On Sunday, Stanford men’s basketball fell to Colorado by a final score of 80-76. Colorado senior forward Evan Battey led the way for the Buffaloes with 22 points on 8-11 shooting from the field, 4-4 shooting from 3-point range, and 2-2 shooting from the foul line. Stanford junior forward Spencer Jones (15 points) and sophomore forward Brandon Angel (13 points) were the top scorers for the Cardinal. Colorado improves to 6-1 overall and 1-0 in the Pac-12 while Stanford falls to 4-3 overall and 0-1 in the Pac-12.
"At the end of the day, I’m proud of our guys’ effort,” Stanford head coach Jerod Haase said after the game. “We had a stretch in the first half. We had a lot of turnovers. I thought our guys took the message at halftime. Most importantly, we had a chance at the end and we did not do that. We’re going to take away some things from this, some positives.”
Stanford got off to a solid start in this game leading 9-4 with 15:35 to go in the first half. Sophomore guard Michael O’Connell was leading the Cardinal with 4 points on 2-2 shooting from the field while Maxime Raynaud had a triple. Jaiden Delaire also had a bucket inside. Stanford was shooting 4-6 from the field while Colorado was shooting 1-5.
Stanford continued to roll as they led 20-10 with 11:38 to go in the half. It was just a really balanced effort from the Cardinal. Isa Silva had a triple and nobody else had more than 4 points as O’Connell was the top scorer. Stanford was shooting 8-11 from the field and 3-4 from deep.
Colorado went on a 12-0 run over a 2:52 span to lead 22-21 with 8:30 to go in the half. Battey was up to 11 points having nailed back-to-back threes. Stanford hadn’t scored in the last 3:12, going cold.
Colorado would then lead 36-29 with 3:13 to go in the half. Colorado had woken up and now Stanford needed to respond. Harrison Ingram was yet to score in the game for Stanford. Stanford had to get him going and take better care of the ball.
Colorado would go on to lead 37-32 at halftime. Noah Taitz made a huge 3-pointer for Stanford right at the end of the first half. He was up to 7 points while Brandon Angel was leading the Cardinal with 9 points. Evan Battey’s 11 points led Colorado, who went on an 18-2 run to get themselves back in the game. Foul trouble really hurt Stanford in the first half.
Stanford opened up the second half on a 7-0 run as Spencer Jones got five quick points and Harrison Ingram got a layup. It was the first points of the night for both guys. 39-37 Stanford led Colorado with 18:43 to go.
Colorado would then re-take the lead to go up 44-41 with 15:52 to go. Battey was doing damage inside with 13 points on 4-6 shooting from the field while also making it rain from deep as he was 3-3 from beyond the arc. If Stanford was going to win this game, they had to take care of the ball and avoid foul trouble.
Colorado would extend their lead 51-44 with 12:00 to go. Stanford was up to 14 turnovers. Harrison Ingram was up to 5 points for Stanford while Evan Battey was up to 18 points for Colorado, going wild. Battey surpassed the 1,000 career points mark.
With 7:36 to go, Colorado was up 58-57 as Stanford was clawing their way back into the game. Stanford was making an effort to get to the rim and it was paying off. Michael O’Connell was up to 8 points for Stanford after nailing a tough corner jumper. Colorado was actually in bigger foul trouble as they reached the bonus first with 7 fouls while Stanford had 6 fouls.
The game would be tied 66-66 with 3:20 to go as Spencer Jones was up to 15 points for Stanford on 3-3 shooting from 3-point range, 2-2 shooting from the foul line, and 5-5 shooting from the field. It was now crunch time.
“Yeah, you know, Spencer’s foul trouble was a challenge throughout the game,” Haase said of Jones’ performance. “His leadership and shooting and obviously points are valuable and we need to get him going and I think this will be a nice first step to get him on track on the offensive end.”
Colorado burst out ahead to lead 73-68 with 1:22 to go. Stanford was now in some trouble. They needed to get a stop. With 52.1 to go, it was now a 75-70 lead for Colorado as Lukas Kisunas’ activity inside was keeping Stanford alive. He was getting some clutch baskets around the rim.
Stanford would then force a jump ball in the backcourt to get the ball back and Kisunas would follow up with the hoop plus the harm, converting the 3-point play. It was now a 75-73 lead for Colorado with 36.1 to go.
With 13.5 to go, Colorado led 78-76 as Harrison Ingram hit a huge 3-pointer from deep to keep Stanford alive. On the next possession, Colorado guard Keeshawn Barthelemy got fouled and made both free throws, making it an 80-76 final score.
Addressing Colorado really quickly, this was a solid way for them to begin league play. Stanford has a solid squad with some talented pieces and so to pick up a win against them is a nice way to get off to a good start. Evan Battey was fantastic and hats off to him for surpassing 1,000 career points.
As for Stanford, this loss obviously stings considering it was on the road in one of the more challenging environments in the Pac-12. It’s never easy to win at Boulder considering the altitude and so to come up just a bit short is not a fun feeling for them to have. They did a lot of things well like coming out with good energy in both halves, but turnovers and fouls came back to bite them in the end. If they are able to shore up those areas and also get more out of Harrison Ingram, they have the chance to do better than many people expect them to.
Up next for Stanford will be a home game against Oregon on Sunday, December 12th. That game will tipoff at 4:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Networks and Cardinal Sports Network radio. That will be the second game of a double-header at Maples Pavilion with Stanford women’s basketball hosting Pacific at 12:00 PM PT.
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