On Tuesday at 7:00 PM PT on ACCNX, Stanford men’s basketball will take on Utah Valley at home. Stanford comes in at 6-2 overall while Utah Valley comes in at 4-3.

Last time out: Stanford fell to Cal Poly at home on Saturday by a final score of 97-90. Stanford gave up 63 points in the second half, a defensive performance that had head coach Kyle Smith rather upset.

RECAP: Stanford MBB upset by Cal Poly

On Utah Valley: Located in Orem and in the shadows of BYU in nearby Provo, the Wolverines have wins over Western Colorado, UTEP, Murray State, and West Georgia while having lost to North Dakota, Samford, and North Dakota State. They’re 4-1 against teams that are not from North Dakota, so make whatever you want of that stat.

The Wolverines are led by forward Carter Welling (14.8 points & 7.2 rebounds), guard Dominick Nelson (13.3 points & 6.4 rebounds), and guard Tanner Toolson (10.9 points). The three of them form a pretty solid scoring trio. Former Stanford guard Noah Taitz is also on the team, averaging 1.8 points per game in four games played.

As a team, the Wolverines average 77.9 points per game on 49.4% shooting from the field, 31.9% shooting from 3-point range, and 68.0% shooting from the foul line. They average 39.3 rebounds, 15.9 assists, 7.7 steals, 5.9 blocks, and 14.7 turnovers per game. Their opponents average 72.9 points per game on 43.1% shooting from the field, 36.7% shooting from 3-point range, and 75.2% shooting from the foul line.

Keys to the game: The first thing Stanford needs to do is get back to defending. Their defense against Cal Poly was terrible, especially in the second half. Goal number one needs to be to bounce back defensively and not allow Utah Valley to get easy buckets.

The second thing Stanford needs to do is win the 3-point battle. Stanford is shooting just 31.7% from 3-point range while their opponents are shooting 31.3%. If Stanford can win the 3-point battle and make their threes at a decent clip, they should be fine.

Lastly, Stanford needs to crash the glass. Stanford has a +5.7 rebound differential per game while Utah Valley as an even better rebound differential of +10.7. If Utah Valley wins the rebound battle, maybe they’ll pull off the upset.

Prediction: Utah Valley’s rebounding ability is something that could keep them in this game and make things interesting. And on top of that, Stanford’s defense was horrible in the second half against Cal Poly. If Stanford wasn’t coming in on a two game losing skid and in desperate need of a win, I might pick Utah Valley to humble the Cardinal a bit. But since I do think Stanford will be extra motivated to get back in the win column, I’m going to pick Stanford to bounce back in this one and win by a final score of 79-69.

CardinalSportsReport.com on Facebook, IG, Threads, X (Twitter), & Blue Sky: @StanfordRivals

Ben Parker on Facebook, IG, Threads, X (Twitter), & Blue Sky: @slamdunk406

Email: slamdunk406@yahoo.com

Join the conversation on CardinalSportsReport.com