Stanford basketball easily handled USC at home Thursday night and won 84-64.
Although an all around effort, one player stands out from the rest. Sophomore guard Dorian Pickens had a career night after scoring twenty five points and missing only four times while shining from beyond the arc and the floor as well. Stanford also had three other players, Rosco Allen, Marcus Allen, and Michael Humphrey, score in the double digits.
Offensively, Stanford succeeded because of such great shooting. For the most part, they shot many mid-range jumpers and threes. From the field, Stanford shot 47.4 percent and made 43.5 percent of their baskets from behind the arc. In past losses, Stanford struggled with shooting, but this time, Stanford seemed to make almost everything.
On defense, Stanford could not have done better. USC typically excels on offense led by Sophomore guard Jordan McLaughlin, but on Thursday, McLaughlin was held to only four points. Secondly, Six players on USC average over ten points a game but only three players exceeded that number. Stanford's lockdown defense played a key role in defeating USC.
Coach Johnny Dawkins coached a fantastic game tonight and never seemed to falter. For the entire game, Stanford was in control. Going forward, Stanford looks to gain even more momentum headed into the conference tournament. They play UCLA Saturday before heading on a road trip to Arizona. If Stanford can finish strong, they should have some confidence heading into the Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas.
Comments
And so begins...
another run to the NIT Championship.
As my former Stanford Doily friend once put it, our team is among the elite of 2nd-tier teams.
By Cardinal&Orange on 02.26.16 5:25am
Second-tier my ***
Second-tier teams make the tournament more often than once every eight years. Top tier teams make it almost every year.
15 years ago this was a top tier program, today it’s a third tier program.
Last night was a great win, but it frustrates me more than anything else because – like the win over Oregon – it shows how good this team CAN be. But like the last 4-5 seasons, it lacks the coaching who can make the whole greater than the sum of the parts on a consistent basis. If nothing else, that is the one thing Monty did – he got the absolute most out of the talent he had on the roster.
By winflop on 02.26.16 6:06am
MM had or figured out a style/system/philosophy/what-have-you that worked well for the kind of players he could get to play at Stanford. My primary criticism of
JD is — and has been for years — that he still hasn’t done that.
By Cardinal&Orange on 02.26.16 6:52am
That style didn’t earn Montgomery his first Sweet 16 appearance until his 11th year at Stanford. Looking at his first 8 seasons he had one NIT championship and two NCAA appearances (both first round losses). In his 7th season he actually finished LAST in the Pac 10. Good thing he wasn’t fired then, right? And Montgomery arguably underperformed his first 8 seasons given that he had Todd Lichti (#15 NBA pick), Adam Keefe (#10 NBA pick), and Brevin Knight (#16 NBA pick) each playing for him during that span. Montgomery’s breakout season (of sorts) was his 3rd, when he had Lichti and Keefe playing on the same team. He finished 2nd in the Pac 12 and entered the NCAA tournament as a #3 seed (only to lose to "powerhouse" #14 seed Siena). Obviously things improved from there, but it wasn’t perfectly hunky-dory from the start.
By OCTaxMan on 02.26.16 2:03pm
My point is simply that Montgomery’s Stanford teams had an identity, and were consistent, for better or worse (from ‘94-’95 onward, definitely better). You pretty much knew what you were getting. Over time they became consistently better, at least during the regular season.
That identity, or style, didn’t work as well in tournaments. They were always vulnerable to more athletic teams that they couldn’t beat through game planning or superior discipline. This led to not a few premature NCAA exits, like the 2nd round loss as a 1-seed to 8-seed Alabama, in Monty’s last season on The Farm (regular season record: 26-1). In that game, our only player approaching Alabama’s quickness was Josh Childress, and he fouled out at a critical late juncture.
In contrast, Stanford MBB has no discernible identity today. Does the football program have one? Yup. That’s worked out well. That’s all I’m saying.
As for firing Dawkins, I really don’t care (and even if I did, my opinion is of no consequence). If you fire him, can you be certain the next guy will restore the program to some level of consistent excellence? No. That’s a risk, too.
Maybe Johnny can figure it out. That’d be awesome. If he’s still at Stanford 10 years from now, then we can accurately compare his tenure with Montgomery’s.
By Cardinal&Orange on 02.26.16 7:59pm
Is playing on the road in basketball so tough?
I mean this year the Pac-12 has been horrible on the road. Granted the trojans were slipping and this was the kind of game where our slightly improved defense could keep us in but never expected such a good offensive turnaround.
By layman on 02.26.16 11:38am