On Tuesday at 4:00 PM PT on True TV & HBO Max, Stanford men’s basketball will take on Grand Canyon as part of the Acrisure Holiday Classic. The game will be played at Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert, California, which is near Palm Springs. Stanford comes in at 6-0 overall while Grand Canyon comes in at 3-2.

Last time out: On Saturday, Stanford defeated Santa Clara on the road by a final score of 71-69. Stanford point guard Jaylen Blakes hit the game winning shot.

RECAP: Stanford MBB shocks Santa Clara at Leavey Center

On Grand Canyon: The Antelopes come in with wins over Cal State Fullerton, Western Kentucky, and Norfolk State while they have lost games to Arizona State and UC Davis. The beat Cal State Fullerton 89-79 and Norfolk State 91-73. Stanford beat Fullerton 80-53 and Norfolk State 70-63, so there isn’t much we can glean from that. Other than maybe matchups.

Senior forward JaKobe Coles (19.4 points & 6.8 rebounds) and graduate student guard Tyon Grant-Foster (19.0 points & 6.7 rebounds) are leading the way for the Antelopes while senior guard Ray Harrison (13.8 points) and junior forward Duke Brennan (13.0 points) are also scoring in double figures. And then senior guard Collin Moore is knocking on the door with 9.8 points per game. So they got some depth and versatility.

As a team the Antelopes average 79.6 points per game on 45.7% shooting from the field, 34.2% shooting from 3-point range, and 72.7% shooting from the foul line. They average 32.8 rebounds, 16.0 assists, 9.0 steals, 3.4 blocks, and 14.8 turnovers per game. They also average a +4.0 rebound margin and a +0.8 turnover margin. Their opponents are averaging 77.2 points per game on 47.9% shooting from the field, 40.2% shooting from 3-point range, and 80.2% shooting from the foul line.

Keys to the game: For Stanford, the first thing they need to do is rebound well. Both Coles and Grant-Foster are great on the boards and the Antelopes on the whole do a great job of winning that battle. If Stanford can win the rebound battle, they’ll be in a good spot to win this game.

Secondly, Stanford needs to see if they can get Maxime Raynaud more help. He was fantastic against Santa Clara, but he can’t keep doing it all by himself. Stanford should look to get more balance in their offensive attack.

Lastly, Stanford needs to make their free throws. Poor foul shooting nearly cost them the game at Santa Clara. Make your free throws with at least a 70.0% rate or better. If you do that, you can say you shot well at the line.

Prediction: I’m going to pick Grand Canyon to win by a final score of 72-70. Stanford is coming in as the better team overall, but I feel like a loss could be coming tonight. It just gets hard to keep winning every game. At some point they’ll drop one and I feel like tonight could be the night. We’ll see.

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