Thanks to big offensive numbers coming from junior captains Oscar da Silva and Daejon Davis, Stanford men’s basketball (18-9, 7-7 Pac-12) coasted to an 18-point victory — its largest since Jan. 15 — over Washington State (14-14, 5-10 Pac-12) on Sunday. With the win, the Cardinal concluded a road sweep of the Washington teams and picked up consecutive victories for the first time since opening conference play 4-0 in early January.
A 3-pointer from freshman forward Spencer Jones just a minute and a half into play put the lead in the hands of the Cardinal, who took it and ran. Washington State managed to even the score on two occasions but could never entirely kill the momentum Stanford had started building from the opening tip.
When the Cougars visited the Farm on Jan. 11, Stanford shot a season-high 61% from the field, and the team’s shooting during Sunday’s game in Pullman followed suit. The Cardinal converted on 24-43 attempts for 55.8% success, a mark surpassed by da Silva, a forward, who netted 6-of-10 en route to a 19-point total for the night.
However, da Silva’s 60% success rate was balanced out by a 3-for-7 effort by freshman guard Tyrell Terry, who averages 15.1 points per game — just behind da Silva’s leading 15.9. Terry buoyed his untypical shooting from the field with a 4-for-5 showing from the charity stripe to finish with 12 to his name.
Though da Silva’s numbers hardly come as a surprise to anyone that has watched the junior dominate in the paint, the 17 points that came from Davis to complement them were much less anticipated. In the 26 games he has played this season, Davis has contributed more than 15 points on just four separate occasions, including Sunday evening’s contest. The guard was 6-of-12 from the field and 3-for-4 from the foul line in his third-highest scoring night of the season. Heading into the matchup, Davis averaged just 8.2 points per game.
His success hardly came without challenges, however, as he led the team in turnovers with four.
Without having three players in double-digits, Stanford’s victory would be much harder to justify. Washington State standout CJ Elleby dazzled on his home court, sinking four from behind the arc on his way to a game-high 22 points. Luckily for Stanford, Elleby was only able to convert seven of his 19 attempts in 39 minutes despite still leading both teams. Only an air ball on an attempt from deep in the second half seemed to trip the sophomore forward up. The error, however, was minimal as Elleby’s efforts were aided by an additional 14 points from Jervae Robinson.
Following the road sweep, Stanford now prepares for its final home opponents: Utah and Colorado. The Utes are first on the Cardinal agenda, with tip-off being set for 7 p.m. PT on Wednesday at Maples Pavilion.
Contact Savanna Stewart at savnstew ‘at’ stanford.edu.