On Wednesday, Stanford men’s basketball defeated UCLA 59-53 on the road at Pauley Pavilion. Stanford freshman point guard Kanaan Carlyle led the way for the Cardinal with 17 points, five rebounds, and four assists while freshman small forward Andrej Stojakovic had nine points and three rebounds. UCLA freshman point guard Sebastian Mack was the leading scorer for the Bruins with 14 points and four rebounds. Stanford improves to 7-6 overall and 2-1 in the Pac-12 while UCLA falls to 6-8 overall and 1-2 in the Pac-12. This is Stanford’s first win at UCLA since January 15th, 2020.
BOX SCORE: Stanford at UCLA-Wednesday, January 3rd
UCLA got off to a strong start, leading 10-0 with 16:45 to go in the first half. Five different UCLA players had scored, providing the Bruins with really good scoring balance. Stanford needed to wake up as UCLA had done a nice job of delivering the first punch.
UCLA led 18-8 with 10:12 to go in the half. Multiple UCLA players had four points each. UCLA was shooting 9-13 from the field. Stanford was still yet to find much of a mojo.
UCLA would lead 18-11 with 7:28 to go in the half. Mack thought for a second he had a hoop plus the foul, but the foul was ruled on the floor. Michael Jones hit a corner three to end Stanford’s scoring drought.
UCLA led 24-19 with 3:56 to go in the half. UCLA had gotten in some early foul trouble. Free throws were allowing Stanford to creep back into the game. Stanford was 5-6 at the foul line while UCLA was 0-2. Carlyle was leading Stanford with six points.
UCLA would lead 28-24 with 48 seconds to go in the half. Stanford was now 8-9 at the foul line. However, they were cold from deep as they were 2-10 from 3-point range. The 3-ball so far wasn’t kind to the Cardinal.
At halftime, UCLA led 30-26. Adem Bona was leading the way for the Bruins with eight points and four rebounds. Kanaan Carlyle was leading the Cardinal with nine points while Michael Jones had seven points.
UCLA led 34-33 with 16:29 to go. Stanford was trying to get their first lead of the night. They had a couple good looks but hadn’t gotten them to drop to take the lead. Jared Bynum had a huge triple for Stanford to help them close the gap. They were definitely in this game.
Stanford led 39-36 with 11:49 to go after Stojakovic made a triple to give them the lead. Carlyle got the assist on the shot and was up to 12 points of his own. As for Stojakovic, he had seven points. Stanford was finally starting to assert their will over the game a bit, but there was still plenty of time for UCLA to respond.
Stanford would lead 46-41 with 9:33 to go after Carlyle had a couple nice assists to Stojakovic and Angel inside. Stanford was starting to pull away a bit, but they needed to finish strong. It would remain 46-41 with 6:47 to go. Stanford was still in front, but they should have been up by more. They had gotten some clean looks but just weren’t able to knock them down. They needed to end the dry spell soon.
Stanford would lead 51-45 with 3:16 to go. UCLA had the ball. The Bruins were shooting 4-20 from the field in the second half. It looked as if there as a lid on the basket they were shooting on. They couldn’t get anything to drop.
Stanford continued to lead as they were up 54-47 with 54.8 to go. Stanford had the ball following a nice steal by Benny Gealer. Maxime Raynaud had also just gone 1-2 at the foul line. At this point, Stanford appeared to be firmly in the driver’s seat.
UCLA would make a couple more threes to make the final score look a bit better, but in the end, Stanford walked out with a 59-53 victory. It wasn’t the prettiest of victories but considering that UCLA was favored to win, Stanford has to be happy to come out victorious. Close games have been an issue for them this season, but tonight was a different story.
The biggest difference maker for Stanford was Carlyle’s presence off the bench. He was the top player for the Cardinal once again. He gave them a real spark on both ends of the floor. With the way he’s playing, one has to wonder how much longer he’ll remain coming off the bench.
Statistically, Stanford shot the ball better. Especially from the perimeter and foul line. Stanford shot 6-20 from 3-point range and 17-21 from the foul line while UCLA shot 3-13 from 3-point range and 12-15 at the foul line. Stanford’s ability to make more threes and also more foul shots made the difference.
The main area where Stanford struggled was rebounding. They got out-rebounded 36-30. That’s why UCLA was able to remain in the game for as much as they did. Stanford needs to shore up their rebounding on both ends, but the defensive rebounding in particular seems to be a challenge. They need to do a better job of boxing out and securing rebounds off missed shots from their opponents.
Up next for Stanford is a road game at USC on Saturday, January 6th. That will tip-off at 1:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Networks.
Note: Stanford was without both Max Murrell and Jaylen Thompson. Both are day-to-day with head injuries.
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