On Sunday at 1:00 PM PT on ESPNU and Cardinal Sports Network radio, Stanford men’s basketball will take on the Washington Huskies at home. This will be their second meeting of the season. Washington defeated Stanford 67-64 in their first meeting in Seattle. Stanford comes in at 13-8 overall and 6-5 in the Pac-12 while Washington comes in at 12-8 overall and 7-3 in the Pac-12.
Last time out: On Thursday, Stanford fell to Washington State at home by a final score of 66-60. Michael Flowers led the way for the Cougars with 22 points while Spencer Jones had 24 points for the Cardinal.
RECAP: Stanford MBB falls to Washington State at Maples Pavilion
On Washington: Graduate student guard Terrell Brown, Jr. continues to lead the Pac-12 in scoring with 21.6 points per game to go along with 4.0 rebounds and 4.2 assists. Brown is having himself quite a year and is a major reason why the Huskies are having such a surprising season. Senior forward Emmitt Matthews, Jr. is the other Huskies player scoring in double figures on average with 11.6 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. Graduate student guard Daejon Davis will be making his return to Maples Pavilion, averaging 8.2 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per game.
The Huskies are off to a much better start than people expected and a key reason for that in addition to having Brown on their team is their ability to win close games. At some point it’s no longer a fluke. They defeated Utah 77-73 in double overtime at home and 74-68 in Salt Lake City, they defeated Colorado 60-58 at home, and their game with Stanford the first go around was close as well. They know how to win close games and find ways to pull them out.
As a team, the Huskies average 70.2 points per game on 40.5% shooting from the field, 31.5% shooting from 3-point range, and 68.2% shooting from the foul line. They average 33.3 rebounds, 10.6 assists, 8.9 steals, 4.7 blocks, and 12.2 turnovers per game. They also average a -6.3 rebound margin and a +4.9 turnover margin. Their opponents average 71.1 points per game on 43.7% shooting from the field, 33.1% shooting from 3-point range, and 71.8% shooting from the foul line.
Keys to the game: If Stanford wants to get payback in this one, the first thing they need to do is contain Terrell Brown. If you’re able to contain him, you’re cutting the head off the snake. It’s a lot easier said than done, but if he has a big afternoon, Stanford’s going to be in some trouble.
The second thing Stanford needs to do is handle Washington’s zone a lot better than they did in Seattle. Stanford seemed to figure it out in the second half and almost pulled off the comeback, but in the end, the hole they dug themselves into in the first half did them in. That zone is why Washington has such an impressive turnover margin. If Stanford comes out stronger against the zone, takes care of the ball, and doesn’t allow it to bother them as much, they should be fine.
Finally, Stanford needs to dominate the boards like they did in their first meeting in which they outrebounded Washington 47-26. That’s a major reason why Stanford came back in that game. Lukas Kisunas had his first career double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds. If Kisunas, James Keefe, and others are crashing the boards, Stanford should be in a good position provided they’re taking care of the other keys to the game as well.
Quotes from Jerod Haase: Stanford head coach Jerod Haase had a couple of quotes on this matchup following Thursday’s loss to Washington State.
“Yeah, we played them once already this year, they’re having a good season. They beat us up at their place. Daejon is a Stanford graduate, he’s a talented player, a really high quality person. He and I both I think would say that while the experience here was a great opportunity for both of us that when we compete against each other we’re all going to compete for our own teams. But, he’s again, pretty neat deal to be a Stanford graduate. Has all kinds of records here whether it’s scoring and assists and games and things like that. One of my first recruits and so he certainly means a lot to me and the program.”-On Daejon Davis’ return to Stanford
“Well we need to get shots, first of all. That’s a really good starting point against Washington. They do a great job getting deflections and creating turnovers. So we’re going to have to find ways to get quality shots. And then on the defensive end try and be more like ourselves and not give away easy baskets like we did today.”-On what needs to change to beat Washington at Maples
Prediction: This is honestly a game that could go either way. Given how close Stanford played them in the second half in Seattle, I could see Stanford figuring them out for both halves and winning a close game. I could also see Washington ride their momentum from their dominating win over Cal on Thursday and come out with a Bay Area sweep. Washington State completed the Bay Area sweep on Saturday against Cal. I’m going to say Washington will not do the same on Sunday against Stanford. Stanford needs this game more than Washington does and I expect them to find a way to attack the zone better and take advantage of their rebounding. It’s going to be a close game, though. Stanford 69 Washington 67 is how I see this going.
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