On Thursday at 6:00 PM PT on ESPN2, Stanford men’s basketball will take on the Washington Huskies on the road in Seattle. Stanford comes in at 12-11 overall and 7-6 in the Pac-12 while Washington comes in at 13-11 overall and 5-8 in the Pac-12.
Last time out: On Saturday, Stanford dominated USC 99-68 in front of a sellout crowd at Maples Pavilion.
RECAP: Stanford MBB humiliates USC in front of packed Maples
On Washington: The Huskies have been an up and down team this season. They got a split on their Bay Area road trip last month, defeating Cal 77-75 on a last second buzzer beater and falling to Stanford 90-80. They’ve gone 2-2 in their last four games. They defeated Utah 98-73 at home and also defeated Oregon State 67-55 on the road. As for their two losses, they fell to Washington State at home in overtime by a final score of 90-87 and also fell to Oregon on the road by a final score of 85-80. They’re capable of beating virtually anyone in the Pac-12, but they’re also capable of losing to virtually anyone in the Pac-12. That’s basically who they are.
Graduate student forward Keion Brooks, Jr. continues to ball out for the Huskies, averaging 21.0 points and 7.0 rebounds per game. He’s playing extremely well and is squarely in the mix to win the Pac-12’s regular season scoring title. Graduate student guard Sahvir Wheeler (15.4 points) and graduate student forward Moses Wood (12.1 points) are also scoring in double figures, doing a nice job of taking some of the scoring pressure off of Brooks.
When looking at their team stats, it’s clear that the Huskies are a really good offensive team. Their problem is they’re not a great defensive team. They like to play at a fast pace and put up a lot of points, hoping to outscore their opponent. That’s really their modus operandi.
They average 80.8 points per game on 47.3% shooting from the field, 34.0% shooting from 3-point range, and 73.0% shooting from the foul line. That’s a pretty strong offensive attack. Conversely, their opponents score 76.7 points per game on 44.1% shooting from the field, 33.8% shooting from 3-point range, and 68.9% shooting from the foul line. Their opponents have a good deal of success scoring against them as well.
As far as other stats are concerned, the Huskies average 36.2 rebounds per game for a rebound margin of +0.8 per game. They average 14.5 assists, 5.6 steals, 4.2 blocks, and 11.9 turnovers per game for a turnover margin of -0.2 per game.
Keys to the game: For Stanford, the first thing they need to do is keep the 3-ball falling. They drained 19 threes against USC on Saturday and in their win over Washington earlier this season, they made 13 threes on 24 attempts. If Stanford can keep their quality perimeter shooting going, they should be in a good spot to win this game.
The second thing Stanford needs to do is beat Washington on the glass. Stanford out-rebounded Washington 31-28 on The Farm in their first meeting. If Stanford is able to control the glass again, that will help them pull out this game.
Finally, Stanford needs to defend the perimeter. Washington shot 7-21 from 3-point range in their first meeting this season. Washington undoubtedly will look to shoot better from the perimeter and like Stanford, they like to get going from deep when they can. If Stanford defends the perimeter well and doesn’t allow Washington to heat up, that will go a long ways towards them pulling out the victory.
Prediction: Washington is a tough place to play. They are 9-4 at home this season and will come out fired up to win this one. At the same time, Stanford is coming in with a lot of momentum after having dominated USC and they should have fresh legs to let it rip from deep. I think this is close to a toss-up game, but I’ll give a slight edge to Washington because they are the home team. I got the Huskies winning 80-78.
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