On Wednesday, Stanford men’s basketball defeated Arizona State 71-70 in the 8-9 matchup of the Pac-12 tournament. Stanford junior forward James Keefe finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds, including the game winning shot to beat the buzzer while junior forward Spencer Jones had a career-high 26 points on 8-17 shooting from the field and 6-12 shooting from 3-point range. Arizona State sophomore guard D.J. Horne was the top performer for the Sun Devils with 21 points on 8-17 shooting from the field and 5-12 shooting from 3-point range.
“I certainly can't tell about the box scores, I haven't looked at it yet. But a lot to process and think through after the game right now,” Stanford head coach Jerod Haase said after the game. “It's certainly more emotional than it is analytical, but I will say that we'll give Arizona State a lot of credit. They shot the heck out of [the] basketball.
“I thought our guys, for the entirety of the game, tried to execute the game plan the best they possibly could, the game plan. We threw a lot at our guys. Every timeout we were switching things, every free throw we're switching things. We were throwing the kitchen sink at Arizona State, and it continued to not quite be enough. They shot the heck out of the three.
“Bottom line for me and our team, the way I evaluate this, every timeout, when times were good and bad, every situation I looked at guys in the eye, and they looked me back in the eye, and they believed in what I was saying and what the staff was saying, they believed in each other.
“And there were many times that I think most teams, most people wouldn't have believed. And for that, I'm extremely thankful for this team. And it was a really neat feeling in the locker room, but it's a better feeling when I'm in those timeouts and those situations and have a group that has bought in and believes in what we're doing.”
Stanford got off to a 6-4 lead with 15:40 to go in the first half. Both teams were shooting 2-7 from the field. Arizona State had a pair of threes (D.J. Horne & Alonzo Gaffney). Spencer Jones and James Keefe each had two points for Stanford.
Arizona State would lead 16-13 with 10:31 to go in the half. Luther Muhammad (5 points) and Marreon Jackson (5 points) were leading Arizona State. Spencer Jones (5 points) was leading Stanford.
With 6:52 to go in the half, Arizona State led 22-18. Arizona State was shooting 4-9 from 3-point range. Spencer Jones was in a groove for Stanford, leading the Cardinal with 8 points on 2-3 shooting from 3-point range.
Arizona State continued to lead, up 28-25 with 2:35 to go in the half. Jackson was up to 8 points for the Sun Devils on 3-4 shooting from the field and 2-3 shooting from 3-point range. Jones was up to 11 points for Stanford on 4-7 shooting from the field and 3-6 shooting from 3-point range. Stanford had a 16-13 rebounding edge.
At halftime, Arizona State led 31-27. Jackson (11 points on 4-5 FG & 3-4 3PT) was leading the way for the Sun Devils. Jones (11 points on 4-7 FG & 3-6 3PT) led Stanford. Arizona State’s 3-point shooting was making the difference. Harrison Ingram (2 points) was not making much of an impact for Stanford.
Arizona State led 42-30 with 16:00 to go. The Sun Devils opened the second half on an 11-3 run, now shooting 10-18 (55.6%) from 3-point range. Stanford really needed to defend the perimeter.
Things continued to go the Sun Devils’ way as Arizona State led 50-35 with 11:58 to go. Arizona State was shooting 12-22 (54.5%) from 3-point range. Stanford was shooting 4-15 (26.7%). That was really the difference.
Stanford started to climb their way back into the game a bit as it was a 53-43 Arizona State lead with 7:47 to go. DJ Horne hit a 3-pointer for Arizona State, Brandon Angel responded with a triple for Stanford. Angel was set to go to the line shooting three. He was fouled behind the arc.
With 5:44 to go, it was a 59-50 Arizona State lead. Horne (16 points) and Jackson (13 points) were leading the Sun Devils. Jones (16 points & 5 rebounds), Angel (11 points), and Keefe (10 points & 4 rebounds) were doing everything they could to keep Stanford within striking distance.
After an emphatic dunk by Kimani Lawrence, Arizona State was up 69-55 with just 3:01 to go. That really appeared to be the exclamation point for a Sun Devils win as Stanford just didn’t have much time left.
It was at this point that Stanford began what would be a phenomenal comeback. With 2:01 to go, Arizona State was now up 69-61. Angel and Keefe got a couple of second chance buckets and Keefe also got a huge block inside.
“Yeah, I mean, the guys competed,” Haase said of his team’s work inside. “I think it was maybe one rebounded advantage at halftime. So if I'm right on that, the second half was pretty productive. Going back, I don't want to offend our guys or myself, but we're not pretty. We are we're gritty and tough, and that has to be our calling card. We have to hit on box-outs, pursue the rebounds, play through contact, rebound through contact. And that kind of a rebounding number, and it has been our calling card all year, we need to be a physical team and tough team, and rounding has to be something we rely on.”
Stanford continued to battle and they were rewarded for it as Arizona State now led by just five points (69-64) with 1:22 to go. After previously looking like they were heading for dark waters, Stanford was starting to find some life.
“Well, the coaches, he was saying they are hot right now, but they're going to go cold, so stay present,” Jones said. “Keep grinding and defending. And they ended up missing free throws and some open shots at the end, and we took advantage of it. So it was kudos to him for telling them they will do it, just stay present, and we'll get the job done.”
