Stanford takes a positive step away from a rough week in Portland
After a miserable Thanksgiving week that ended with a loss to Portland State Sunday -- the fourth defeat in seven days -- the Cardinal were glad to take a small positive step in a 70-54 victory over Montana.
“There was a sigh of relief,” said head coach Jerod Haase of the team’s reaction to breaking the losing streak. He described the Cardinal as “desperate” to learn and get better, and that started on the defensive end during a Tuesday practice. It was a rare opportunity to work together given the packed game schedule of the previous week.
Stanford travels to Long Beach State for a game Sunday. The 49ers lost 91-56 to Arizona Wednesday night.
“The best thing that happened is that we had a practice yesterday,” Haase said. “A real practice and we got after it pretty good. We got some things accomplished and we hadn’t had that in a while.”
Even Wednesday, rather than do a walk through, freshman point guard Daejon Davis said “we braced up and we got after it, especially focusing on defensive rotations and no break downs at the end of the shot clock.”
The Cardinal were in a close game with the Grizzlies for most of the night despite Montana’s poor shooting percentage (29%) and the Cardinal holding a decisive rebounding edge. But turnovers by Stanford (18) helped Montana not only stay in the game, but the Grizzlies led 50-44 with 9:56 left in the game.
One positive on the turnover front was that a game after committing 11 in a loss to Portland State, Davis cut that number to five. His stat line was 17 points, five rebounds, four assists and one made three.
The continued belief in the freshman among the team’s captains and coaches has helped Davis through the rough learning moments. And his coach took some of the blame for the point guard’s struggles Sunday.
“We weren’t fully prepared for the press and that’s on my shoulders as well," Haase said. "He’s a very talented player and he’s going to continue to improve just as you saw today."
Stanford shut the Grizzlies down the final 10 minutes to finish the game on a 26-4 run.
One player who earned praise for the energy he brought off the bench in that final stretch was walk-on Blake Pagon.
“If I had a game ball it would probably go to Blake,” Haase said. “Not because of the stat sheet, but he added a ton of value by doing what he is supposed to do. Offensively he’s making simple plays, he’s getting to the proper spots, executing his role very, very well. On the defensive end he’s always in the right spot. He’s diving on the loose ball and getting the loose ball at a critical juncture in the game. He’s added tremendous value to the team -- not because of his size of athleticism, but because he’s playing hard and his role really well.”
Stanford also got good bench minutes from Josh Sharma. The lanky seven footer had his best game of the season with six points, seven rebounds and four blocks.
“When he plays with that kind of energy good things are going to happen,” Haase said. “He certainly can add a lot of value to our team.”
Reid Travis called the contributions of Pagon and Sharma “X-factors” in the game because of the “winning” plays they made to help the Cardinal in the final 10 minutes.
“They did a lot of little things that don’t show up on the stat sheet, but they came in with a lot of energy and that got everyone else to raise their level of play. I credit them for me being able to sustain when they came at us a bit.”
Travis led Stanford with 20 points on 8-of-16 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds. Michael Humphrey posted a double-double (12 and 12) and Robert Cartwright had 11 points and five steady assists to only one turnover.
Injury note
Dorian Pickens and Marcus Sheffield were both bootless and Haase said the goal is for them to return before the conference season. “Honestly, it’s every time they go to the doctor we get an update. I don’t anticipate them playing this next game, but after that we’ll play it by ear.”
