Recap: Stanford MBB falls to Washington in Seattle
On Saturday, Stanford men’s basketball fell to Washington on the road by a final score of 67-64. Graduate student guard Terrell Brown, Jr. led the way for the Huskies with 25 points on 7-18 shooting from the field and 3-7 shooting from 3-point range while senior guard Jamal Bey had 17 points on 6-12 shooting from the field and 4-8 shooting from 3-point range. Sophomore forward Brandon Angel was the top scorer for the Cardinal with 13 points while senior forward Lukas Kisunas had his first career double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds. Washington improves to 8-7 overall and 3-2 in the Pac-12 while Stanford falls to 10-5 overall and 3-2 in the Pac-12.
“Yeah obviously a lot of mistakes, a lot of struggles in the first half and I thought the thing that I was discouraged with is we let one play on the offensive end lead to some mistakes on the defensive end,” Stanford head coach Jerod Haase said after the game. “Which has not been what we’ve done all year and then in the second half I told the guys really focus on the defensive end. Let’s not make those mistakes no matter what’s going on on the offensive end and then as the game went on we were able to get to the middle of the court a little bit more, get downhill, make plays for each other. The things we had talked about.
“But the reality is it’s challenging. We haven’t played against a whole lot of zone this year and they do a great job with their zone. We obviously did a better job attacking in the second half and I’m proud of the way the guys competed.”
Washington got out to an 11-8 lead with 15:49 to go in the first half. Jamal Bey was up to 6 points for the Huskies while Harrison Ingram was up to 6 points for the Cardinal. Stanford had three turnovers already. Something that would plague them, especially in the first half.
With 11:08 to go in the half, Washington led 24-13. Washington was heating up from deep, shooting 4-7 from 3-point range. Emmitt Matthews, Jr. and Terrell Brown, Jr. each had 8 points. Stanford was shooting 4-12 from the field. They really needed Washington to come back to earth a bit while also picking things up on their end.
Washington’s lead continued to expand as they led 34-17 with 7:41 to go in the half. Bey was up to 14 points on 5-7 shooting from the field and 3-3 shooting from 3-point range. He was on fire. Stanford needed to contain him and chip away at Washington’s lead.
Washington would soon lead 39-17 with 3:58 to go in the half as Bey was up to 17 points. Stanford was up 11 turnovers while shooting 5-17 from the field, 2-9 from 3-point range, and 5-9 from the foul line. They were really struggling to establish any sort of rhythm on either end of the floor.
At halftime, Washington led 43-25. Bey’s 17 points were leading the way for the Huskies on 6-10 shooting from the field and 4-6 shooting from 3-point range while Brown, Jr. was up to 10 points on 4-8 shooting from the field. Ingram’s 6 points on 2-5 shooting from the field and 2-3 shooting from 3-point range was leading the Cardinal. Stanford looked tired while Washington had a lot of energy.
To start the second half, things continued to go Washington’s way as they led 50-29 with 15:52 to go. Brown, Jr. was up to 15 points as he was starting to find a groove. Stanford continued to struggle taking care of the basketball. Unless they were able to shore that up, they were going to be in for a long afternoon.
Stanford soon started to creep back into the game as Washington led 52-37 with 14:02 to go. Isa Silva and Brandon Angel nailed back-to-back threes, giving Stanford a bit of life. With 11:55 to go, Washington was up 56-41. Stanford continued to try to claw their way back into the game. They were attacking the rim more as Max Murrell had a nice slam inside.
Stanford’s comeback continued as it was now a 59-51 game with 8:52 to go. This time it was Brandon Angel and Spencer Jones with the back-to-back threes. The Cardinal were getting back in this game. They were hitting threes and doing a nice job on the defensive boards. Especially Kisunas, who was en route to his first career double-double.
The game continued to remain tight as Washington led 63-57 with 4:11 to go. Stanford had the ball. Kisunas continued to be huge inside as he was up to 6 points and 9 rebounds. The Cardinal continued to have life.
With 43.3 to go, it was a 65-63 game as Kisunas, who came into the game as a 60.0% foul shooter made two clutch free throws. It was now crunch time. After Brown, Jr. went 1-2 at the foul line, Stanford had the ball down 66-63 with 14.5 to go. They had a chance to tie up the game.
On the next possession, Harrison Ingram would go to the foul line and make the first of two. He was trying to get a 3-pointer off, but the foul was on the floor and not in the act of shooting. On the second shot, he tried to miss, but the shot didn’t draw any iron, giving the ball back to Washington with 2.8 seconds to go. Cole Bajema would then go to the foul line for Washington and make the first before missing the second. Ingram’s desperation heave wouldn’t fall and it probably wouldn’t have counted had it gone in anyways since there was only 0.4 seconds left on the clock when Bajema was at the line. Washington 67 Stanford 64 was the end result.
Touching quickly on Washington, this is a solid win for them. After beating Cal on Thursday, they gain a little bit more momentum and are off to a 3-2 start in league. They are doing better than a lot of people expected and could end up being a sleeper team to grab the 4th spot in the Pac-12 tournament. Especially with the top scorer in the Pac-12 on their team in Terrell Brown, Jr.
As for Stanford, they obviously have to be frustrated with how the first half went. But on the flip side, they should feel good about how the second half went. They didn’t give up and they battled all the way until the final buzzer sounded. They did a killer job on the boards out-rebounding Washington 47-26, but it was the 21 turnovers to Washington’s 8 that made the difference.
Considering that they beat #5 USC at home and got a split at the Washington schools, almost completing the sweep today, Stanford should feel good about how this week went and how they are coming together as a team. Before this week, they were coming in on a two game winning streak in Hawaii before their COVID pause.
Up next for Stanford will be a home game against #6 Arizona on Thursday. That game will tip-off at 8:00 PM PT on ESPNU and Cardinal Sports Network radio.
Note: Stanford freshman Maxime Raynaud was back for Stanford after being out due to COVID protocols. He was dressed and on the bench, but did not see any action, making him a DNP (Did Not Play)-Coach’s Decision.
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