On Sunday, Stanford men’s basketball fell to #17 Texas in the Pac-12 Coast-to-Coast Challenge in Las Vegas by a final score of 60-53. Texas senior guard Andrew Jones led the way for the Long Horns with 13 points while senior forward Timmy Allen and junior forward Dylan Disu each scored 11 points. Stanford freshman forward Harrison Ingram was the top performer for the Cardinal and leading scorer of the game with 15 points and 7 rebounds. Texas improves to 8-2 overall while Stanford falls to 6-4 overall (1-1 Pac-12).

With 15:41 to go in the first half, Texas led 7-4. Timmy Allen was up to 4 points for Texas while Jaiden Delaire and Spencer Jones each had 2 points for Stanford. Jones was back in the lineup after missing one game with a lower leg (ankle) injury.

Stanford would soon to take the lead to go up 14-13 with 10:00 to go in the half. Noah Taitz was up to 5 points for Stanford on 2-3 shooting from the field. Michael O’Connell was on the board for Stanford as well with a 3-pointer.

Stanford would continue to lead up 19-18 with 7:48 to go in the half. Jaiden Delaire was up to 5 points for Stanford while Andrew Jones also had 5 points for Texas. Both teams were shooting 8-21 (38.1%) from the field. Stanford was controlling the glass with a 17-9 rebound advantage.

The game remained tight as Texas led 27-26 with 3:56 to go in the half. Timmy Allen was up to 7 points for Texas while Jaiden Delaire was up to 7 points for Stanford. Both teams had 11 field goals and three 3-pointers made. The only difference was one free throw.

Texas would pull away a bit at the end of the half to lead 34-27 at halftime. Jones’ 8 points was leading Texas while Allen and Disu each had 7 points. Delaire in turn was leading Stanford with 7 points. Stanford had a 3:28 scoring drought. They needed to get in a better offensive flow.

With 15:31 to go, Texas led 38-31. Jones was up to 10 points for Texas while Delaire was up to 9 points for Stanford. Stanford needed to get Ingram rolling as he had just 4 points up to this point.

Texas’ lead expanded to 11 as they were up 44-33 with 13:45 to go. Stanford called for time as Texas was looking like they were on the verge of pulling away. It was danger time for the Cardinal.

Texas’ lead grew even more as they led 48-33 with 11:35 to go. Allen was now up to 11 points for Texas. Long scoring droughts, something that I addressed in my preview, were doing the Cardinal in.

Texas held a 53-40 lead with 8:33 to go. Ingram was up to 11 points for Stanford as he was finally starting to get into a rhythm. It was unfortunate for Stanford that they weren’t able to get him going earlier.

Texas would continue to lead as it was a 55-44 game with 3:09 to go. Ingram was now up to 15 points for Stanford, helping them go on an 8-0 run. It was likely too little too late, but it wasn’t over yet. Up to this point, it was really Texas’ defense that was making the difference. They did a great job of forcing turnovers, many of which were charge calls. While some of those calls were a little sketchy, a lot of it was just Texas getting in the right position at the right time.

In the end, Stanford would close the gap a bit to make the final score look better. Brandon Angel got a late game dunk and Maxime Raynaud after being held scoreless for the first 59 minutes and 40 seconds, scored 4 points in the final 19 seconds of the game. Texas 60 Stanford 53 would be the final score.

Overall, this game went about as I expected. I picked a 70-64 win for Texas and while the game was not as high scoring, it was a seven point victory for Texas as opposed to a six point victory. Stanford battled hard, but it was the scoring droughts and inability to consistently score that did them in. Something I said they needed to avoid in my keys to the game.

The two main things Stanford needs to address going forward is turnovers and getting Harrison Ingram more involved in the offense throughout the game. Stanford turned the ball over 22 times in this game and Texas scored 23 points off those turnovers. And then as for Ingram, 13 second half points is fantastic, but he has to score more than 2 points in the first half on 1-6 shooting from the field. If Stanford can clean up the turnovers and get more consistency throughout from Ingram, they should be in good shape.

Up next for Stanford is a trip to Honolulu, Hawaii for the Diamond Head Classic, which is an eight team tournament in which all eight teams will play three games on December 22nd, December 23rd, and December 25th. All games will air on either ESPN2 or ESPNU. There will be a winners bracket and a losers bracket, so every team will walk out knowing how they fared 1st through 8th. Stanford will open up against Wyoming on Wednesday, December 22nd at 2:00 PM PT on ESPNU.

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