Oregon shellacks Stanford, 69-46

Stanford (12-11, 5-6) played arguably its best game of the season on Thursday in its drubbing of the Beavers. They played a game tonight, too.

The Cardinal were without Daejon Davis after Tres Tinkle’s head got the better of him. Oregon (15-9, 6-5) opted to press, putting the onus on Cormac Ryan and Bryce Wills to guide the offense. Things couldn’t have gone much worse for Stanford.

Stanford missed its first 13 attempts from the field, getting their first points on a Josh Sharma putback some 7 minutes into the game. They subsequently missed an additional 8 shots and didn’t score again for 6 more minutes. It took a late offensive eruption to go into the break with 20 points.

Even when they weren’t turning it over, they were running into the one-man wrecking crew of Kenny Wooten. The facemasked Wooten sent back 5 Cardinal shots in the first 20 minutes, and impacted countless others. He’ll long be in the nightmares of the Cardinal guards, and not just because he looked like Jason Voorhees.

In spite of the slow start, the Cardinal found themselves down only 10 points going into the locker room. Oregon shot just 36% from the field in the period. But the Duck offense wouldn’t be held in check for long.

Payton Pritchard quickly showed why he’s one of the premier players in the conference. The Oregon native scored 15 points on 6-6 shooting in the second half. The Stanford offense was waking up, but Pritchard put their comeback hopes to sleep. He was dynamic, using a series of nifty plays in the paint to extend the Duck advantage.

Stanford shot just 27% from the field on the game. They frequently struggled to get into their offensive sets, and when they did, they made futile attempts at finishing in the paint. Oscar da Silva, three days removed from a career day, saw only 10 minutes of action and was a complete non-factor. Even KZ Okpala couldn’t kickstart things, as he was held to 3-14 shooting.

There were a few things to like from Stanford. Bryce Wills showed he’s becoming a capable scorer, as he led Stanford with 13. Of course, that was a bit overshadowed by his 3-9 from the line. They also grabbed 14 offensive rebounds, which they turned into 16 second chance points.

Wills and Okpala were the only Cardinal players in double figures. Josh Sharma added 8 points and 10 rebounds.

Oregon was led by the 20 of Payton Pritchard. Louis King put in 16, and Victor Bailey Jr chipped in 11. Kenny Wooten was probably their player of the game with his 7 blocks, tying a career high.

Stanford will return home to host the LA schools. USC is in Maples on Wednesday night. The Cardinal were swept on their LA road trip last month.