On Sunday, Stanford men’s basketball fell to Colorado in Boulder by a final score of 81-71. Colorado forward Tristan da Silva (27 points & 11 rebounds) and guard K.J. Simpson (22 points, 4 rebounds, & 7 assists) led the way for the Buffaloes while Stanford center Maxime Raynaud (26 points, 12 rebounds, & 3 blocks) was the top performer for the Cardinal. Colorado improves to 20-9 overall and 11-7 in the Pac-12 while Stanford falls to 12-17 overall and 7-12 in the Pac-12.
BOX SCORE: Stanford at Colorado-Sunday, March 3rd
Once again, Stanford was without fifth year forward Spencer Jones, who is still nursing a wrist injury. With him out, freshman forward Andrej Stojakovic started in his place.
Stanford led 9-8 with 15:59 to go in the first half after Kanaan Carlyle found a cutting Michael Jones for a nice basket inside. It was tight early on. Stanford would continue to lead 21-17 with 11:00 to go in the half as Maxime Raynaud was up to six points. The Cardinal were on a 9-1 run.
With 7:40 to go in the half, Stanford led 27-25. Michael Jones had a nice corner three as the Cardinal were in a nice offensive flow. Colorado would then go on a bit of a run to lead 37-30 with 3:47 to go in the half. Tristan da Silva had a nice transition bucket. Colorado was starting to gain some separation, taking advantage of some sloppy play and turnovers by the Cardinal.
At halftime, Colorado led 44-37. Simpson was leading the Buffaloes with 14 points while J’Vonne Hadley had 11 points. Both guys were playing well. Maxime Raynaud (13 points & 7 rebounds) and Michael Jones (12 points) were pacing the Cardinal. It was a much better first half for Stanford than the one they had in Salt Lake City.
Colorado led 54-45 with 15:58 to go as they were finally starting to gain some separation. Colorado had a comfortable lead, but Stanford still had a pulse. Raynaud was up to 18 points and eight rebounds for Stanford. He was keeping the Cardinal afloat, shooting 2-2 from 3-point range. As for Colorado, Simpson was up to 16 points to lead the Buffaloes.
Colorado led 64-49 with 11:02 to go. Stanford had looked much better than they did against Utah, but it was still nowhere good enough. Colorado was reminding Stanford of why they had only dropped one home game all season as they were winning the second half 20-12.
The good time continued to roll for Colorado as they led 76-56 with 7:34 to go after da Silva nailed a corner three. He was up to 22 points. Stanford was fading and fading fast.
With 5:25 to go, Stanford led 78-60. Raynaud had been fantastic for Stanford with 26 points, 12 rebounds, and three blocks. He wasn’t getting any help from his friends. To Stanford’s credit (sort of), they did end up finishing strong as they were able to lose by just 10 points, making it an 81-71 final score. They ended the game on a 13-3 run over the final 6:00 and a 6-0 run over the final 2:09. Rather than getting totally blown out, they were able to at least make the final score look respectable. Especially since they were without Spencer Jones.
For Colorado, this is a good win for them. They are trying to secure an NCAA tournament spot and while Stanford is in a funk, they’re still on paper a dangerous team that you can’t take lightly. To win by double digits is taking care of business.
As for Stanford, they have now lost six games in a row. That really says it all. They’ve just completely come unglued and while some of that can be attributed to Spencer Jones’ wrist injury, that isn’t a good enough excuse to explain why they have collapsed like a railroad bridge. At worst, they should be 3-3 in their last six games. Not 0-6.
Up next for Stanford is senior night on Thursday against Cal to close out the regular season. Tipoff is set for 8:00 PM PT on ESPN2.
CardinalSportsReport.com on Facebook & X (Twitter): @StanfordRivals
Ben Parker on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, & X (Twitter): @slamdunk406
Email: slamdunk406@yahoo.com
