On Christmas Day at 5:30 PM PT on ESPN2, Stanford men’s basketball will take on Vanderbilt in the Diamond Head Classic championship game in Honolulu, Hawaii. Stanford comes in at 8-4 overall (1-1 Pac-12) while Vanderbilt comes in at 8-4 overall. Stanford defeated Wyoming and Liberty to advance to the championship game while Vanderbilt defeated Hawaii and BYU.
Last time out: Stanford defeated Liberty 79-76 on Thursday. Spencer Jones had a career-high 25 points and 6 rebounds for Stanford while Darius McGhee had a career-high 41 points for Liberty.
RECAP: Stanford MBB advances to Diamond Head Classic championship
“Well, we’ve just played two really good teams and the average fan may not understand the name recognition of a team like Liberty, but my gosh they’ve had such sustained success and now they have a team again that’s really good. So for us, honestly it’s a statement win in some ways and it puts us in the championship, we’re excited about. They’re a fantastic team, McGhee is a fantastic player, I thought we played great defensively and he still had 41. So, it shows you what kind of impact he has on the game. But I thought our guys toughed it out, we were down 13 in the first half and then we were resilient to get back in the game and then really resilient to keep fighting in the second half.” -Jerod Haase on the win over Liberty and reaching the championship game
“Spencer gave us everything. Yesterday he was getting to the rim. Today he made some threes and got to the rim. Defensively, probably our best defender in a lot of ways, at least on the perimeter and he has just a ton of value. So, needless to say, we love having him out there.” -Jerod Haase on Spencer Jones’ performance
On Vanderbilt: The Commodores are coached by two-time NBA All-Star and 18 year NBA journeyman Jerry Stackhouse. Stackhouse has been coaching Vanderbilt since April of 2019 and is hoping to develop a program that can compete with the best of the best in the SEC.
In addition to their wins in the Diamond Head Classic, the Commodores have some solid wins at Pittsburgh and at home against Winthrop. Two programs that are often in the NCAA tournament mix. Like Stanford, they’re viewing a Diamond Head Classic championship as a nice way to boost their NCAA tournament resume. Both programs are hoping to be on the good side of the bubble come March.
Jerry Stackhouse isn’t the only member of this Commodores team with ties to the Space Jam era. The top player on this Commodores team is junior guard Scotty Pippen, Jr. whose dad is among the greatest players to ever play the game. Pippen averages 18.1 points and 3.8 rebounds per game on 42.8% shooting from the field, 31.4% shooting from 3-point range, and 70.1% shooting from the foul line. The only other Commodore scoring in double figures on average is junior guard Jordan Wright, who is averaging 12.6 points and 6.1 rebounds per game.
As a team, the Commodores average 69.9 points per game on 40.6% shooting from the field, 29.5% shooting from 3-point range, and 72.6% shooting from the foul line. They average 37.0 rebounds, 10.7 assists, 7.5 steals, 3.0 blocks, and 12.2 turnovers per game. They also average a +2.2 rebound margin and a +4.6 turnover margin per game. Their opponents are averaging 60.7 points per game on 39.1% shooting from the field, 31.4% shooting from 3-point range, and 75.0% shooting from the foul line.
Keys to the game: For Stanford, the first thing they need to do is contain Scotty Pippen, Jr. They didn’t do a good job containing Liberty’s Darius McGhee and it nearly lost them the game. If they allow Pippen to go wild, they’ll be in for a similar battle.
The second thing Stanford has to do is clean up the turnovers. Stanford turned the ball over 23 times against Liberty, which also nearly lost them the game. They have to take better care of the ball. Vanderbilt is used to winning the turnover margin on a nightly basis. If the turnover margin is in Vanderbilt’s favor, it’ll be tough for Stanford to win this game.
The final key to the game for Stanford is to get a balanced attack on offense. Stanford has more depth than Vanderbilt and doesn’t rely on one guy as much. Their top scorers in contrast are Jaiden Delaire (12.3 points) and Harrison Ingram (12.2 points). If Stanford can get a little bit of help from everybody, that should make the difference in this game.
Prediction: I think this is a game that could go either way. Both teams are coming in with momentum as is with any championship game. Vanderbilt had a tougher road to get to the title game by knocking off tournament favorite BYU, but Stanford I think has the better overall resume coming into this game. Therefore, I’m going to pick Stanford to win this game 70-68.
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