Maxime Raynaud showed off more of his game in the absence of Stanford’s top two point guards, but it wasn’t enough to help Stanford avoid a major setback in its quest for its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2014.

Raynaud recorded his nation-leading 19th double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds, and added six assists and three steals as Stanford fell to Wake Forest 79-73 Wednesday night at Maples Pavilion.

“We’re literally playing him like (Nikola) Jokic,” Stanford coach Kyle Smith said, referring to the NBA’s three-time MVP. “He’s bringing up the ball up the floor, initiating our offense.”

Raynaud took on more of a playmaking role in the absence of second-leading scorer Jayden Blakes, who missed his second straight game with a head injury, and backup point guard Benny Gealer, who was out with the flu. But the 7-foot-1 senior also had five of Stanford’s 17 turnovers as Stanford lost at Maples for only the second time this season, and the first time in six conference games.

“It got to the point where (Raynaud) played the point more than he played the post,” Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes said.

Seven of Raynaud’s 11 shots were from behind the arc.

Raynaud entered the game ninth nationally in scoring (20.4) and third in rebounding (11.8), but he had just 38 assists in 22 games entering Wednesday.

“I need to do a better job not turning the ball over, but it’s a learning process playing out of position,” Raynaud said. “There’s also chemistry when you play point guard throughout the year, you know how to find (a teammate) and I don’t have that feel with everyone yet. But I’ll do whatever our team needs to compete at the highest level. If that means playing point guard or playing center, I’ll do it.”

Chisom Okpara, a junior transfer from Harvard, matched his season high with 14 points, but Oziyah Sellers, who was fourth in the ACC in field goal percentage (49.8), shot just 2 of 11.

Okpara’s transition lay-up tied the game at 69-69 with 1:41 remaining, but on Wake’s next possession, Stanford’s Ryan Agarwal fouled Cameron Hildreth, who made both ends of a 1-and-1 with 1:20 to play to put the Demon Deacons ahead to stay. Wake Forest (17-6, 9-3) made all eight of its free throws in the final 80 seconds to prevent any hopes of a comeback for the Cardinal (15-8, 7-5).

It was Stanford’s second loss in three weeks to the Demon Deacons, who won 80-67 in Winston-Salem on Jan. 15.

Most projections have Wake Forest right on the cut line for an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament, with Stanford on the outside looking in. The Cardinal remained in sixth place in the conference, but can’t afford many more setbacks to remain in discussion for a March Madness appearance.

“We’re not worried about that,” Smith said. “Just have to go game-by-game. You just have to win games and control what you can control.”

Stanford sports two Quadrant I wins (road games against North Carolina and Santa Clara), but it also has an extremely damaging Quad IV loss to Cal Poly, which is 235th in the NET.

It also won’t have many opportunities for resume-boosting wins in a down year for the ACC, which only has one ranked team (No. 2 Duke). The Cardinal, which were 72nd in the NET on Wednesday, still have a game at Duke, along with two more chances against teams above them in the standings — at home against SMU and on the road against Louisville.

Beyond taking advantage of those limited opportunities, it will need to avoid any crushing losses, including Saturday when it hosts N.C. State (9-13, 2-9).

Cal knocks off N.C. State at home >> Jovan Blacksher Jr. scored 18 points, Jeremiah Wilkinson added 14 points, and Cal defeated N.C. State 74-62 in Berkeley Wednesday night.

The Golden Bears held the Wolfpack to 2-of-12 shooting, including nine misses in a row, over the final 6 1/2 minutes.

Rytis Petraitis hit a 3-pointer to give Cal a 47-46 lead with 13 minutes left and his next basket put the Bears up 62-54 with a little under seven minutes to go.

The Bears then wrapped it up with a 10-0 run that gave them a 72-57 lead with about 90 seconds remaining.

Joshua Ola-Joseph scored 13 points for Cal (12-11, 5-7 ACC) and Mady Sissoko grabbed 13 rebounds. Andre Stojakovic made his return from an illness and scored six points in his first action since Cal defeated N.C. State 65-62 on Jan. 18 in Raleigh, N.C.

Marcus Hill had 20 points for the Wolfpack (9-13, 2-9), who have lost seven games in a row.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.