In the program’s best start to the season since 2016, men’s basketball (4-0, 0-0 Pac-12) defeated Santa Clara (3-1, 0-0 WCC) 82-64 on Saturday. The victory was the fourth straight for the Cardinal, and it came in the fourth of six straight home games in Maples Pavilion.
Though Stanford led by as much as 22 points during the battle against the Broncos, the Cardinal struggled to build momentum in the first half. While Santa Clara needed just over 90 seconds of play to race to a 7-0 lead, Stanford remained scoreless until nearly 3 1/2 minutes into the game.
“We got punched early,” said head coach Jerod Haase. “It wasn’t necessarily complete mistakes … but there were some miscues that we learned from and came back.”
Stanford’s scoring slump finally came to an end when sophomore guard Bryce Wills was able to draw a foul on a layup and make his way to the free throw line, where he sank one of two.
The standout from the foul line, however, was Tyrell Terry. The freshman guard went a perfect 11-for-11 from the stripe en route to a 21-point offensive performance — a career high for Terry. Heading into the Saturday-night matchup, Terry was averaging 13 points per game, second only to junior forward Oscar da Silva.
“Reps in everyday … makes it muscle memory,” Terry said, attributing his success from behind the line to focus on the skill in practice. “Don’t think too much. Just step up to the line and knock it down.”
While Terry’s 21 points were a team-high against the Broncos, da Silva and junior guard Daejon Davis added 18 and 15 of their own, respectively. Averaging 16.3 points per game, da Silva has consistently been an offensive powerhouse for the Cardinal, though his dominance on defense was also on display as the 6-9 forward snagged 10 rebounds. Between his previous two seasons on the Farm, da Silva averaged 7.8 points and 5.3 rebounds per game.
“The margin for error gets smaller and smaller as you get older,” da Silva said.
Next up for Stanford is Maryland Easter Shore on Tuesday at 7 p.m. PT. It is the fifth of six straight home games at Maples Pavilion.
Contact Savanna Stewart at savnstew ‘at’ stanford.edu.