Stanford Preview: Losses Last Weekend Hurt NCAA Hopes
The Stanford men’s basketball team that comes to Haas Pavilion on Saturday had to be feeling good about its NCAA Tournament chances a week ago.
Granted the Cardinal was just 8-7 in Pac-12 play and sitting at seventh in the conference standings. But they were 15-10 overall and four of their last five games looked winnable. An NCAA bid and even a first-round bye in the conference tourney were realistic.
Then the Cardinal took home losses to Utah and Colorado and the team Cal faces Saturday is reeling. Stanford still has postseason possibilities, but they are more likely spelled N.I.T.
The Utah loss was a stunner. The visitors came in 9-16 and 2-13 in the conference and they had not won a true road game all year. Stanford had a nine-point lead in the second half, but it managed just one field goal in the last nine-plus minutes and lost, 60-56.
Given that outcome, Colorado’s win wasn’t that big of a surprise. Again Stanford blew a nine-point lead and wilted in the second half in a 70-53 loss.
The Cardinal’s super freshman Harrison Ingram was a non-factor in both games. He totaled just seven points total for the weekend and was 3-for-14 from the floor. Could he be hitting the “freshman wall”?
Stanford coach Jerod Haase, who actually began his collegiate playing career at Cal before transferring to Kansas after one season, might be coaching for his job down the stretch.
He has just one postseason appearance in his first five years on the Farm, although the Cardinal did qualify for the NCAAs two years ago, but the Tournament was canceled because of COVID. They have not played in the Big Dance since 2014. He annually has a top-rated recruiting class, but in the past two seasons his top recruits, Tyrell Terry in 2020 and Ziaire Williams last season have left for the NBA after one year. There is a good chance Ingram could follow suit. Stanford has been patient with underperforming basketball coaches, but a late-season collapse could try their patience.
Notes
- Stanford won the first meeting this year 57-50 on Feb. 1.
- That was Cal’s lowest point total of the season.
- Cal leads the all-time series, 153-129, but Stanford has won six of the last eight regular-season meetings. This is Cal’s final home game of the season and the Bears will honor five seniors before the game: Logan Alters, Grant Anticevich, Makale Foreman, Andre Kelly, and Jordan Shepherd.
- Stanford junior forward James Keefe is the son of Adam Keefe, the school’s all-time leading rebounder.
- Jaiden Delaire and Spencer Jones are close behind Ingram in scoring at 10.9 and 10.5 points per game, respectively.
- Delaire and Ingram had 12 points apiece in the win over Cal earlier this season
- The Cardinal ranks 10th in the conference in scoring offense, averaging 67.0 points.
- Stanford averages 7.6 more rebounds per game than its opponents, which ranks second in the Pac-12.
- Ingram leads the Cardinal not only in scoring (11.0 ppg) but also rebounding (6.6 rpg)
- Junior Max Murrell plays an average of only 9.3 minutes per game, yet he is tied for the team in blocked shots with 12.
- Anticevich will break the Cal program record for career games played (136). Anticevich is currently tied with David Kravish (2012-15) with 135 career games played.