On Thursday at 6:00 PM PT on ESPN2 and Cardinal Sports Network radio, Stanford men’s basketball will take on the Oregon Ducks in Eugene. Stanford comes in at 14-9 overall and 7-6 in the Pac-12 while Oregon comes in at 15-7 overall and 8-3 in the Pac-12. Stanford won the first meeting of the season 72-69 at home back in December.
Last time out: On Tuesday, Stanford fell at home to #12 UCLA by a final score of 79-70. Johnny Juzang led the way for UCLA with 23 points and 5 rebounds while Spencer Jones led Stanford with 22 points.
RECAP: Stanford MBB falls to #12 UCLA on The Farm
On Oregon: The Ducks continue to be led by senior guard Will Richardson, who is averaging 15.3 points and 3.4 assists per game. Redshirt senior guard Jacob Young (12.0 points) and junior guard De’Vion Harmon (10.7 points) are also scoring in double figures. Together the three of them form a really difficult trio to stop.
The Ducks are having a strong season overall, really turning the corner in the New Year with an 8-1 record. Two of their other league losses came in December against Stanford and Arizona State. In November, they got clobbered 81-49 by BYU in Portland and then went down to Las Vegas and got lit up like a Christmas tree against Houston, losing 78-49. Since that rocky start to the season, they seem to have turned the corner and found more of an identity. All of this is to say that this is not the same Oregon team that Stanford saw in December.
As a team, the Ducks average 73.8 points per game on 46.9% shooting from the field, 36.2% shooting from 3-point range, and 66.3% shooting from the foul line. They average 34.6 rebounds, 12.2 assists, 6.9 steals, 2.9 blocks, and 12.1 turnovers per game. They also average a +1.2 rebound margin and a +2.2 turnover margin. Their opponents average 67.0 points per game on 42.5% shooting from the field, 31.6% shooting from 3-point range, and 70.8% shooting from the foul line.
Keys to the game: Looking back on their first meeting with Oregon, there are three things Stanford needs to do to complete the regular season sweep. First, Stanford needs to make their threes. Stanford shot 8-24 from 3-point range against Oregon last time while Oregon shot 7-20. If Stanford is the team making more threes, that’ll give them a chance to take down the Ducks once again.
Secondly, Stanford needs to take care of the ball. Oregon turned the ball over just 12 times at Maples Pavilion while Stanford turned the ball over 17 times. If Stanford can play the cleaner game from a turnover perspective, that should do wonders for their chances to win tonight.
Finally, Stanford needs to keep it up on the glass. Stanford outrebounded Oregon 36-30 last time and if they can dominate the boards once again, they’re going to be difficult to stop. Provided they convert some of those rebounds into second chance points.
Prediction: This is a game Stanford absolutely can win. They beat Oregon earlier in the season and while Oregon is a different team than they were in December, the same can be said for Stanford. Stanford is a lot more confident in who they are and are playing a lot better basketball than they were in December.
That said, I do think Oregon wins this game. But it’ll be close. I expect Stanford to show a lot of fight and keep things within striking distance. Oregon certainly will need to play well to win this game and I think they’ll play just well enough to win. Oregon 73 Stanford 69 is my prediction.
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