Stanford men’s basketball’s (2-2) promising season start hit a snag last weekend as the team dropped games to SMU, 85-70, and to St. Mary’s of California, 78-61.
Even with SMU head coach Larry Brown forced to miss the trip because of a suspension, SMU outclassed Stanford’s zone defense for most of the evening to keep its side in the driver’s seat for the majority of the game. With sophomore forward Michael Humphrey’s minutes limited due to foul trouble, Stanford didn’t seem particularly capable of protecting the rim, and a series of costly defensive errors allowed 2014 AAC Player of the Year Nic Moore and the SMU backcourt to create a number of open backdoor layups and alley-oops.
“We weren’t rotating well tonight,” head coach Johnny Dawkins admitted after the game. “That’s something that I hadn’t seen in the first two games…we have to clean up some things, look at the film to see exactly [what the problem is], and make sure that we’re in the right positions going forward.”
Turnovers, a bit of a nagging issue for Stanford early this season, continued to hurt the Cardinal against the Mustangs. The team gave the ball up 13 times over the course of the game, and SMU was quick to take advantage of these mistakes by adding 21 points.
While execution suffered a little for the Cardinal, however, potential did shine through. Sophomore guard Marcus Allen, playing in his first game of the season after missing the opening weekend to injury, was particularly impressive on the night, riding a mix of jump shots and dribble drives for 18 points. Allen also made 9 of his 13 free throws, providing some much needed consistency that helped boost the team’s free throw percentage to a season-high 75 percent.
“I’m happy to have [Marcus Allen] back,” Dawkins remarked. “He’s our best perimeter player, and I think he showed again why tonight. He came in after that [time] off and still was very productive for us…he was terrific tonight.”
Senior Roscoe Allen scored another 14 points for Stanford while shooting 3-of-5 from deep, and sophomore Reid Travis added 12 through physical interior play. Sophomore Dorian Pickens and senior Christian Sanders notched 4 assists apiece as the Stanford passing game improved as the evening wore on.
This balanced Cardinal attack narrowed SMU’s lead to single digits with just under two minutes to go, but Stanford was unable to hold back Moore for long enough to seriously threaten an upset. The guard finished with 17 points and 5 assists, adding several critical baskets to keep his team in the lead in the second half.
“Nic [Moore] has had an incredible career,” Mustangs interim coach Tim Jankovich stated. “He’s one of the great clutch-type players I’ve been around.”
The Cardinal cleaned up their offensive mistakes a little in the Saint Mary’s game on Sunday, but defense again proved to be an issue. This time, Stanford’s rotations largely failed on the perimeter, allowing guard Joe Rahon and the Gaels’ backcourt to seemingly score at will in the second half.
St Mary’s ended up shooting above 56.3 percent from deep and 56.6 percent overall, netting several key baskets late in the game to capture the momentum and erase a four-point Cardinal halftime lead.
“We were as bad as I’ve seen us be defensively in the second half,” Dawkins told ESPN. “That’s very disappointing. We have to learn from that.”
Travis and Marcus Allen again proved key assets for the Cardinal, earning a career-high 18 and 14 points respectively, while senior Grant Verhoeven made his season debut to shore up Stanford’s interior defense. An off night for Rosco Allen and Rahon’s career-best 24-point performance against the team significantly diminished any hopes of a Cardinal victory, however.
Stanford will face an even tougher test this Thursday against No. 8 Villanova in a continuation of the NIT Season Tip-Off. The matchup will take place at the Barclays Center in New York, the site where the team captured its 2015 NIT Championship.
“It’s kind of our home away from home,” said Rosco Allen. “We’ve been to New York the last three years and it’s always been a good experience.”
The game is scheduled to tip-off at 1:30 p.m. on ESPN2.
Contact Andrew Mather at amather ‘at’ stanford.edu.