On Saturday, Stanford men’s basketball defeated Oregon 71-64 at home. Stanford senior forward Spencer Jones led the way for the Cardinal with 16 points and 6 rebounds while sophomore forward Harrison Ingram (11 points, 8 rebounds, & 5 assists) and grad transfer guard Michael Jones (10 points & 5 rebounds) also scored in double figures. Oregon redshirt senior guard Jermaine Couisnard was the top performer for the Ducks with 18 points and 4 assists. Stanford improves to 7-12 overall and 2-7 in the Pac-12 while Oregon falls to 11-9 overall and 5-4 in the Pac-12.
“Yeah number one is I'm excited for our guys,” Stanford head coach Jerod Haase said after the game. “You know we've had some tough times and to have a couple games here at home and have a homestand and get two wins is a big deal for us. I thought our guys played loose and confident. Extremely steady even when things weren't going well we weren't, didn't change our demeanor too much and did it in just the right way. I thought when any run was made back at us we maintained a good demeanor.
“I thought defensively our guys executed the game plan really well. I think most of the shots were challenged. For the most part we fought on the boards. Thought we could have done that just a bit better and then offensively I love the idea of sharing the basketball, moving it to the open guy, and then the guys were shooting the basketball; were doing it with a great deal of confidence.”
With 13:29 to go in the first half, Stanford led 15-8. Harrison Ingram was off to a strong start for the Cardinal with 6 points on 2-2 shooting from 3-point range. Stanford was shooting 6-9 from the field while Oregon was shooting 3-10. Stanford would stay in front 20-14 with 11:32 to go in the half. Max Murrell had a bucket inside while Michael Jones had a triple. Stanford needed to defend the perimeter better as Oregon was shooting 4-9 from deep.
With 7:52 to go in the half, it was now a 25-21 lead for the Cardinal. Stanford was shooting 10-14 from the field, 4-5 from 3-point range, and 1-3 from the foul line. Oregon was shooting 8-17 from the field, 5-11 from 3-point range, and yet to take a free throw. Spencer Jones was up to 5 points for the Cardinal while Isa Silva had a nice layup inside. Keshawn Barthelemy was leading the Ducks with 8 points.
With 3:11 to go in the half, Stanford was up 37-33. Brandon Angel was up to 7 points for the Cardinal after a pretty spin move and 3-pointer. Spencer Jones now had 8 points. Stanford was staying in front, but Oregon was keeping within striking distance.
At halftime, Stanford led 42-37. Oregon continued to keep the game close, but to Stanford’s credit, they didn’t allow the Ducks to overtake them before they entered the locker room for the 15 minute break.
Stanford got off to a strong start in the second half, leading 52-43 with 14:28 to go. Spencer Jones was up to 12 points as he was really working the Ducks inside, getting his jump hooks to fall. Ingram was up to 9 points after a nice 3-pointer. Stanford was starting to gain more separation.
“I think just the confidence from my teammates,” Ingram said of the key to his 3-pointers falling. “I mean, I've been struggling a little bit this season. They tell me to keep shooting, stay aggressive, and knowing they got my back. Knowing the coaches trust in me. I gotta let it go, let it go.”
Stanford would then go up by double digits, 57-46 with 12:14 to go. Murrell was up to 7 points after making a 3-pointer for the Cardinal. Stanford was shooting 9-18 from 3-point range while Oregon was shooting 7-20.
With 8:46 to go, Stanford continued to lead by double digits, up 59-47. Stanford got a fluky break on an Oregon turnover and while Spencer Jones was unable to finish, Michael O’Connell was there for the finish. It was a clean-up on aisle 5 situation.
Stanford continued to lead 61-49 Stanford with 3:17 to go. Spencer Jones had another jump hook fall. He continued to be on a roll with those.
“For me it's just being aggressive using my strength,” Jones said of the key to those hook shots. “I mean, you know guys who usually have a little bit of inches on me are usually stronger, have a stronger base than I do so it's just you know, keeping that strong base, using my shoulder to you know, keep it distance from so the long arms can't block it. That's pretty much it.”
In the end, Stanford walked out with a 71-64 victory. Oregon was able to cut it to single digits, but not make the final outcome be in question. Stanford trailed 3-0 at the start of the game, but from then on, they pretty much controlled the game.
“It was the same formula as last game,” Spencer Jones said of the key to controlling the game. “It was coming out and hitting first. I mean, you saw we came out with fire and a little bit of vengeance. You know, Maxime after that and-one dunk, I remember the celebration. That kind of lifted our spirts and got us going and it was just all about the defensive end. We were running one through fives. So, it was all about everybody being able to battle with the big men down low.”
“And really staying together,” Ingram added. “When we've had, no disguise, we've had a tough start to the season. We've lost some games, lost some close games, some tough games. I mean, it's kind of staying together, encouraging each other, and not really worry about ourself.”
For Oregon, this loss really stings. They took care of business in Berkeley against Cal, but stayed true to their mercurial form, playing a pretty bad game, and looking disjointed for much of the night. They’re a talented team and that’s what allowed them to keep the game as close as they did, but they just made too many mistakes to get a win against a Stanford team that is better than their record indicates.
As for Stanford, this is a huge win. To get a home sweep after starting conference 0-7 is big. They really needed this and have to feel at least a bit better about how their season is going after getting this win. While Oregon is hot and cold like the Icy Hot patches that Shaquille O’Neal endorses, they’re still a good team and a quality opponent to get a win over.
“It feels great,” Spencer Jones said of getting the home sweep over the Oregon schools. “You know, especially for the young guys, the momentum really really helps them. The older guys you try to keep everybody steady, so whether you're winning or losing, you kind of keep the same mindset, but for the younger guys it’s really, they really feed off momentum and energy so I took forward to them playing these next few games.”
The biggest thing for Stanford that they can take from this is if they shoot the 3-ball well (9-23) and they play hard on defense, they can hang with just about anybody. They also got the kind of game they needed from Harrison Ingram. He was scoring at a good clip, attacking the glass, and finding his teammates for easy baskets. They need more of that from him going forward. Also, it was pretty well-balanced team win. Everyone who played got involved and did their part.
“I continue to draw references to the season right now because we've had our challenges this season,” Haase said. “And our guys have keep getting knocked down and keep standing up, and so when you got smaller instances of that, you know, of another team coming back at you or making a shot or playing well our guys are just used to standing back up. I think they kind of see it as we don't have an option of sitting down and laying down ever and for that I'm very proud because that's a message I've delivered and they've really taken to heart. But, I think steady. Steady as it goes it was kind of the kind of the idea and our guys kept fighting anytime there was any adversity.”
Up next for Stanford is a non-conference home game against Chicago State on Wednesday. That will tip-off at 7:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Networks.
“Yeah great question,” Haase said when asked if he thinks the game will help them. “The answer is I hope so. I think the reason is maybe a more important topic. I think it can be a good game for us to get a full complement of games in. Scheduling is challenging anywhere. At Stanford though, where I think we're one of the few schools or maybe the only school that has a full two weeks break during finals and because of that you end up really having to squish games in at times to be able to play the full complement of games.
“And so rather than play a you know, one less game, we thought it'd be good to play an extra game this week to be able to try and build as a team, grow as a team as opposed to taking a whole week off and so I think there's situations where you learn and practice, grow and practice, I think every game though is also a situation like that. So I'm hoping it's a positive, but that's the reason why is that I'm not afraid to schedule the game this week. And you know schedule-wise, to be able to pull to be able to play the full complement of games this was the easiest way to do it.”
Note: 2023 4-star Stanford commit Andrej Stojakovic was at the game.
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