Stanford holds off ASU for fifth straight win; tied for first in Pac-12

Stanford defeated the Sun Devils 86-77 Wednesday night at Maples Pavilion and only trailed for 16 seconds the entire night against the nation’s No. 16 ranked team.

It’s Stanford’s fifth straight win and sets up a winner-takes-first contest with No. 14 Arizona Saturday at 1 p.m. Head coach Jerod Haase said the team was allowed the win only until midnight and then the focus needed to shift to the Wildcats.

“We are still in the process of getting there,” he said. “We have not arrived. There is still a ton of work to be done.”

But the progress was undeniable when watching the Cardinal take down their first ranked opponent under Haase.

Arizona State’s elite guards have often left opponents with a crick in their neck as they watch shot after shot sail over their heads from beyond the arc. That ability has allowed Bobby Hurley’s team to chuck their way back into multiple games this season. But the defensive effort of the Cardinal and the bench support of junior Josh Sharma and freshman Oscar da Silva shut down that possibility.

Stanford led by as many as 15 with 11:51 left in the second half but Arizona State rallied to within two with 4:31 remaining. Stanford freshmen Daejon Davis, KZ Okpala and da Silva then combined to score the final 16 points of the game for Stanford to seal the win.

“We knew they were going to make a run at some point and they did,” said senior Dorian Pickens. “As I’ve said the past couple games, we were able to weather the storm. Our ability to respond to the punches they throw and come out with a win is huge.”

Pickens led Stanford with 19 points (3-of-7 from three) and Stanford had five scorers in double figures, including da Silva and Sharma each with 14 off the bench. And it was Sharma’s high-energy play that powered the Cardinal to its biggest lead.

He was 7-for-7 from the field with five dunks.

“Dumb coach didn’t get him enough shots,” Haase joked. “If you had told me he wasn’t going to miss today then everything would have gone through him. He was fantastic. His energy was great. He was a rim protector on the defensive end.”

Sharma -- who said he was sick the past couple games -- credited his teammates for creating easy looks. Stanford had 21 assists, which was a nice breakthrough in the eyes of Haase, who commented that for much of the season the Cardinal have been between 10-14.

“Guys are making plays for others instinctively right now. It’s not a manufactured event. When guys have the basketball it’s, ‘What is the best play for the team?’ I think that spreads over time,” he said.

Some of Stanford’s easiest buckets of the night came against Arizona State’s press. What typically has been a nightmare scenario for the Cardinal actually was turned around so that Hurley was grabbing at his hair. After a couple early miscues Stanford routinely broke the press when the Sun Devils were trying to fight back late in the game.

“Progress was shown,” Haase said. “It’s still frustrating. We’re still a little bit tentative. It’s really exciting, though. A lot of times there are three freshmen out there and every time they turn, and pivot, and make a successful pass their confidence is going to grow. That’s where we are in a variety of ways with the team.”

For all the success on offense, it was the defensive effort that clinched the victory. With about 5:30 left in the game Stanford went to a zone for the first time. Tra Holder and Kodi Justice promptly hit consecutive threes to get Arizona State with 70-68.

“Plan C was switching on ball screens and putting Oscar in a situation where he’ll have to guard the perimeter players,” Haase said. "He was fantastic.”

The top defensive performance was 6-foot-9 Okpala on Holder, who averages 20.1 points a game. Holder had nine points on 3-of-14 shooting and didn’t make his first shot until 17:21 left in the game.

“He was absolutely fantastic,” Haase said of Okpala’s defense. “If you look at the box score, KZ did not jump out at you in terms of his numbers … but he was phenomenal defensively. (There were) a couple mental or physical lapses throughout the game, but for the most part his length is a game changer.”