On Wednesday at 7:00 PM PT on ACCNX, Stanford men’s basketball will welcome Norfolk State to The Farm. Stanford comes in at 4-0 overall while Norfolk State comes in at 4-1.
Last time out: Stanford defeated UC Davis on Sunday by a final score of 79-65. Maxime Raynaud had a career high 33 points for Stanford.
RECAP: Stanford MBB gets the job done against UC Davis
On Norfolk State: The Spartans are one of the top teams in the MEAC, winning the regular season title last season with a 11-3 record. They’re very competitive in their league and are capable of holding their own against high major competition. They’re also an HBCU school, so they have a lot of history and pride in representing the African American community.
The Spartans are led by graduate student guard Brian Moore Jr., who is averaging 22.4 points and 2.0 steals per game on 71.4% shooting from the field, 72.7% shooting from 3-point range, and 92.3% shooting from the foul line. He’s been on fire to start the season. Graduate student guard Christian Ings (13.4 points) and graduate student forward Jalen Myers (11.7 points) also are scoring in double figures per game, so Moore does have some help.
As a team, the Spartans are averaging 84.6 points per game on 52.0% shooting from the field, 38.5% shooting from 3-point range, and 79.7% shooting from the foul line. They average 36.2 rebounds, 15.8 assists, 8.4 steals, 3.4 blocks, and 11.6 turnovers per game. They also average a +4.0 turnover margin and a +1.6 rebound margin per game. Their opponents average 62.4 points per game on 36.0% shooting from the field, 30.7% shooting from 3-point range, and 64.0% shooting from the foul line.
Keys to the game: For Stanford, the first thing they need to do is contain Moore. He’s been electric to start the season and is one of the top scorers in the country through five games. Stanford has to do all they can to contain him and not allow him to get going.
Secondly, Stanford needs to dominate inside. Norfolk State does not rebound particularly well and with a big man like Maxime Raynaud on their side, Stanford should look to clean up on the boards. Not to mention the rebounding skills of wing Ryan Agarwal. If Stanford crashes the boards well, they should be well positioned to win.
Finally, Stanford needs to win the turnover battle. Norfolk State is used to winning the turnover margin by +4. If Stanford takes that away from them, it’ll be hard for the Spartans to pull this one out.
Prediction: Stanford is at home and so far has won all their games pretty comfortably. I expect another comfortable win in the end, though it might get a little dicey in the middle. Stanford 77 Norfolk State 62 is how I see this one shaking out.
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