With four games left in the regular season and the Stanford men’s basketball team’s tournament hopes still very much up in the air, the Cardinal prepare to take on a Pac-12 foe in perhaps the closest thing to a must-win game that the team has faced this season.
Stanford (17-9, 8-6 Pac-12) will host Oregon State (17-10, 8-7) on Thursday night in a battle between the two teams currently vying for fourth in the Pac-12 standings.
The teams find themselves in remarkably similar situations. The Cardinal come into the matchup having won the first game of their last homestand of the year in decisive fashion. Stanford completed a season sweep of California with a 72-61 win in which freshman Michael Humphrey posted his first career double-double. The win was much needed for the Cardinal, who had previously dropped four of their last five.
Meanwhile, Oregon State came through with a 72-58 win over Colorado following three straight losses in which the team averaged an underwhelming 50 points per game. The Beavers aren’t a particularly offensively potent team, averaging 61.1 points per game on the season in comparison to the Cardinal’s 73.5.
However, a subpar offense wouldn’t put a team towards the top of its conference unless it had a stellar defense to complement it. The Beavers hold opponents to an impressive 37.6 percent clip from the field. The team is anchored by Gary Payton II, who, along with a team-leading 13.2 points and 7.7 rebounds, has stolen the ball 81 times this season, which is the second-most in the nation.
Stanford is most likely in for a tight, low-scoring game, and given its recent string of performances, this could actually play to the team’s advantage. Before the win against Cal, the Cardinal had found themselves in a rut due to offensive woes. However, their rebounding has been stellar, something that will be particularly useful against an Oregon State squad that doesn’t rebound nearly as well.
With a struggle in the paint imminent, Stanford will hope that its vital big man, Stefan Nastic, can stay out of foul trouble in what figures to be a physical game. Nastic should have help from freshmen bigs Reid Travis and the newly rejuvenated Humphrey on the boards, however.
Tipoff is at 8 p.m. on Thursday night in Maples Pavilion.
Contact Sandip Srinivas at sandips ‘at’ stanford.edu.