Fresh off a thrilling home victory over Arizona State, Stanford men’s basketball (11-7, 4-3 Pac-12) will begin a critical conference road trip against Colorado (15-5, 4-3) this Wednesday.
The Cardinal have had a bit of an up-and-down start to conference play and will look to build some momentum with a win against the Buffaloes. The team has yet to win consecutive games against Pac-12 opponents, a streak it hopes to break as it travels to Boulder.
“What we’re looking for is consistency,” said head coach Johnny Dawkins. “We need to find that through maturity, as our guys mature through this conference… As we do, I think we’ll find more consistency in our play.”
Colorado has proved a bit of a tricky opponent for Dawkins and Stanford lately. The Cardinal have lost five straight against the Buffaloes, a streak that dates back to the 2011-12 season. When the two last met in Maples on Jan. 3, the Buffaloes outlasted a Stanford comeback effort after senior forward Josh Scott came up with a key offensive rebound with eight seconds remaining that helped deny Stanford the final possession it needed to tie or win the game.
Scott has been the uncontested leader for Tad Boyle’s side this season, averaging a team-high 17.5 points and 9.8 rebounds per game. The team also tops the conference in 3-point percentage, with sophomore guards George King and Dominique Collier and junior guard Josh Fortune all shooting above 40 percent from deep.
Stanford will look to bolster its interior defense in order to help contain the scoring ability of Scott. With sophomore forward Reid Travis recovering from a stress fracture, the Cardinal have increasingly turned to senior Grant Verhoeven to provide inside assistance off the bench. The injury-plagued senior responded in a big way against the Sun Devils and No. 12 Arizona, scoring 9 and 8 points, respectively, and making some key defensive stops that helped keep Stanford in the game.
Senior Rosco Allen has also been asked to step up in Travis’s absence. The team is 9-1 in games in which Allen scores at least 15 points, and his consistency down the stretch will be necessary for Stanford if the team wishes to improve in the second half of Pac-12 play.
The Cardinal’s ability to create turnovers may prove critical to whether they can remain competitive against Colorado. Stanford leads the conference with a +2.11 turnover margin while the Buffaloes rank above only California with a -2.65. With Colorado’s rebounding proficiency and ability to score at any distance, the team may need the extra possessions generated off takeaways in order to keep things close throughout the course of the game.
Watch Stanford take on Colorado this Wednesday at 6 p.m. on the Pac-12 Networks.
Contact Andrew Mather at amather ‘at’ stanford.edu.