The last time the Stanford men's basketball team traveled to Tempe, Sun Devils guard Ty Abbott erupted for 29 points, including six 3-points in the first 10 points, and Arizona State cruised to an easy victory. Stanford guard Jarrett Mann, who had an up-close view of Abbott's career night, was determined to not let the same thing happen again.
"My focus today was defensively to shut him down and that sparked my offense a bit," Mann said during a radio interview after Stanford defeated the Sun Devils 55-41 in a game that featured nearly as many turnovers (31) as field goals made (36).
Mann helped limit Abbott to seven points on 1-for-5 shooting and finished with a season-high 11 points and seven rebounds of his own. Mann's offensive production, which is down from last season, also seemed to benefit from Aaron Bright. The freshman got the start and ran the point for much of the game.
Josh Owens had 15 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Cardinal, while the Sun Devils shot 1-for-14 from 3-point range. Stanford wasn't much better (2-for-10) from long range, but was 15-for-19 from the free throw line.
Stanford led by as many as 11 in the first half and took a 25-23 lead into the break. The Sun Devils trailed by four with 4:47 to play before the Cardinal closed the game on a 10-0 run. Abbott missed five shots during that span.
With the New York Knicks scheduled to play the Phoenix Suns on Friday, former Stanford players Josh Childress, Robin Lopez and Landry Fields watched the game from a few rows behind the Cardinal bench. Childress was interviewed late in the first half and was asked about his greatest memory from his playing days on the Farm. His answer was appropriate in light of a certain quarterback's announcement earlier in the day.
"My best memory is really just hanging out with my teammates, the camaraderie, the brotherhood," Childress said. "I really wish I could go back to those times and just relive that because those are memories you'll never forget."
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At Maples Pavilion, No. 4 Stanford women pulled away from Arizona in the second half en route to an 87-54 victory. Nneka Ogwumike, finished with 24 points and seven rebounds, while Jeanette Pohlen added 12 points for Stanford, which led 40-33 at halftime. As always, I'll look forward to C&R's postgame report. I only caught part of the game on KZSU.