“I don't think it was a look in their eye that they were giving in at all,” Haase added. “They had some shots not go in. Our guys certainly made some plays. I did think a lot of the threes, the 15 threes they made probably was about the first 30 minutes of the game. I told our guys just stay with the plan. Things tend to balance out. And it did.
“But I really thought Arizona State fought to the end. It wasn't something they gave in or changed, anything like that. Again, I thought they competed hard. There was never [a moment] where I saw there was a look in their eye that was lost, but it was more of look in our eye of just stability.”
With 37.8 to go, it was now a one point game. 70-69 Arizona State up with 37.8 to go. Spencer Jones hit a clutch three to cut the Sun Devils lead to one point after Marreon Jackson went 1-2 at the foul line. Making the first free throw but missing the second.
“It was keep shooting,” Jones said of his mentality. “Be as aggressive as possible, try to keep us in the position to win the game. And I knew my teammates would come back and finish it for me. And they did. You see with Keefe with the game winner. For me it was be as aggressive as possible and get them up.”
On the next Arizona State possession, Jalen Graham missed a jump hook inside and Harrison Ingram was there for the rebound for Stanford with 6 seconds to go. Ingram would move the ball up the floor and dump it off to Keefe inside, who got a shot off with 0.2 seconds on the clock and saw it rattle home off the glass. 71-70 Stanford win. An absolutely incredible comeback by the Cardinal.
“The game-winning shot, honestly, I don't know how I ended up with the ball,” Keefe recalled of the game-winning sequence. “I think Harrison was driving in, and he did a nice spin move and got poked out, and then I knew the shot clock -- or the game clock was super low. So just turned around and shot the ball at the glass like I've done a million times, eight, ten feet right there.
“And then you said the block and putback, yeah, those are just instinctual basketball plays, just spring back to get the block, went up with two hands and got in. The putback, again, I think -- we can look at the tape, but one of my teammates did an incredible job like sealing, and so the ball just literally dropped right to me, and easiest putback ever, right, one foot, no defender there. So, yeah…It's been a while [since I hit a game-winner]. I hit one in JV in high school. But not in college and not on varsity basketball. So definitely been a while.”
For Stanford, this was not only a thrilling victory, but a testament to the belief that they have in each other. They could have said here we go again, another loss is coming, but they instead battled hard for the full 40 minutes and were rewarded handsomely in the last half second of the game. Closing the game out on a 16-1 run over the final 2:45.
“I'll be honest, it wasn't even -- we've done such a great job all year of staying present,” Haase said. “The first game of the year, I believe we played Tarleton State, and I believe we were down nine at halftime, and it was a fight, and the next game was a fight, and the next game was a fight.
“And we talked all the time about being present, exactly where we are. We use the, you know, be where our feet are. Don't worry about the next play or the last play.
“Trying to figure out a way to do the best we can right now knowing down the line that's gonna pay off. So one thing I've talked about with our team is we're young, but we have a fair amount of experience. So drawing on those experiences are important, and our guys do that all the time. And the stability of our team is really phenomenal, and I think a big reason is because we have those experiences from earlier in the year.”
As for Arizona State, simply a crushing loss. They led for almost the entire game and in a lot of ways deserved to win this game given how well they played. They found out the hard way that playing well for 37 minutes sometimes isn’t enough.
“First off, credit to Stanford for a resiliency there late in the game and just not giving in,” Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley said after the game. “Just -- we had the dunk, and our huddle was really excited, post up 14, and then we just couldn't really get reconnected to the game appropriately in those last three minutes to just finish the game right.
“And it was just a series of -- and, again, credit them for making shots and picking up the pressure, but we had some turnovers and missed free throws. And they had possessions where they had three offensive rebounds, they missed two threes and then they made the third.
“We were doing things very uncharacteristic of what we've been doing last few weeks, and you pay for it. But it's tough. It's tough for my kids. They've really been playing well last the few weeks and -- but we controlled the game most of the game and played a winning game and just didn't finish it. And now you gotta pay the price for it, and that's kinda what March is. And so it's a tough ending to our season.”
Up next for Stanford is date with #2 Arizona, the top seed in the tournament, on Thursday at Noon. That game will air on Pac-12 Networks.
Touching quickly on that game as a sort of a mini preview, Stanford knows they have their work cut out for them. Arizona is a favorite to reach the Final Four and knows that if they lose to Stanford, that could cost them a number one seed in the NCAA tournament. The keys to the game for Stanford are the same that I had for them a week ago. I do think they need to get more out of Harrison Ingram, they need to have a strong first half, and then they just need to play relaxed and calm. They’re playing with house money. If they do that, they just might pull off the upset.
Spencer Jones on the matchup with Arizona: “I'm excited about it. We felt like last time we went to their place, we threw it away in the last couple minutes because we were with them the entire time, we were battling with them the entire time and made them uncomfortable. So I think we're coming in with an extreme confidence just based on how we played last time.”
James Keefe: “Echoing on what Spencer said, they're a great team, no doubt about that, but I thought we played them in Tucson, had a great game plan and played well for 30 minutes, and then we lost the edge a little bit in the last ten minutes of the game. So we're fired up and excited, try to believe and keep believing.”
Jerod Haase: “We understand the challenge and how good they are. People talk about national championship contenders. They're in a small group of people that are mentioned in that.
“So we'll go back and develop a game plan and ask the guys to execute the game plan as best as possible. But it's awfully comforting as a coach to put my head down at night and know our guys are gonna fight hard.”
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