Stanford's Rally Falls Short Against UCLA

by Scott Allen on Feb 17, 2025 10:30 PM PST

Jeremy Green scored 21 of his game-high 27 points in the second half and the Cardinal whittled a 16-point deficit to 4 with a little more than a minute to play, but it wasn't enough to avoid a 69-65 loss to UCLA at Maples Pavilion.

Stanford (13-12, 6-8 Pac-10 trailed by double-digits for most of the second half before a rare offensive surge in the final 4 minutes put the Cardinal in position to pull off an improbable comeback. Stanford trailed 66-62 after Green drilled a pair of 3-pointers in a span of 20 seconds, and the Cardinal got the ball back after Reeves Nelson was whistled for a charge on the Bruins' ensuing possession. But Green committed a turnover and missed a 3-pointer after UCLA missed a pair of free throws and Stanford would get no closer.

Nelson led the Bruins with 18 points and 7 rebounds, while Josh Smith, who missed UCLA's win against the Cardinal at Pauley Pavilion last month with a concussion, added 13 points and 9 rebounds.

"I was just trying to be aggressive," the burly freshman, who had 5 of UCLA's 10 offensive rebounds, told FSN's Rebecca Haarlow after the game. "It really hurt me when I couldn't play at home. My teammates took care of the win. Like I told them in the lockerroom, 'I got you guys.'"

Anthony Brown had 15 points and Josh Owens added 12 points and 5 rebounds for Stanford, which shot 44% from the field. Brown, Owens, and Green combined to score 45 of Stanford's first 51 points. Jarrett Mann was scoreless in 30 minutes, but the junior did have six assists against one turnover. UCLA's bench outscored the Cardinal's 21-9.

The Bruins overcame 12 first-half turnovers to take a 36-29 lead into the break on the strength of six 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes.

Stanford hosts USC on Saturday.

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I don’t know if the TV audience heard it, but the Bruin fans were out in full force last night. They definitely audibly overpowered the home crowd, and especially the 6th Man. For some reason, Stanford fans just didn’t feel up to the game. Maybe it was because they figured it was going to be a loss anyway? I don’t know, I didn’t think that it was going to be an automatic loss.

I didn’t figure on it being so much more of a blowout than the final score indicated, though. UCLA basically just took the wind out of any enthusiasm Cardinal fans might have had by hitting three threes out of its first 11 points and jumping to an 11-4 lead (I think that was the score). This game should have been closer than it turned out to be, and I think a lot of that has to do with Stanford failing to get rebounds and, yet again, failing to make FTs. Hitting treys from usually reliable John Gage and Jeremy Green would have been nice too, as well as Aaron Bright returning to his early-season form of being aggressive and scoring.

For those that didn’t go to the game, it was also Date Night (2-for-1 tickets). All the in-game promos were performed by couples, including the half-court shot for a Toby jersey. I don’t want to get too political, but it was cool that they recognized the LGBT couples as well in attendance.

by RedOscar on Feb 18, 2025 12:11 PM PST reply actions