On Sunday, December 4th, #2 Stanford women’s basketball and Stanford men’s basketball played their final games before taking a break to study for fall quarter finals. Stanford women’s basketball defeated #23 Gonzaga 84-63 while Stanford men’s basketball fell at Arizona State by a final score of 68-64. Stanford women’s basketball improves to 10-1 overall while Stanford men’s basketball falls to 3-6 overall and 0-2 in Pac-12 play.
Brooke Demetre was the top performer for Stanford women’s basketball with 17 points on 6-11 shooting from the field and 5-9 shooting from 3-point range while Cameron Brink had 14 points and 16 rebounds. Five 3-pointers was a career high for Demetre. Hannah Jump also had 14 points. As for Stanford men’s basketball, Spencer Jones was the top performer with 13 points and 6 rebounds while Harrison Ingram (12 points), Michael Jones (12 points), and Maxime Raynaud (10 points) all finished in double figures.
Given I’m getting this recap up later than I would have liked and that they both played on the same day before taking their break for finals, I thought I would recap both games in here and share some thoughts on where both programs sit as they take this break.
Starting with the women’s game against Gonzaga, Stanford found out before tip-off that Gonzaga would be undermanned, dressing only seven players as the rest of the team was either injured or out with illness. As a result, it was expected that Stanford would cruise to a victory. To Gonzaga’s credit, they made it much more of a game than anyone thought they would given the circumstances, really showing why they are a ranked team.
“I think first of all, Gonzaga unfortunately had some injuries and some players out that were sick and I just want to give them a lot of credit for going ahead with the game, they only had seven or eight players and I think that’s a real credit to Lisa and her staff. She is a great coach,” Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said after the game. “Their team really executes really well no matter who is out there and I just wanna just say that this is a team that is a top 25 team and I said I think we’ll, if we can do it, they’re gonna be in Seattle. They’re a great program.
“Having said that, they had to double and really double hard on people inside and I thought Cam did a great job on the block in rebounding and then Brooke came in and really opened things up. Our 3-point shot is Brooke going five for nine. She’s just been a great worker in practice, her shot’s been going in in practice, she kinda has had the lid on the basket in some of the games, but just points to her confidence and the confidence that we have in her.
“So, I kinda call Brooke my secret weapon. I love how she practices, I love coaching her, she is a really special young lady and when you have both Cam out there and Brooke, it’s a two-headed monster. What can you do? You can’t double Cam and you can’t leave Brooke.”
Stanford got off to a hot start leading 8-2 as Cameron Brink had 6 points thanks to a 3-pointer and a three-point play. After a jumper by Hannah Jump and two free throws made by Agnes Emma-Nnopu, it was a 12-4 Stanford lead with 4:09 to go in the 1st quarter. Gonzaga would then finish the quarter on a 18-7 run, making it a 19-18 game at the end of the 1st quarter. Kaylynne Truong and Brynna Maxwell each had 6 points for the Bulldogs.
In the 2nd quarter, it continued to be a tight game as it was a 29-26 lead for Stanford after Truong nailed another 3-pointer. She was really heating up and putting some pressure on the Cardinal defense. However, Brooke Demetre would then hit back-to-back threes, making it a 35-26 lead for Stanford with 5:48 to go until halftime. Stanford would maintain a nine point lead to lead 45-36 at halftime as Haley Jones, Ashten Prechtel, and Jzaniya Harriel each made a 3-pointer to keep the Bulldogs from narrowing their lead.
“We have great three-point shooters,” VanDerveer said. “I was excited to see them step up. I don’t know that that’s how I would play us, per se. But, I think our team responded really well.”
Stanford would lead 51-38 with 5:24 to go in the 3rd quarter. Jump and Emma-Nnopu each had a pair of threes in the quarter for the Cardinal. Stanford was starting to pull away.
At the end of the 3rd quarter, it was a 66-51 lead for Stanford. Demetre was heating up for the Cardinal with 15 points on 5-7 shooting from 3-point range. She was feeling it.
Stanford would lead 71-51 with 8:40 to go in the game after another triple from Jump. She too was finding a nice groove from beyond the arc. Gonzaga was clearly fading at this point.
From there, Stanford coasted to an 84-63 victory. Gonzaga battled really hard and played Stanford tough considering they were down to seven players. Kaylynne Truong (22 points) and Brynna Maxwell (19 points) both balled out. They just didn’t have enough help. Had they been at full strength, this would have been a real fight.
“It’s a great West Coast rivalry,” VanDerveer said of their games against Gonzaga. “They make us better, I hope we make them better, I have the ultimate respect for Lisa, her staff, they do a fantastic job, they have really talented players and today unfortunately some of them weren’t available and I think like you said, it started out close and then we kinda wore them down and that’s one of our strengths is that we have a bench and we go to it.”
