Twenty-five points from junior forward Oscar da Silva carried Stanford men’s basketball (9-1, 0-0 Pac-12) to victory against the San Jose State Spartans (3-8, 0-2 MW) on Saturday. It was the first true road game for the Cardinal, after seven total games on the Farm and two neutral-site contests during the Hall of Fame Classic.
The win also followed a 13-day break from competition for Stanford since Dec. 1. Rather than a chance to relax and get rusty, however, the break was just the opposite for Stanford.
“The focus was off basketball for a little bit,” da Silva said, following what was his third 20-point game of the season. “We were able to get in the gym and work on cleaning some things up.”
Work put in during the lapse in game action was perhaps most evident in Stanford’s dominance under the basket, both offensively and defensively. Fifty-two of Stanford’s 78 points came from in the paint, compared to only 12 of the Spartans’.
Stanford also snagged 48 total rebounds — 13 offensive and 35 defensive — and was led in the category by da Silva and freshman guard Tyrell Terry. The duo, who have averaged 6.1 and 5.3 boards per game, respectively, each brought down eight. Terry also added 11 points of his own en route to the team’s ninth double-digit victory of the season.
Stanford’s high rebounding numbers were fueled largely by Spartan shooting that struggled to sink shots throughout all 40 minutes of play. San Jose was just 4-for-22 (18%) from the field in the first half, and only managed to improve to 37% shooting in the second, going 13-for-35. In comparison, the Cardinal held their own, shooting 50% overall.
Turnovers, however, continued to plague the Cardinal as the team committed 19 total — the most of the season aside from a Nov. 19 matchup against Maryland Eastern Shore, in which the ball also changed hands 19 times off of Cardinal mistakes. Despite poor shooting, the Spartans managed to convert the errors into 14 points, though it still was not enough to send Stanford home defeated.
With a 9-1 record, the Cardinal are off to their best start since 2011. Just three non-conference matchups remain, with the next one tipping off in Maples Pavilion at 6 p.m. PT Tuesday against USF.
Contact Savanna Stewart at savnstew ‘at’ stanford.edu.