On Sunday, Stanford men’s and women’s basketball will host a doubleheader at Maples Pavilion following a two week break due to finals. Stanford women’s basketball will tipoff against Pacific at 12:00 PM PT on Stanford Live Stream and Varsity Network radio; Stanford men’s basketball will follow against Oregon at 4:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Networks and Cardinal Sports Network radio. Stanford men’s basketball comes in at 4-3 overall and 0-1 in the Pac-12 while Stanford women’s basketball comes in at 5-2 overall ranked #4 in the AP Top 25.

Last time out: Stanford men’s basketball fell to Colorado 80-76 in Boulder in their previous game while Stanford women’s basketball defeated then-No.2 Maryland 86-68 in the Bahamas.

READ: Assessing the state of Stanford MBB & WBB during the finals break

On Pacific: The Tigers come in at 2-6 overall, having dropped all four of their games away from home. Despite their poor record, they did lose to #16 Oregon State 76-72 back on December 1st in Corvallis and followed that game with a 80-77 overtime loss at home to Nevada on December 4th, showing they can play well against tough competition.

The Tigers are led by freshman guard Anaya James, who is averaging 15.0 points and 4.1 rebounds per game on 46.7% shooting from the field, 38.7% shooting from 3-point range, and 73.3% shooting from the foul line. James is having a really strong freshman season and is one of the better freshmen in the WCC. The number two player on this Tigers team is freshman center Elizabeth Elliott, who is averaging 13.3 points and 5.0 rebounds per game on 50.7% shooting from the field and 56.1% shooting from the foul line. Elliott hasn’t attempted any 3-point shots, so she really is an old school style center.

As a team, the Tigers average 71.4 points per game on 41.8% shooting from the field, 30.9% shooting from 3-point range, and 64.4% shooting from the foul line. They also average a -4.3 rebound margin, 16.1 assists, 8.4 steals, 2.3 blocks, and 15.4 turnovers per game. Their opponents average 70.3 points per game on 39.3% shooting from the field, 34.4% shooting from 3-point range, and 70.3% shooting from the foul line.

Keys to beating the Tigers: For Stanford, the first thing they need to do is contain James and Elliott. Both players will look to get going and have big performances. This isn’t to say Stanford can ignore the other players on this Tigers team, but if they are able to put the clamps on the Tigers’ top two scorers, it’s going to be tough for the Tigers to make this much of a contest.

Secondly, Stanford needs to take care of the ball. They’re averaging 16.3 turnovers and a -0.3 turnover margin per game. Their struggles taking care of the ball have been an issue for them all season long. If it’s an issue for them on Sunday, that could allow Pacific to hang around a bit.

Lastly, Stanford needs to get out to a good start. If Stanford can get rolling early and get up by double digits early to start the game, that’ll really help take away any belief that Pacific has in their abilities to win this game. If Stanford starts a bit sluggish and allows Pacific to hang around, then things could get more interesting than the Cardinal want.

Prediction: Pacific could make this game a bit closer than expected given their performances against Oregon State and Nevada, but Stanford still should win with little trouble. Stanford 75 Pacific 52 is how I see this playing out. Kinda similar to Stanford’s 77-55 win over Portland State.

On Oregon: The Ducks come in at 5-4 overall and 0-1 in the Pac-12, dropping their league opener 69-67 in overtime at home against Arizona State. It’s been a disappointing year for the Ducks as they started the season ranked #13 in the AP Top 25 before falling out of the rankings altogether thanks to some really lopsided losses to BYU, Saint Mary’s, and then-No. 12 Houston. Picked by many to win the Pac-12, the Ducks now look like a very vulnerable team.

The Ducks are led by redshirt senior forward Eric Williams, Jr., who is averaging 11.6 points and 5.6 rebounds per game on 47.9% shooting from the field, 47.8% shooting from 3-point range, and 63.6% shooting from the foul line. The other Duck scoring in double figures on average is senior guard Will Richardson, who is averaging 11.0 points and 3.0 assists per game on 42.9% shooting from the field, 40.5% shooting from 3-point range, and 75.0% shooting from the foul line.

Redshirt senior guard Jacob Young (9.7 points) and junior guard De’Vion Harmon (8.9 points) are close to scoring in double figures. So, the Ducks do have other weapons that Stanford will need to keep an eye on as well.

As a team, the Ducks average 68.3 points per game on 45.1% shooting from the field, 32.8% shooting from 3-point range, and 65.0% shooting from the foul line. They also average a +3.2 rebound margin, 12.4 assists, 5.7 steals, 2.6 blocks, and 11.9 turnovers per game. Their opponents are averaging 64.4 points per game on 45.0% shooting from the field, 32.4% shooting from 3-point range, and 70.2% shooting from the foul line.

Keys to beating the Ducks: The first thing Stanford needs to do in order to win this game is get a good outing from Harrison Ingram. Ingram is one of the most well-rounded players in the country as the only freshman averaging 12+ points, 6+ rebounds, and 3+ assists per game. The rebounding and assist numbers are fantastic, but ideally, his scoring would be a bit higher. I’m not saying he needs to force things, but Stanford needs to make sure the offense is creating plenty of scoring opportunities for him and that from there, he makes the right decisions.

The second thing Stanford needs to do is bring the energy on defense and get some turkeys (three stops in a row). If Stanford can get stops and turn those stops into transition scoring opportunities, they’ll be tough to stop. Jerod Haase likes to preach hustle on defense, keeping track of floor burns as an actual stat. Stanford will need to bring that mindset into Sunday’s contest against the Ducks for sure.

Finally, Stanford needs to get some threes to drop. If Spencer Jones, Harrison Ingram, and others are knocking down threes at a healthy clip, Stanford should feed off of that energy and good things should follow from that. Stanford has shooters and they need to put that shooting to use. Especially against a talented team like Oregon.

Prediction: Oregon is a team that was ranked #13 in the nation for a reason. They got talent and they know they’ve underachieved up to this point. They’re going to come out hungry and motivated to win this game and Stanford will need to play their best game to win. At the same time, Stanford is coming in rested and refreshed and they too will be motivated to win this game. Stanford is undefeated at home and Oregon while talented has found ways to get beaten pretty handily by teams that shouldn’t have beaten them so soundly.

With that in mind, I have Stanford winning this game 73-70. I think it’ll be close, but the Cardinal will find a way to pull out the win in the end.

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