Recap: Stanford MBB creams #4 Arizona on New Year’s Eve
On New Year’s Eve, Stanford men’s basketball defeated #4 Arizona by a final score of 100-82 on The Farm. Stanford freshman point guard Kanaan Carlyle led the way for the Cardinal with 28 points and eight rebounds on 7-13 shooting from the field, 6-8 shooting from 3-point range, and 8-8 shooting from the foul line, just exploding with a phenomenal performance off the bench.
Stanford fifth year forward Spencer Jones (21 points), freshman wing Andrej Stojakovic (16 points & 5 rebounds), and junior center Maxime Raynaud (12 points & 7 rebounds) also scored in double figures for the Cardinal while grad transfer point guard Jared Bynum had a near double-double with nine points and 11 assists. Arizona guard Caleb Love was the top performer for the Wildcats with 23 points. Stanford improves to 6-6 overall and 1-1 in the Pac-12 while Arizona falls to 10-3 overall and 1-1 in the Pac-12.
VIDEO: Stanford MBB Postgame Press Conference | Arizona
BOX SCORE: Arizona at Stanford-Sunday, December 31st
“This is a hard profession in terms of the lows are awfully low, Friday night was tough, the way I felt over the last couple days I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy,” Stanford head coach Jerod Haase said after the game. “And on the flip side, the highs are awfully fun. It was a great feeling in the locker room.
“Obviously we shot the ball well, I thought our guys played with a great deal of poise, a great deal of belief. I thought the young guys really added a big time spark throughout the game. And maybe most importantly, the staff, the assistant coaches really putting a nice scouting report together. The players really executed that well and I thought that was a major key to the game.”
Stanford got off to a strong start as they led 12-10 with 14:23 to go in the first half. Bynum was leading the Cardinal with five points including a 3-pointer. He was doing a nice job of setting the tone early.
Stanford continued to lead 17-12 with 11:45 to go in the half. Spencer Jones had just nailed a corner three while Stojakovic had a nice little step back. The Cardinal continued to apply the pressure on the Wildcats.
With 7:32 to go in the half, Stanford led 22-19. Stanford was shooting 4-9 from 3-point range, doing a great job of knocking down their shots from the perimeter. Arizona in contrast was shooting 1-6 from 3-point range. Perimeter shooting was making a difference.
Stanford would expand their lead to go up by double digits, leading 33-21 with 4:28 to go in the half. The Cardinal were on an 11-0 run. As for Carlyle, he was starting to catch fire with 10 points on 3-3 shooting from the field including a four-point play.
“Since the beginning my coaches have been telling me that my best asset to this team is bringing energy,” Carlyle said. “So it wasn’t on me hitting a shot, it wasn’t on me scoring the ball, it was more about me coming in, providing energy whether that’s defensively or on offense scoring the ball. Just providing that energy throughout. That’s why for the team. To keep us going.”
Stanford would lead 38-26 with 3:23 to go in the half. Stojakovic was up to nine points on 3-6 shooting from the field. He was starting to find a groove as well after completing a three-point play.
At halftime, Stanford led 44-35. Carlyle was leading the Cardinal with 13 points and three rebounds on 4-7 shooting from the field, 4-4 shooting from 3-point range, and 1-1 shooting from the foul line. Stojakovic was up to nine points of his own. Love was pacing the Wildcats with eight points.
Stanford came out with good energy in the second half, leading 60-43 with 16:22 to go. Spencer Jones was up to 14 points on 5-6 shooting from the field and 4-5 shooting from 3-point range. He was going wild.
“Well Spencer came out hot, which was awesome,” Haase said. “We got him some good looks. His teammates got him some good looks. He knocked them in. I thought that was a good kinda message for the guys that hey we can keep going and keep fighting. Burned a time out, they got a little bit of a run, got a little bit sloppy with the basketball. But I thought the guys really managed the game well, the guys competed hard, believed in what we were doing and then last thing I would say is just the poise. Even when the times got a little bit difficult they had poise and played with poise.”
With 15:08 to go, Stanford led 64-48. Stojakovic was up to 11 points after a nice turnaround jumper in the post. Love was the lone Wildcat in double figures with 16 points. He needed others to step up.
With 11:49 to go, Stanford led 69-53. Stojakovic was up to 16 points. He was having the best game of his young career.
Stanford would lead 77-64 with 8:41 to go. Carlyle was up to 18 points on 4-8 shooting from the field, 4-5 shooting from 3-point range, and 6-6 shooting from the foul line. Arizona was on a 7-0 run. Stanford needed to find a way to slow them down and not allow them to get back in the game.
