On Thursday, Stanford men’s basketball suffered a disastrous 60-56 home loss to Utah that should close the door on any hope for a run to the NCAA tournament barring some miraculous run to win the Pac-12 tournament. Utah junior center Branden Carlson (13 points, 4 rebounds, & 2 blocks) and Utah senior guard Both Gach (13 points on 5-10 FG) led the way for the Runnin’ Utes while Stanford junior forward James Keefe (11 points & 8 rebounds) and Stanford senior forward Jaiden Delaire (11 points & 7 rebounds) were the top performers for the Cardinal. Utah improves to 10-16 overall and 3-13 in the Pac-12 while Stanford falls to 15-11 overall and 8-8 in the Pac-12.
“Hugely disappointed for my guys,” Stanford head coach Jerod Haase said after the game. “There was a great desire to do well today and obviously the second half we weren’t able to execute on either end of the floor. Certainly give Utah a lot of credit for executing. They came out, shot the ball from three well in the second half to start and then attacked the basket well after that. We struggled with defensive rebounding and on the offensive end we just were a little disjointed. We missed 22 three-point shots. I thought a lot of those were shots that I wanted. They looked good and didn’t go in the basket and without getting any momentum offensively and just grinding out defensively, we weren’t able to hold on to the end and certainly give them a lot of credit for their making plays down the stretch.”
This game got off to a slow start as Stanford led 4-2 with 15:54 to go in the first half. Delaire and Keefe each had 2 points for Stanford while Carlson was on the board for Utah with a bucket inside. Stanford was crashing the glass with a 6-3 rebounding advantage.
Stanford would soon take a 12-4 lead after freshman 7-footer Maxime Raynaud nailed a 3-pointer. However, Utah would respond with a 7-0 run as Gach would be up to 5 points. 13-12 Utah led with 10:22 to go in the half. Over the next couple of minutes, both teams would go into a scoring drought as it was still a 13-12 Utah lead with 8:19 to go in the half.
After five quick points from sophomore forward Brandon Angel, Stanford regained the lead 21-17 with 4:18 to go in the half. Utah called for time. Stanford would finish the half strong to lead 28-21 at halftime. Angel was up to 8 points for Stanford while Gach had 5 points for Utah. Stanford made five of their last six field goal attempts while Utah made two of their last 10.
With 15:26 to go in the game, Stanford led 35-30. Delaire was up to 9 points for Stanford, but Utah was hanging tough. Sophomore guard Gabe Madsen was up to 8 points for the Utes.
With 11:45 to go, Stanford would lead 46-38 with 11:45 to go. Raynaud got a nice hoop plus the foul. The shot swirled around the rim and fell. He was up to 5 points while freshman guard Isa Silva was up to 8 points for Stanford on 2-3 shooting from 3-point range.
Stanford would continue to lead up 51-45 with 7:30 to go. Delaire’s 11 points led Stanford while sophomore guard Rollie Worster led Utah with 10 points. Utah was outscoring Stanford 24-23 in the second half. They were not going away. Stanford was still controlling the glass 33-24.
With 3:49 to go, Stanford led 54-50 as Keefe was up to 11 points and 7 rebounds. Carlson was up to 11 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 blocks for Utah. Stanford had zero field goals in the last 5:39. They were in quite an offensive funk.
“We struggled stacking stops together,” Haase said. “We gave up offensive rebounds, a few multiple offensive rebounds in one possession and on the offensive end, look, everything gets easier when you score the basketball. We didn’t score it effectively in the second half and because of that, our defense just didn’t have the energy and that’s on me. We gotta be tough enough to find the energy. Especially when things aren’t going well.”
After a layup from Gach in transition and a tough bucket inside from Carlson, it was a 54-54 game with 2:35 to go. Utah tied it up. Utah would then take the lead after Madsen made a clutch 3-pointer with 1:42 to go right as the shot clock was about to expire. It was now a 57-54 lead for Utah. Stanford would fail to score on the other end and then Gach would go to the foul line and make two foul shots, making it a 59-54 Utah lead with 29.4 to go. Stanford wasn’t dead, but they were in a really bad spot.
“It’s not heart-wrenching in the game because you’re getting to the next play and trying to solve the problems out there, but right now it is,” Haase of losing after leading for most of the night. “It is because I feel so much for the guys in the locker room and they’ve invested so much into this season and yeah, it’s tough to see their eyes after the game.”
In the end, Utah would walk out with a 60-56 win. Stanford has won many close games this year and pulled a few rabbits out of a hat, but this time they weren’t able to do so. Utah came back and closed them out.
“I need to figure out as a head coach why our response wasn’t there as much in the second half,” Haase said. “I did think it was a little bit, it wasn’t a lack of desire, but it was a little bit harder to get, just juiced up and excited. I think when the ball goes in the basket it’s a little bit easier, but it turned into a grind and we were not able to execute.”
First of all, Utah deserves a good amount of credit for pulling this one out. Stanford has been a tough team to beat at home all season long with impressive wins over Oregon, USC, and Washington. While it’s easy to point the finger at Stanford and say this is all about them playing bad, you have to tip your hat to Utah and give them credit for battling hard all night and maintaining the belief that they could win. Carlson and Gach played like a legit one-two punch in this game and should be commended for doing so.
“I think they’ve lost six or seven games by less than five points and they’ve won some games as well,” Haase said. “So, they’re a good basketball team and one of the signs of a good basketball team is when they’ve been close and haven’t got it done, they’ve continued to scrap and fight. That wasn’t lost on me and I don’t think it was lost on the team. The messaging was clear that this is a good basketball team. I think we were prepared for that but didn’t execute.”
As for Stanford, while Utah did battle hard and made things tough, they still should have won this game. They were at home. They needed to win this game. They did not deliver. Period.
Harrison Ingram had an off-night with just 5 points. The 7 rebounds and 6 assists were nice, but the young man has to put the ball in the bucket more than he did tonight. Spencer Jones also was off with just 5 points on 2-12 shooting from the field. When those two guys go colder than a winter’s day in Harbin, China, Stanford is going to have a tough time beating anybody.
At this point, all Stanford can do is put this disastrous loss behind them and look ahead to Saturday’s game against Colorado. It will be Senior Day. They have a lot to play for on those grounds alone. That game will tip-off at 7:00 PM PT on ESPNU.
“Yeah, I wanna, the guys that are graduating, wanna make sure that they’re represented well,” Haase said. “We wanna have a great game and honor them and honor what they’ve done here in their time in the best way we possibly can. It always means a great deal to me. I remember back to my Senior Day and how much it meant to me and how special it was. It is very important for me to make sure that we perform well. And right now I need to get it figured out, make a game plan, and prepare us to be able to play well on Saturday.
“The reality is we’re playing for a lot right now. The guys are excited. We understand the finality of what we’re at right now. The last home game on Saturday and how close we are to the end of the season and we wanna make a big push. This season has not been hard to motivate my guys. They’re so self-motivated. They believe in what we’re doing and believe in the plan. So, we’ll find out as we talk tomorrow and if they need me to generate that enthusiasm, but if history holds true for this team, I think they’ll come in motivated on their own.”
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