Stanford’s 62-50 loss to visiting Oregon State on Thursday was more of the same: not enough defense and, certainly, not enough offense to help make a dent in the Pac-12 Conference men’s basketball race.
With a chance to improve its status in the conference, the Cardinal (11-11 overall, 4-7 Pac-12) failed to hold home court and may need help staying out of the basement.
Stanford fell into 10th place, a game ahead of Arizona State and a half-game behind UCLA. There are too many teams in front of the Cardinal to expect much more movement, especially with conference leading Oregon, ranked 11th nationally, coming to Maples Pavilion for a 1 p.m. tip-off Saturday smarting from a 20-point loss to Cal.
The Cardinal has seven games, plus the Pac-12 tournament, to show it belongs in a post-season tournament.
“We didn’t come to fight,” Cardinal senior Grant Verhoeven said. “We haven’t the last few nights. It’s as simple as that.”
Stanford dropped its season-high fourth straight with its lowest offensive production at home, and the second lowest of the season overall, a 59-45 setback to current top-ranked Villanova in Brooklyn being the worse.
“A lot of it is on us, just not playing with confidence and not moving the ball like we know we can,” said Cardinal junior guard Marcus Allen.
Stanford never led in the game, though it was within 33-29 at halftime. The Cardinal shot 52.4 percent from the field in the first half and then went 24 percent (6-of-25) in the second half.
“You might not get a better look than the looks we’ve gotten, and we’re turning them down,” Cardinal coach Johnny Dawkins said. “That’s an indicator to me that we’re not as confident shooting the ball as we have been most of the season.”
Rosco Allen led the Cardinal with 12 points, five assists and six rebounds, followed by Verhoeven’s 10 points. Marcus Allen had six points, a team-high seven rebounds, blocked the only shot of the night but did not record a steal.
Oregon State’s Gary Payton II, who leads the conference in steals, had three of them. Allen entered the game ranked second in the Pac-12 behind Payton.
The Beavers out-scored Stanford, 12-7, in points off turnovers and 10-4 in second-chance points.
Wrestling
Victories from redshirt senior Michael Sojka and sophomore Nathan Butler helped lead No. 18 Stanford past visiting Boise State, 22-15, Thursday on Senior Night in Burnham Pavilion.
Stanford won six bouts to improve to 11-3 overall and 3-2 in the Pac-12. Boise State drops to 3-6 and 1-1 in the conference.
Boise State jumped to a 6-0 lead before redshirt junior Jim Wilson, ranked 18th nationally, put the Cardinal on the board with a 11-1 major decision over Taylor West at 165 pounds. He notched two takedowns, four nearfall points, a reversal and riding time in the win, improveing to 21-5 overall and 13-1 in duals.
Redshirt sophomore Garet Krohn cut into the Boise State lead with a 6-2 decision over Zach Coffman at 184 pounds. Leading 2-1 after the first, Krohn scored an escape and a takedown in the second to pull ahead 5-1.
Sojka, wrestling in the final home match of his career, held on for a 2-0 decision over Kadyn Del Toro at 197 pounds. Sojka picked up an escape in the second period and racked 1:40 of riding time in the third to move to 12-9 on the year.
Butler made it 16-9 in favor of the Cardinal. The heavyweight, who is No. 20 in the nation, pinned Gabriel Gonzalez in 5:31, registering his team-best eighth fall of the year. Butler is 23-5 overall and 10-2 in duals.
Redshirt sophomore Connor Schram added to the Stanford lead with a 9-4 decision over Rami Haddadin at 125 pounds. After a quick takedown, Schram nearly had the pin before collecting four nearfall points.
He led 7-1 going into the final period, where he added an escape and 1:21 of riding time. Schram moves to 17-4 overall and 7-2 in duals this season.
Second-ranked Joey McKenna sealed the victory with a 4-0 win over Jake Velarde at 141 pounds. Tied 0-0 in the second, McKenna posted an escape and a late takedown for the 3-0 lead. He tacked on 1:54 of riding time to improve to 19-1 overall and 11-0 in duals.
Stanford finishes the regular season on Sunday at No. 2 Oklahoma State.
Oaks report
A double overtime victory at 184 pounds proved to be the difference in San Francisco State’s 22-14 non-conference wrestling win over host Menlo College on Thursday night.
The Oaks (3-5) now shift their focus to the NAIA West Regional, which will be held Saturday, Feb. 20 in Prescott, Ariz.
Menlo senior Kenny Steers controlled his match at 197 pounds and hit a pair of key takedowns to claim a 4-2 decision to open the dual.
At 125 pounds, Menlo’s Troy Lakin, ranked third nationally in the NAIA, put on a clinic in downing his opponent via tech fall, 22-7, to even the score 8-8.
The Gators (6-7) ran off four straight wins, two by major decision and one by tech fall, to stretch their lead to 20-8.
Freshman Joseph Jauregui, in the top 16 in the NAIA at 165 pounds, hung on to earn a thrilling 5-2 decision and Justin Lozano, ranked second at 174 pounds, won 3-1.
That set up for what proved to be the match of the night as Nathan Rodriguez edged Menlo’s Gabe Fuentes at 184 pounds, 10-8, in sudden victory.
By Palo Alto Online Sports/Stanford Athletics
By Palo Alto Online Sports/Stanford Athletics
By Palo Alto Online Sports/Stanford Athletics
I for one am not surprised that the Stanford Mens Bball team is losing to directional schools in the 2nd half of the conference schedule. Dawkins has established a pretty clear track record of having his teams not improve as fast as the other teams in the Pac 12. Why does Muir keep putting up with average coaching. Dawkins is a nice guy but is over his head as a Pac 12 coach. It’s long overdue time for a change
Condi pulls the strings, not the AD.