On Sunday, Stanford men’s basketball fell to #7 Texas in Dallas by a final score of 72-62. The game was part of the Pac-12 Coast-to-Coast challenge. Texas guard Marcus Carr was the top performer for the Longhorns with 17 points, 3 rebounds, and 5 assists while forward Timmy Allen (15 points, 4 rebounds, & 5 assists) and guard Sir’ Jabari Rice (15 points & 4 rebounds) also scored in double figures. Stanford guard/forward Michael Jones paced the Cardinal with 17 points while forwards Brandon Angel (11 points) and Spencer Jones (10 points) also scored in double figures. Texas improves to 9-1 overall while Stanford falls to 4-7 overall (0-2 Pac-12).
Midway through the first half it was an 11-10 lead for Stanford. Brandon Angel, Max Murrell, and Spencer Jones each had three points for the Cardinal. To Stanford’s credit, they were off to a solid start.
With 7:48 to go in the half, Stanford led 13-12. Spencer Jones was up to 5 points after a nice jumper. Both teams were having a tough time scoring. This time it was Texas that was having the tougher time scoring as they had 0 points in the last 3:27.
With 3:15 to go in the half, Texas led 26-23. Rice (8 points) and Allen (7 points) were leading the way for the Longhorns. Spencer Jones (7 points) and Michael Jones (5 points) were pacing the Cardinal. Stanford was actually shooting better percentages, but their turnovers were holding them back as they had 10 to the five that Texas had.
At halftime, Texas led 31-28. Allen and Rice each had 10 points for the Longhorns. Michael Jones (8 points) and Spencer Jones (7 points) were leading the way for the Cardinal. Stanford was hanging tough.
Texas got off to a hot start in the second half, leading 39-31 with 18:09 to go. They were on an 8-0 run. Stanford was up to 13 points. Ball security continued to be an issue.
With 14:42 to go, it was a 46-37 lead for Texas. Spencer Jones was up to 10 points for Stanford on 50% shooting from the field and 3-point range. It was the turnovers that was making the difference as Texas had 7 turnovers to Stanford’s 13.
Texas would start to pull away, going up 55-40 with 11:50 to go in the half. Rice was up to 15 points for the Longhorns. Stanford needed to find a way to get rolling offensively.
Stanford finally got going a bit after back-to-back threes from Benny Gealer and Harrison Ingram. It was now a 58-50 Texas lead with 8:59 to go.
With 3:21 to go, it was now a 65-57 lead for Texas as James Keefe was set to go to the foul line. Michael Jones was leading Stanford with 13 points while Rice up to 15 points for Texas. Stanford had gotten within four points. They were battling hard, but time was running out.
In the end, it was a 72-62 victory for Texas. Stanford battled hard, played decent defense for a good stretch of the game, but the offense wasn’t where it needed to be and they turned the ball over too many times (18).
For Texas, this was a good win. They came in with a cloud of controversy surrounding them given the legal issues of their head coach and they were able to come out and play a good game. Stanford is a respectable opponent and to beat them by 10 points has to feel good for them.
As for Stanford, this is a disappointing loss in that this was a chance to get a signature win and they weren’t able to deliver the goods. Michael Jones played well, but he simply didn’t get enough help. This is a game where you’d like to get more out of Harrison Ingram given this was a homecoming game for him and his 5 points just isn’t enough. The 6 rebounds and 4 assists he got were nice, but he’s gotta get scoring more.
An encouraging part of this game for Stanford was the performance of freshman point guard Benny Gealer. The preferred walk-on point guard played in his second game of the season as he is now healthy and he once again provided a nice spark at point guard with 5 points, 1 rebound, and 2 assists. He did have 3 turnovers, but he’s overall been a nice addition at the point guard position, the position Stanford needs the most help at. It’ll be fun to see how he progresses as the season goes on.
Up next for Stanford is a game in Santa Cruz against Loyola Chicago. That will tip-off on Thursday at 7:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Networks.
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