Last night, the Stanford men’s basketball team made its first in-conference trip to Boulder to face Colorado. The Cardinal clearly enjoyed the mountain air, as it crushed the Buffaloes 74-50.
The Cardinal (19-9, 9-7 Pac-12) entered the matchup 2.5 games back from Colorado (18-9, 10-5 Pac-12) in the standings, knowing it needed a win to make up ground in the standings in order to receive a better seed for the Pac-12 tournament.
From the start, Stanford seized control. Freshman Chasson Randle sunk a three to start the game, giving the Cardinal a lead it would never relinquish. The team cruised to a 9-1 advantage just five minutes into the game and took a 40-20 lead into the half.
After the break, the teams were slightly more even, but the damage was already done by the Card. Coach Johnny Dawkins allowed the bench to get some playing time, with all but one Cardinal player getting into the game.
The Buffaloes came into the matchup as the one unbeaten team at home in Pac-12 play, with a sterling 7-0 record. Against the suffocating Stanford defense, they were simply unable to get baskets to fall, shooting a horrendous 29.6 percent from the field and 46.7 percent from the line.
The Cardinal not only limited Colorado’s shooting, but also dominated them on the boards. Stanford had 45 rebounds to the Buffaloes’ 23, with redshirt senior forward Josh Owens collecting a season-high 12 in just 26 minutes.
On offense, the Cardinal was buoyed as usual by Randle. After an off night against Oregon last weekend, the freshman came back hard and led all scorers with 20 points. He shot 7-10 from the field and 3-4 from three, making the most of his 29 minutes.
The rest of the Stanford offense was spread fairly evenly amongst the players, as only sophomore forward John Gage scored in double-digits. The forward played just 11 minutes, but hit 3 of 4 three pointers for 11 points. Owens, sophomore Aaron Bright and sophomore Anthony Brown added nine apiece.
As a whole, the Cardinal shot extremely well (49.1 percent) from the field. The team went 9-18 from three-point range and shot 75 percent from the stripe.
While almost everything was smooth sailing, Stanford struggled again with turnovers. The Cardinal committed 18 turnovers, having the ball stolen nine times. Stanford also committed 25 fouls to Colorado’s 15.
But the win was undoubtedly a big step toward Stanford’s quest to receive better seeding in the season-ending Pac-12 tournament. The Cardinal will play Utah, the second-worst team in the conference, on Saturday. Stanford then comes home to close its season against conference-leading California.
Stanford is currently seventh in the conference, just half a game back from UCLA and 1.5 back from Colorado and Oregon. If the season was to end today, Stanford would play Arizona State in the first round and, if the Cardinal was to win, Washington in the second. A sweep to end the season would hopefully vault Stanford up the standings, providing a better road to the Pac-12 championship and potentially the NCAA tournament berth that is awarded to the conference champion.
The Cardinal has now won three of its last four, with the lone exception being a game in which it led for 37 minutes against Oregon. Stanford appears to have regained the form that had it sitting atop the Pac-12 at the start of the season, and a late run has the potential to put the team back on the brink of an NCAA tournament invitation for the first time since 2008.