After the come-from-behind win over San Francisco earlier this season, Daejon Davis said a victory like that gave his team the belief they could pull out tough games in conference play. Tonight, they used every iota of that belief.
Stanford saw only a handful of minutes of zone defense this year. But this game was against Mike Hopkins; zone is in his DNA. And not just any zone, but the Syracuse 1-3-1 that’s flummoxed many a team over the centuries that Jim Boeheim’s been coaching.
The Cardinal had a hard time getting the ball to the middle of the zone. Their passes weren’t crisp, their fingers were buttery, and their decision-making was slow. And on the odd occasion where they did successfully penetrate the amorphous defense, they were met in the middle by Isaiah Stewart, an absolute load of a center.
“We had a ton of time to prepare for it,” said Davis. “We were getting to our spots, we just weren’t making shots.” A lot of those shots came from the perimeter, and outside of Spencer Jones, no one could seem to connect in the early going.
To make matters worse, Daejon Davis took an elbow to the face and had to leave the game. He left to the tunnel and went through the concussion protocol before being cleared to return. The score was 8-7 Stanford when he left, but the Huskies outpaced the Cardinal 20-7 in the 11 minutes of his absence.
Until a couple minutes before the break, only two Stanford players had scored (Jones, James Keefe). But a running bank shot by Tyrell Terry and a corner three from Isaac White trimmed it to 28-20 into the locker room. The Huskies held a dominant 30-13 rebounding advantage, and Stanford mustered just 27% from the field. But the Cardinal didn’t make significant adjustments.
“We stuck with the game plan,” said Davis. “We just had to go out there, execute, and play better.” And they did. They made an extra effort to attack the zone, rather than settling for perimeter shots early in the possession. It churned out higher quality looks.
“When we can get inside out, that’s what good offense is,” said Jerod Haase. But in spite of the improved offensive showing, they were largely trading baskets. It wasn’t until they started stringing together more stops that they could make a run. With four minutes to go, they trailed by 7. And that’s when the magic happened.
Oscar da Silva finished through contact inside. Then they got Isaac White a good look from the corner and he buried it. On the next possession, with seemingly nothing going offensively, Davis threw up a prayer at the buzzer, and it was answered. It wasn’t the luckiest shot he’s made, but it was up there. The game was tied, and Maples erupted.
Stanford’s calling card defense got stop after stop down the stretch. That set up a deep Tyrell Terry bomb for the lead, and they would never look back. “Coach has faith in me to shoot the ball,” said Terry. “I just stepped up and shot it.”
“He’s pretty humble, but he makes those a lot,” declared Davis. Terry has seemingly limitless range. Even when he wasn’t showcasing his shooting abilities, he consistently found ways to help the team.
When it was all said and done, Stanford closed the game on a 14-1 run. They trailed by as many as 12 earlier in the contest, but were unflappable. This team has an extra something that the teams of years past have been lacking.
Spencer Jones led Stanford (13-2, 2-0) in scoring with 14, including the team’s first 8 of the game. Daejon Davis and Oscar da Silva had 12 and 11, respectively, all coming after half time. Tyrell Terry had 11 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists.
Isaiah Stewart entered the game as one of the conference’s leading scorers, and a paragon of consistency. He had scored 14 or more in each game to date. Tonight, he had just 4, thanks to Stanford’s well-oiled fire schemes.
The Huskies were also without starting point guard Quade Green, who will miss the rest of Pac-12 play due to academic ineligibility. They were led by the 18 and 11 of Jaden McDaniels, and the 16 of Nahziah Carter.
“It was really neat to see Maples make an impact on the game,” said Haase. The arena played the role of ‘sixth man’ more so than in recent memory.
It’s awfully early still, but with Arizona’s thrilling loss to Oregon, Stanford finds itself alone atop the conference. After a week and a half, they’re the only team without a loss. “This is what we need to expect every game,” said Haase. “Just an absolute battle.”
They host Washington State on Friday. The Cougars lost tonight in Berkeley.
Comments
Underestimating Davis...
GA, apparently, you’ve been swayed by media analysts who haven’t done their homework. Daejon’s 3-pointer to tie, which was described as a "prayer", is as much of his skill set as for Spencer Jones and Ty Terry. The trio are in the PAC-12 top-15 in perimeter accuracy. As of the end of this game, PAC-12 stats have Jones at #6 in the conference, with 45.6% attempts made; Davis is #11, with 42.9%; Terry is #15, with 40.0%. Daejon’s common deference to other players. Yet, Davis is Stanford’s #2 in scoring percentage behind Oscar da Silva. Daejon was Stanford #2 scorer last year, behind Okpala, and their most reliable points getter, as the others had their peaks and valleys. Part of tonight’s Stanford first half slump was about Davis’ injury absence for most of that period. Last year, Davis had less backup talent than this year; his illness and injury absences last season were a key cause for the Cardinal’s finish below .500. Daejon is this year’s best all-around defender, who inspires and coaches his teammates on defense, which is part of his role as a team co-captain. Davis in the lead assist guy, lead in steals, lead in floor burns. He’s Ty Terry’s BFF on the team.
