After a surprisingly strong start that had Stanford sitting atop the Pac-12, the Cardinal has fallen back down to earth and almost out of NCAA tournament contention. Stanford (17-8, 7-6 Pac-12) has lost five of its last seven games and is currently sitting at sixth in the conference standings. While the Card has basically played itself out of contention for an at-large tournament bid, March Madness does remain a possibility.
With five conference games remaining in the regular season, Stanford will look to improve its seeding for the Pac-12 Tournament. Winning that tournament guarantees Stanford a spot in the 68-team Big Dance.
The journey begins this Thursday night, when Stanford takes on Oregon State (15-10, 5-8) in front of its home crowd in Maples Pavilion. Coming off a much-needed win against a banged-up USC team, Stanford will look to rise back up the Pac-12 standings with a win against the Beavers.
The first meeting between these two teams was a quadruple-overtime marathon in which Stanford edged out Oregon State 103-101. Freshman guard Chasson Randle scored the go-ahead layup with 37 seconds remaining to give the Cardinal the win. That game was likely Randle’s best of the year, as he torched the Beavers for a game-high 24 points.
The Beavers will be looking for revenge this time around. Leading the way for Oregon State is junior guard Jared Cunningham. Cunningham is averaging a team-high 18.8 points per game on a solid 45 percent shooting clip. He is also one of the NCAA’s best defenders, as his 2.8 steals per game is the fifth-best mark in the entire country. However, in the teams’ first meeting, Cunningham went an abysmal 4-for-16 from the field. He will look to avenge this performance on Thursday.
Sophomore forward Devon Collier has played well since assuming a starting role. Collier, the Beavers’ second-leading scorer at 13.2 points per game, is shooting a phenomenal 62.4 percent from the field. At 6-foot-7, his speed and quickness present a matchup nightmare for opposing forwards.
Oregon State is coming off a crushing home defeat at the hands of the first-place Washington Huskies after the Beavers couldn’t pull off the upset and overcome a two-point deficit with just 22 seconds remaining. After this loss, the Beavers will look to make a statement against the Cardinal. A win on Thursday would put them just a game behind Stanford. The Card will look to hold off the Beavers’ attack, stepping up defensively in a critical matchup of mid-tier Pac-12 teams.
On Sunday, the Oregon Ducks (18-7, 9-4 Pac-12) roll into town for a game that will have major tournament-seeding implications. The Ducks are currently two games ahead of the Card, but a win here would give Stanford a very realistic shot of overtaking them in the conference standings.
Unlike on Thursday night, the Card will be the team looking to even the season score after the Ducks handed Stanford its first conference loss on Jan. 5. In that game, Oregon guard Devoe Joseph went off, torching Stanford for a career-high 30 points. The Card will look to keep Joseph in check this time around, as the senior guard has been the leading man in Oregon’s offensive attack this year, averaging a team-high 15.7 points per game to go along with 2.9 assists. Joseph’s stellar play is a large reason why the Ducks are currently only a game out of first place in the Pac-12.
Joseph isn’t the only senior running the show for Oregon. Fellow guard Garrett Sim has contributed to Oregon’s offensive success, averaging 12 points and almost three assists per game. The two seniors have fed off each other all year and will surely look to do the same on Sunday night.
As the regular season nears its end, every game becomes more important for the Card. After losing some ground in the Pac-12 standings, Stanford will need a few wins down the stretch to make up ground. A pair of victories this weekend would boost both Stanford’s tournament seeding and its confidence going into postseason play.
Tip-off for the Oregon State game is tonight at 7 p.m. at Maples Pavilion.