team All-CCAA honors for the second straight season.

Another player to watch for is Jalen McFerren, a senior guard from Oakland who averaged 12.4 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game last season and also received First-Team All-CCAA recognition. McFerren shoots 44.7 percent from beyond the arc and 92.7 percent from the free-throw line.

Fans will get their first look at an experienced Cardinal squad that includes familiar faces like senior forward and ESPN preseason All-American Reid Travis, senior guard Dorian Pickens and senior forward Michael Humphrey as well as new faces from Stanford’s top-25 recruiting class, including freshmen Daejon Davis, Kezie Okpala, Isaac White and Oscar Da Silva.

The game tips off at 7 p.m. and will be aired on a live stream that can be found on gostanford.com.

Contact Sam Curry at currys ‘at’ stanford.edu.