By Candid One on 01.10.20 2:37am
I have a great appreciation for Davis
But in the press conference, he described the shot as "super lucky" and remarked how "it’s about that time of the year." He’s a capable shooter, but that one was out of rhythm and essentially double-clutched. I agree with your points, though
By Grant Avalon on 01.10.20 3:50pm
Best win of the Haase era
That was an exciting finish! Good for the team to see a zone and figure out a way to work through it. If we bring that defensive intensity every game we’ll have a shot at winning almost every night.
By StanfordRico on 01.10.20 7:58am
Something you'll never see at Stanford
Is the starting point guard disqualified for academic ineligibility. That was quite a game last night!
I agree with Candid One that Davis shouldn’t be underestimated. Having him as part of a deeper guard rotation is really important. They have more depth this year with the talent infusion but Daejon is pretty money when the game is on the line and can defend as well as score.
I need to quit watching the first half of Stanford games as they’re never good though…
By worldblee on 01.10.20 9:21am
Lots of nuggets in this game.
Missed half of the first half on account of Fox 1’s ineptitude at programming and screwing over West Coast viewers.
1. Keefe shows up and is the X factor. Until this game, I was skeptical about Keefeson. But for the first time, the guy reminded me of Mark Madsen. He muscled up the best Freshman scorer in the nation and helped the team hold that one-and-doner Stewart. His 7 points off the bench were crucial.
2. Haase shows some offensive scheming acumen. I have not been impressed with Haase’s offensive offerings, but I suspect there is a world of things I don’t get/understand. What I did notice is some really nice coaching moves:
- Isaac White got a lot more playing time versus the zone. This is exactly what we should expect given White is suppose to be a shooter. It paid off and White scores 6 points that one could argue were the difference in wining and losing.
- Stanford ran some set plays that got the ball to down low. Maybe there were more that were called and foiled, but at least Haase has got some schematic weaponry, so he’s not totally inept on the offensive coaching.
- Belief in Keefe. Haase showed good instincts in using Keefeson and it paid off. White and Keefe outscored UW’s bench 13 vs 11.
- Davis clearly has the greenlight from Haase to score/create. This is good because Davis is the best raw talent on the team.
- Good offensive/defensive substitutions late in the game. I noticed Haase rotating Wylls, Kisunas in for White when he had the chance.
- Delaire had limited minutes. I got nothing agains that kid on a personal level, but Delaire is kind of lost out there. He lacks confidence and it impairs his ability to play to his physical abilities. Granted, Haase needs to figure otu how to maximize Delaire, but until that happens, Delaire is probably a negative in the +/- column.
It’s important to point out that UW took a blow loosing their starting PG before the game. We won by six points and one could easily argue that Quade ? is worth 6 points of offensive for UW and probably takes away points from Stanford on Defense. But, the kid is ineligible and that’s on Hopkins and his choice of recruits and management of his players during the time when it matters most.
Great win for Haase and the kids. It’s not enough to get us in the NCAA’s, but it’s a step in the right direction. I think we’ll need 20+ wins and a road victory over one of Arizona/Oregon to be a lock. I say that because I expect we’re going to have some bad losses (swept at home or on the road) against teams like WSU/Arizona State/Colorado/Utah. If we can’t notch a road win against Oregon or Arizona, then we aren’t going deep in the tournament anyway.
By Blackjoy on 01.10.20 11:34am
Amen.
The youth movement is sporadically showing its youth but its flashes of promise will sell-out next year’s season tickets at Maples. Keefe is alreadly special, despite not being his dad yet. Recall that Delaire came out of high school a year early by reclassifying. Bryce Wills, although he’s a soph, is younger than Tyrell Terry. Spencer Jones is a real find, not only for his knockdown shooting but his defense—for a frosh—is already special; he leading the team in blocks—on a team that already plays above the rim. It was a mixed result involving Isaac White, who entered early when Davis got hurt and missed most of the first half. He needs to play, to get his feel for meshing with the team, particularly on defense where his has to watch being targeted for screen switches, like Terry, and end-up guarding a much taller opponent. His confidence with his shot isn’t really ever down, and his ‘mates look for him on the wing. This is a developing "team" which has talented individuals whose sum is greater than the sum of its parts. What’s most pleasing is how they know and like that.
By Candid One on 01.10.20 4:50pm