Stanford started this road trip needing a pair of wins, and that’s just what they got. After the win over Washington earlier this week, they never trailed today en route to a 75-57 victory.
There were a lot of things to blame for their 7 losses in 8 games, but a piece of it was health. Now, they not only have their full complement of players, but Daejon Davis is finally playing without a mask. And frankly, there aren’t many better lineups in the conference than the Stanford starting five.
In the 32 minutes Oscar da Silva was on the court, Stanford was +30. In the 8 minutes with him on the pine, they were -12. Everyone realizes the impact he has on Stanford’s offense, but his defensive impact is also massive. The Cardinal’s worst two defensive games this season in terms of Adjusted Defensive Rating were the Colorado game he was knocked out of, and the Arizona State game he missed.
Washington State mustered just 18 points in the paint all day, thanks to Oscar and company. But in spite of their inability to get two feet in the paint, they were able to hang tough for some time. CJ Elleby had a difficult going in the teams’ first matchup this season, but he was blazing to start this game. In the first half he scored 16 of his team’s 29 points, including 4 threes of varying degrees of difficulty.
Without playmaker Isaac Bonton, it was unclear how the Cougars would supplement Elleby’s contributions. In the first frame, they managed to do it with hustle and hitting the offensive glass. They held an 8-0 advantage in second chance points, and a 6-1 nod in points off turnovers. Still, Stanford’s 6 threes and quality looks overshadowed their 8 turnovers, and had them in the lead 36-29 going into the locker room.
One of the more welcome signs of the day came in the end of the first and start of the second halves, when Daejon Davis went into best mode on offense. The Washington native has been more passive at times this year, and has seen his shooting splits suffer over the course of the mask era. But matched up against old high school foes, he converted on 6 straight attempts from the field, including a pair of triples, and injected life into the Stanford attack.
Of course, Stanford promptly went more than 5 minutes without a point, much of it with Oscar da Silva on the bench. The reserve bigs largely had underwhelming showings today. The Cougars used their drought to methodically get back within striking distance, trimming the lead to as few as four.
But when Haase went back to his starters, the lead once again ballooned, thanks to a 10-0 spurt. They led by as many as 20 coming home, and the walk-ons made appearances in the final minute. CJ Elleby was nowhere near as much of a factor after the break, scoring 6 points on 2-8 from the floor.
Oscar da Silva led Stanford with 19 points and 10 boards. Daejon Davis added 17 points of his own, and Tyrell Terry scored 13 and dished out 5 assists. As a team, the Cardinal shot 56% from the field and made 11 of their 23 attempts from distance.
According to Joe Lunardi, Stanford is one of the first four out. Wednesday’s game against Utah seems vital, as it could be considered a poor loss. Their three games after that will likely be considered Quadrant 1.
Comments
He's back!
Daejon Davis looks to be back, and in better form than last year when he was Stanford’s #2 scorer and it’s most reliable source of points. His perimeter shooting is still struggling but before his facemask, Davis had been close behind Spencer Jones in 3-pt. accuracy, and better than Ty Terry, despite not shooting often enough. As Daejon gets his offense back, defenses will be stretched more, among Terry, Jones, da Silva, White, and Davis, plus Bryce Wills has shown his ability to score when needed. This is nice timing, as the final 4 games are all winnable if the Cardinal sustains its offensive mindset, Oregon at Eugene not withstanding.
As Grant notes, the mountain road trip was burdened with a less than healthy roster, aside from Daejon’s facemask inhibitions. The injury loss of Bryce Wills, at mid-2nd half, was the difference maker at Utah. Wills’ absence at Colorado was too much missing when Oscar da Silva was hurt early in the 2nd half. Both of those road games could readily have had different outcomes with tonight’s full roster.
Stanford will want payback at OSU and and, as its last regular season game, knowing that the Ducks will want payback too, the Cardinal won’t have any reason to expect less than the Ducks’ best efforts. After shuttiing down Oregon at Maples, can Stanford repeat that defensive effort in Eugene?
By Candid One on 02.23.20 9:42pm
Good summary, Grant
Stanford needs another big other than Oscar to step up. They’re not playing well, and I don’t feel they’re being used well, either. Trying to get fancy with Lukas Kisunas with a quick, hard pass in the paint isn’t a good recipe for success as he doesn’t have good hands (it resulted in a turnover). Hopefully Jaiden Delaire can become more reliable in the end of the season as Oscar needs someone who can play well enough to keep Stanford even while he’s on the bench. But good victory last night to grind one out!
By worldblee on 02.24.20 8:57am
Ham-handed bigs
Most of the Stanford bigs have had ball-catching issues. Lukas Kisunas has been one culprit, but Oscar da Silva, uncharacteristically, lost the ball several times against WSU. It’s tough to assess whether Haas has much choice in using whom and when. Haas mentioned that da Silva will ask for rest time, plus Oscar will sometimes get into early foul trouble. Stanford is thin on veteran bigs. Soph Jaiden Delaire has been showing tons of promise, but recall that he came out of high school a year early and is still maturing. Kisunas is Stanford’s biggest body and Oscar, for all of his skill, takes a beating amid opposing bigs. Pacing himself, he’s metering himself and Haas respects that. Recall that Josh Sharma’s expected successor at center, 6’11" senior Trevor Stanback, had to take medical retirement. Otherwise, the Cardinal were thin on frontcourt players with size. Even da Silva is undersize at 6’9", 225 lbs. Redshirt freshman Keenan Fitzmorris, at 7’ 0", is a hope for next year. Otherwise, the current frontcourt size is what it is. However, 6’9" frosh James Keefe, after an offseason in the weight room, should be better than Kisunas next year. Also, while Bryce Wills is a core veteran, he’s actually younger than Tyrell Terry. There’s a lot of promise awaiting next season, but those have been serious injuries which have set back Stanford this season. A wholly healthy Cardinal team, with no Davis injury mask, with no Bryce Wills ankle injury, with no scary Oscar da Silva fall, would be leading the conference today. Stuff happens. BTW, Daejon’s post-mask 17 points weren’t insignificant.
By Candid One on 02.24.20 11:30am