The big story from this game for Stanford was Demetre. She was excellent and had the hot hand all afternoon. Stanford kept giving her chances to shoot and to her credit, she knocked them down.
“It was really fun,” Demetre said of her performance. “I think for me I was just kinda working in the offense and Tara and my teammates have a lot of confidence in me and they’re always telling me to shoot the ball when I’m open, so that’s what I did. And it went in, it was on my side today, but I just really give credit to Cameron for really making a presence inside and opening it up for me on the outside. Yeah, it was a lot of fun.”
With two weeks off due to finals, this one felt good for Stanford. They did not want to go into finals with a bad taste in their mouth. This victory ensured that they’d have a positive break.
“I think for us this was a huge game because we have two weeks off coming up, so we didn’t want to end the two weeks off on a loss,” Brink said. “But the coaches, credit to Kate Paye and Tara and all the coaches. They did a really great job on their scout and they ran a lot of good stuff. So, I think we were really prepared.”
Switching gears to the Stanford men’s basketball game at Arizona State, this was another case of the Cardinal getting down early and having to fight all the way back the rest of the night. It started off good with a jumper from Harrison Ingram going down to make it a 2-0 lead, but from there, they found themselves playing catchup until they retook the lead in the second half. Devan Cambridge got a fastbreak dunk for Arizona State and then nailed a 3-pointer to make it a 5-2 lead for the Sun Devils with 18:38 to go in the opening half.
With 14:36 to go in the half, it was a 13-6 lead for the Sun Devils as Cambridge was up to 7 points while D.J. Horne was up to 4 points after making back-to-back baskets. Thanks to a pair of threes from Max Murrell and Ryan Agarwal, it was a 14-12 game as Stanford had some life with 11:11 to go in the half.
At this point, Arizona State turned on the jets to go on a 7-0 run, leading 21-12 with 10:09 to go in the half. Arizona State continued to put their foot on the gas, leading 32-19 with 1:03 to go in the half after a 3-pointer from Jamiya Neal. Murrell would then respond for Stanford with a jumper to make it 32-21 at halftime. Murrell was up to 5 points.
To Stanford’s credit, they came out strong in the second half, making it a four point game (36-32) with 16:08 to go. Spencer Jones had 5 points in the second half while Maxime Raynaud was up to 4 points in the half. Things were starting to click for the Cardinal, forcing Arizona State to call for time.
After a layup from Harrison Ingram, it was a 38-36 game with 12:44 to go as Stanford now trailed by just two points. After Cambridge made a bucket, Michael Jones made a 3-pointer for Stanford, making it a 40-39 game with 10:24 to go. Arizona State would increase their lead 49-41 with 7:45 to go after a layup from Cambridge, but Stanford battle back again, taking a 51-50 lead after Michael Jones made another 3-pointer before getting to the foul line and making both foul shots with 5:27 to go.
Unfortunately for Stanford, their lead wouldn’t last long as 20 seconds later, Warren Washington hit a free throw for Arizona State to tie the game up 51-51 before back-to-back baskets from Cambridge made it a 55-51 lead with 4:10 to go. Arizona State would hang onto the lead from there and win 68-64.
Stanford did have a chance to steal the game at the end as a 3-pointer from Michael O’Connell off a steal from Ingram made it a 65-62 game with 15 seconds to go, but Stanford made some mental errors that prevented a second comeback from happening. A critical sequence was Maxime Raynaud rebounding a missed free throw from Luther Muhammad with the score 66-62 only for Max Murrell to not see the ball in time after it was thrown to him by Raynaud. Had Stanford scored on that possession, they could have cut it to two or even one. Instead, they allowed Arizona State to go up 68-62 after Horne made a couple of free throws. Ingram would end the game with a layup to make it 68-64.
For Stanford, this was a disappointing loss because they played well in the second half and actually retook the lead. The lesson here is you can’t get down by double digits in the first half and expect to win games. Stanford has made it a bad habit of theirs to get down early and this is what they get. They have to start stronger and better.
The other thing for Stanford is they have to find ways to get some wins against quality teams. They’ve beaten all the teams they are supposed to beat, but they are yet to steal a game against anyone. With their NCAA tournament hopes already in rough shape, they really have to find ways to pick up wins that nobody expects them to get and surprise people at least a couple of times before Pac-12 play resumes. Otherwise they’ll be playing for the NIT come conference play and even that won’t be a slam dunk for them.
Up next for Stanford men’s basketball is a home game on Friday against Green Bay. That will begin at 5:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Networks.
As for women’s basketball, their next opponent is Tennessee, who they’ll face at home on Sunday. That will tipoff at 12:00 PM PT on ABC and Varsity Network radio.
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