On Friday, Stanford men’s basketball fell to Arizona State at home by a final score of 76-73. Arizona State guard Adam Miller (13 points, 4 rebounds, & 4 assists) and forward Kamari Lands (13 points & 4 rebounds) led the way for the Sun Devils while Stanford forward Brandon Angel (15 points & 5 rebounds) and center Maxime Raynaud (15 points & 15 rebounds) were the top performers for the Cardinal. Arizona State improves to 7-5 overall and 1-0 in the Pac-12 while Stanford falls to 6-6 overall and 0-1 in the Pac-12.
BOX SCORE: Arizona State at Stanford-Friday, December 29th
VIDEO: Stanford MBB Press Conference | Arizona State
“Obviously hugely disappointing for us,” Stanford head coach Jerod Haase said after the game. “Had a lead for much of the game and weren’t able to finish down the stretch. As a coach I need to make sure the guys have a plan that they can execute on both ends of the floor. Defensively, we gave up 48 points in the second half. Gave up ten threes for the game. Give credit to Arizona State for making plays on both ends of the floor.
“It’s my job as a head coach to make sure I’m putting my players in a position to succeed. I need to do a better job of that. As much as it stings, we need to break down the tape, get as much information as we can to the guys that’s gonna help them and then try and prepare for Arizona.”
Spencer Jones was back for the Cardinal and he made his presence felt early. With 11:40 to go in the half, Stanford led 13-9 as Jones already had a 3-pointer. Raynaud was leading the Cardinal with six points and five rebounds. He was in a nice flow to start.
Stanford continued to lead, going up 32-25 with 3:19 to go in the half. Kanaan Carlyle was up to seven points for the Cardinal on 3-4 shooting from the field while Angel also had seven points. Stanford had made four of their last five field goals, doing a nice job of finding a good offensive rhythm.
“I was extremely impressed with him,” Haase said of Carlyle. “He had great activity. He played under control in the paint, which we’ve been coaching him on and he’s really been receptive to that. I thought he made a couple plays that I didn’t love but for the most part I thought he played really an exceptional game with speed, under control, for the most part shot the right shots, and has great activity on the defensive end.”
At halftime, Stanford led 37-28. The Sun Devils ended the half on a 3:14 scoring drought. Angel was leading the Cardinal with nine points after an easy slam inside. Carlyle and Raynaud had seven points each. The Cardinal were off to a solid start while the Sun Devils looked disorganized and out of rhythm.
To start the second half, Stanford continued to be in a good spot as they led 48-36 with 15:32 to go. Angel was up to 13 points after a nice spin move inside. Jared Bynum was also in double digits with 10 points after making a triple. The Cardinal were looking good.
With 11:53 to go, Stanford led 56-46. Carlyle was in double figures with 12 points. Stanford was shooting 9-19 from 3-point range. So far, they were doing a nice job of fending off the Sun Devils.
Arizona State suddenly went on an 8-0 run as Stanford now found themselves up 60-57 with 9:24 to go. Stanford called for time as they needed to regroup.
Stanford responded with a 5-0 run to go up 65-57 with 8:09 to go. Bynum found Michael Jones for a bucket inside after which Spencer Jones drained a triple from straight away.
Stanford would lead 69-63 with 3:45 to go. Angel (13 points), Raynaud (13 points), Carlyle (12 points), and Bynum (12 points) were leading the Cardinal. Stanford just needed to finish strong and not make any dumb mistakes.
Miller would respond with a triple for Arizona State to make it 69-66 with 3:26 to go. Alonzo Gaffney soon would then score a layup inside off a Stanford turnover. It was now a 69-68 game. Angel then got a bucket inside for Stanford to make it 71-68 before Gaffney responded with a triple to tie it up 71-71 with 2:14 to go.
After Raynaud and Gaffney traded baskets, it was 73-73 with 1:34 to go. Stanford would be unable to take the lead again, giving Arizona State a chance to take the lead. Frankie Collins would hit a huge pull up jumper to give the Sun Devils a 75-73 lead with 31 seconds to go.
On the next possession, Stanford would turn the ball over before sending Jamiya Neal to the foul line where he went 1-2. That made a 76-73 lead for Arizona State with 18 seconds to go. Stanford had one final possession to tie things up, but without any timeouts, they were unable to get a good shot off. Michael Jones attempted a three-pointer from straight away, but had his shot blocked, which ended the game. 76-73 Arizona State escaped with a victory.
Touching quickly on Arizona State, huge win for them. They trailed or were tied for all but the final 30 seconds or so of the game. For them to claw their way back into this one and win like they did is pretty amazing. Hats off to them for fighting and pulling this one out.
As for Stanford, this loss stings like a murder hornet. They played the better game for most of the evening and came unglued at the very end. They missed the front ends of some one-and-ones they’d like to have back and just didn’t play with poise in crunch time. This was a collective team loss. Haase didn’t manage things great down the stretch and then players have to make free throws and find a way to get one more stop. If there’s a game that sums up the frustrations of this program from the past couple of years, this would be the game you’d point to. They looked like the better team, played better for most of the game, and yet still came up short.
“I need to look in the mirror and figure it out,” Haase said of his team’s continued struggles in close games. “I do think it’s, for this season right now a little bit challenging of just different lineups that haven’t played much together. For a variety of reasons we haven’t had a full roster and I don’t say that as an excuse, but it’s just the cohesion and things like that. You would like to at the end of the game have a team that’s played a lot together and kinda has a feel of where they’re gonna be on both ends of the floor offensively and defensively. But I don’t have an answer other than to say that’s on my shoulders.”
Up next for Stanford is a home game against #4 Arizona on Sunday. That will tipoff at 1:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Networks.
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