“No, I’m not surprised at all,” Stojakovic said of Carlyle’s performance. “We were waiting for this moment. Obviously, last game didn’t end the way we wanted to. But, I’ve been telling Kanaan as the young guys we gotta step up and we know that it’s a veteran team, but us coming off the bench and sparking that energy and giving them more ways to score and make plays for each other. That’s as much as we can bring and I feel like he just showed college basketball what he can do and I already knew it was gonna happen at some point, but it’s time the whole world knows.”
Stanford would lead 80-67 with 7:36 to go. Spencer Jones was up to 17 points after making a triple. Arizona needed to get some stops. They couldn’t just be trading baskets.
With 4:27 to go, Stanford led 88-73. Carlyle was up to 20 points and seven rebounds. He was truly a game changer in this one. Spencer Jones was up to 19 points. At this point, time was running out for Arizona. It was becoming rather clear that barring something really crazy, Stanford was going to walk out with a win.
The final score would be 100-82 as Stanford never trailed. Carlyle made one final triple to beat the shot clock from near half court to make it 100 points. A chef’s kiss to end what was a fantastic performance for the Cardinal.
“The one message that we delivered and will be continued to deliver, I just wrote it after the Arizona State game on my computer: Do your job,” Haase said. “And that’s going to be emphasized to the guys every time. If there’s a box out assignment, your job is to do that. If it’s to run a play properly, if it’s to get to the paint, whatever it is, do your job the best you possibly can. That’s the whole process idea. But we’re not gonna get too too high or too too low. We’re gonna understand that if we do our job, continue to get better and that’s the ultimate goal, then at the end of the year, hopefully we’ll have a team that has a lot of weapons and a lot of potential.”
For Stanford, this was a superb win. They made 16 threes, which set a new program record. They also had 25 assists, doing a good job of moving the ball. The offense was truly excellent and they did a great job of playing to the pace that they want to play at. Having Carlyle out there doing his thing obviously helped them accomplish that objective.
“I think as a team we, the people in the locker room, we all believe what we can do,” Stojakovic said. “And we knew that we were able to accomplish a win like this and you know, we’ve had a couple games not go our way. Arkansas, Michigan, San Diego State, but I think this one was finally the game to show that we are one of those teams and I think we can make a lot of noise in the Pac-12. We’re looking forward to competing next week.”
Touching more on Carlyle, the young man was in the zone. He was like a guy who was on fire in a video game. When he’s converting four point plays and making near half court shots, you know he’s feeling it. He was amazing. I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t at least pick up Pac-12 Freshman of the Week honors after that kind of outing.
“Well, he was fearless out there,” Haase said of Carlyle. “And he’s been a ton of fun to coach. I’ve mentioned about Andrej a number of times about how coachable he is and I’m going to throw Kanaan into that same mold. He’s been just a joy to coach. He’s very dynamic. Both of those players are, their eyes are just full of wonder. We have an old team that has kinda been through the wars and they’ve won big games, they’ve lost big games, and they’re very very steady, which I think is a very positive thing.
“But with Kanaan and with Andrej, you know their eyes are full of wonder and excitement and I think it’s really fun for me and for the rest of the guys to look into their eyes and see that excitement and I think we can all feed off of that. But Kanaan was obviously efficient. He was fearless and defensively he can bring an element to our team that is really needed right now.”
“I just think it was my time,” Carlyle said of his performance. “Just coming in, my teammates have been supporting me the whole time I’ve been out and just coming back, my coaches have been supporting me letting me know and constantly guiding me. So I feel like it was just building up and I was able to go out there and do what I need to do to win and help the team win.”
As for Arizona, obviously a disappointing loss. The only thing I can say to make them feel a bit better is they really do bring out the best in Stanford. Stanford gets amped to play them and always gives an A+ effort. Especially when the game is on The Farm. Gotta remember, Stanford defeated Arizona on The Farm last year, too. This is nothing new. And then in the Pac-12 Tournament, Stanford has played Arizona tough two years in a row. There’s something about Arizona that makes Stanford take it up several notches.
“I don’t have a great answer for that one,” Haase said when asked why his teams have done well against Arizona. “Other than to say that our guys respect them so much and understand that they’re going to have to put their best foot forward. And they’ve executed the game plan well. Look, at the end of the day they have a team that is awfully talented and awfully tough and I don’t know that anybody really matches up well with them. But obviously we have played well against them and that’s a real shot in the arm for us.”
Up next for Stanford is a road game at UCLA on Wednesday. That will tipoff at 6:00 PM PT on ESPN2.
Note: Stanford forward Max Murrell was out with a head injury. He is listed as day-to-day.
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