Recap: Stanford MBB loses double OT heartbreaker to #20 Arkansas
On Thanksgiving Eve, Stanford men’s basketball fell to #20 Arkansas by a final score of 77-74 in double overtime in their opening game of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the Bahamas. Arkansas junior guard Tramon Mark led the way for the Razorbacks with 25 points on 6-15 shooting from the field and 12-15 shooting from the foul line while redshirt sophomore forward Trevon Brazile (14 points & 17 rebounds) and senior guard Davonte Davis (10 points) also scored in double figures. Stanford fifth year forward Spencer Jones (27 points & 8 rebounds) and graduate guard Jared Bynum (13 points, 5 rebounds, & 8 assists) scored in double figures for the Cardinal. Arkansas improves to 4-1 overall while Stanford falls to 3-2.
BOX SCORE: Stanford vs. Arkansas-Wednesday, November 22nd
This game was tight early on as it was tied 7-7 with 14:45 to go in the first half. Trevon Brazile was on the board for the Razorbacks with a 3-pointer while Spencer Jones had a 3-pointer of his own for the Cardinal.
With 7:33 to go in the half, Stanford led 13-11. Michael Jones added a 3-pointer of his own for the Cardinal. Stanford was shooting 5-15 from the field while Arkansas was shooting 4-19.
It would be tied 18-18 with 3:10 to go in the half. Spencer Jones and Brandon Angel both had five points. Stanford was hanging tough so far in this one.
At halftime, Arkansas led 22-20. Mark was leading the Razorbacks with six points on 2-6 shooting from the field. Spencer Jones was leading the Cardinal with seven points on 3-4 shooting from the field.
Stanford would lead 34-27 with 16:53 to go. Andrej Stojakovic had a nice steal and assist to Jared Bynum for a 3-pointer. Bynum was up to nine points. Spencer Jones was up to 12 points. Stanford was outscoring Arkansas 14-5 in the second half so far.
Stanford would lead 42-38 with 12:48 to go. Spencer Jones was leading the way for the Cardinal with 14 points and five rebounds. Soon, back-to-back threes from Spencer Jones, Stanford led 48-42 with 9:38 to go. The Razorbacks called for time.
With 7:40 to go, Stanford now led 48-47 as Arkansas was on a 5-0 run. Spencer Jones was up to 20 points and six rebounds for the Cardinal while Chandler Lawson was leading the Razorbacks with nine points.
Stanford then led 54-49 with 3:26 to go. James Keefe, Andrej Stojakovic, and Maxime Raynaud had buckets inside. Raynaud with a dunk. With 36 seconds to go, Stanford called for time with the ball up 57-55. This game as going down to the wire.
Stanford would lead 59-57 with 17 seconds to go with the lead and possession. Michael Jones had just nailed a pair of foul shots for Stanford while Tramon Mark had done the same for Arkansas. This game would end up going to overtime at 59-59. Bynum missed the front end of a one and one while Davis came back to knock down a pair of free throws for Arkansas.
Overtime would nearly go Arkansas’ way, but thanks to a clutch triple by Benny Gealer to beat the buzzer, the Cardinal forced double overtime at 66-66. The first overtime was a low scoring affair as both teams only scored seven points.
Double overtime was more of Stanford trying to play catch up once more. Brazile hit a huge three right out of the gates for Arkansas to give them a 69-66 lead. After a layup from Mark, Arkansas led 77-74 with 17 seconds left. Stanford called for time with seven seconds left. This time, Stanford was not able to force a third overtime as Spencer Jones and Benny Gealer both missed threes. Arkansas escaped with a 77-74 double overtime victory.
For Arkansas, talk about a huge win. They did not want to lose this game as they came in as a ranked team. The name of the game is to win and they found a way to do so even though it wasn’t pretty.
As for Stanford, this loss stings. They had a chance to pick up a Quad 1 win in the NET rankings and instead it’s a Quad 1 loss by one point (overtime games in NET rankings are all scored as one point). They had their chances to win and had they not shot 13-24 at the foul line, they would have come out on top. After the game, Stanford head coach Jerod Haase said he has faith that foul shooting will remain a strength of theirs even though it wasn’t in this game. What particularly stings about the missed free throws is who missed them:
Bynum shot 2-3 at the foul line as a career 74.3% foul shooter. Michael Jones shot 2-4 at the foul line as a career 75.5% foul shooter. Spencer Jones shot 2-6 at the foul line as a career 71.4% foul shooter. If those guys all shoot their career averages, Stanford would have won.
At this point, all that Stanford can do is move on from this and get ready for Michigan on Thanksgiving Day. That will tip-off at 4:30 PM PT on ESPN2. Michigan comes in at 3-2 overall as well, dropping their first game of the Battle 4 Atlantis to Memphis by a final score of 71-67.
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