On Friday at 5:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Networks, Stanford men’s basketball will welcome Green Bay to The Farm in their first game back from their study break for finals. Stanford comes in at 3-6 overall (0-2 in the Pac-12) while Green Bay comes in at 2-9 overall (1-1 in the Horizon League).
Last time out: On Sunday, December 4th, Stanford fell to Arizona State on the road by a final score of 68-64. Stanford outscored Arizona State 43-36 in the second half. Spencer Jones was the top performer for Stanford with 13 points and 6 rebounds before fouling out.
Recapping #2 Stanford WBB and Stanford MBB’s final games before finals
On Green Bay: The Phoenix are off to a rough start having won just two games this season. They’re actually 2-2 at home, which isn’t terrible, but where they really struggle is away from Green Bay. They are 0-5 on the road and 0-2 in neutral site games.
The top two players on this Phoenix team are sophomore forward Cade Meyer (12.2 points & 3.5 rebounds) and sophomore guard Zae Blake (10.5 points & 3.5 rebounds). Both players are doing their part to help their team improve. Meyer is a very solid shooter for a big man, shooting 75.8% from the foul line while Blake is shooting 47.8% from 3-point range.
As a team, the Phoenix are averaging 59.4 points per game on 41.1% shooting from the field, 25.4% shooting from 3-point range, and 70.0% shooting from the foul line. They are averaging 27.6 rebounds, 10.0 assists, 5.2 steals, 2.9 blocks, and 14.1 turnovers per game. They also average a -8.1 rebound margin and a -1.9 turnover margin per game. Their opponents average 74.9 points per game on 48.4% shooting from the field, 37.2% shooting from 3-point range, and 74.6% shooting from the foul line.
Keys to the game: The first thing Stanford needs to do is dominate the glass. Stanford averages a +7.4 rebounding margin per game and should look to have a double digit advantage in that department against the Phoenix. If Stanford controls the glass, they should be in good shape.
The second thing Stanford needs to do is make some threes at a good clip. This is more for the purposes of developing good mojo than it is as a need to win the game. Stanford should beat Green Bay even if the 3-ball isn’t falling, but this should be viewed as a get it right game where Stanford re-establishes their 3-point prowess and gets into a nice rhythm. If Spencer Jones, Max Murrell, Maxime Raynaud, Michael Jones, Brandon Angel, and others can get some threes to fall, that would be nice.
Finally, Stanford needs to attack the rim. This is the opposite of perimeter shooting, but Stanford should be able to figure out how to do both and not do either or. Stanford too often settles for jumpers and that gets them in trouble. When they attack the rim and get going inside, that really frees things up for them on the perimeter, so they really should go hand in hand. If Stanford wants to pick up quality wins in the coming weeks, attacking the rim needs to be a major focus. Let’s see if they can do that tonight.
Prediction: When Big Bird went to China to find 凤凰 (feng huang) the Phoenix, he was successful in his quest with help from the Monkey King. Like Big Bird, I expect the Cardinal to come out victorious against the Phoenix. The difference is I don’t think they’ll need any special help or miracles. 77-60 is how I see this one ending. The first half might be a bit tight, but come the second half, the Cardinal will put the Phoenix away.
To connect with CardinalSportsReport.com on Facebook and Twitter, click here.
To connect with Ben Parker on Facebook and Twitter, click here.
Email: slamdunk406@yahoo.com
