sharmasharma
Men's Basketball

Heading to the Pacific Northwest

Stanford (8-8, 2-1) at
Washington State 
(8-7, 0-3)
Thursday, Jan. 11 • 6:00 p.m. PT
Beasley Coliseum • Pullman, Wash.
Television • ESPNU
Radio • GoStanford.com | TuneIn
Live Statistics   GoStanford.com
Game Notes Stanford | Washington State
Facebook |Twitter| Instagram
 


PULLMAN, Wash. – After eight games and 45 consecutive days in the state of California, Stanford is in the Pacific Northwest this week. The Cardinal will face Washington State in Pullman, Washington, Thursday night in its first Pac-12 road contest of the season.

Heading into the road trip like... #GoStanford

A post shared by Stanford Men's Basketball (@stanfordmbb) on Jan 8, 2018 at 4:40pm PST


BIG COMEBACKS LEAD TO SWEEP OF LA SCHOOLS
In two very entertaining games at Maples Pavilion this past week, Stanford erased multiple double-digit second-half deficits to earn wins over UCLA and USC.
 
Down by as many as 13 with nine minutes to go against UCLA, the Cardinal stormed back to tie the game on a Dorian Pickens three-pointer at the end of regulation. Stanford outscored the Bruins, 22-14, in two overtime sessions to pull out the victory.  

 
The Cardinal erased a 15-point second-half deficit to earn the victory over USC. Down by two with three seconds remaining, freshman Daejon Davis provided the heroics with a half-court shot for the game-winner as the buzzer sounded.   


ON THE ROAD IN CONFERENCE PLAY
Stanford is 1-5 in its first conference road game over the past six seasons. The Cardinal is 3-15 on the road in in Pac-12 play over the last two seasons, defeating Oregon State in Corvallis for its lone conference win of the 2016-17 campaign. The Cardinal earned a 72-56 victory over Washington State in its last trip to Pullman, Washington, on Feb. 18, 2016. Stanford and WSU played just once last year on The Farm, due to Pac-12 scheduling.  

AGAINST WASHINGTON STATE
Stanford leads the all-time series against Washington State, 76-60. The Cardinal has won seven of the last eight games between the two teams. Stanford defeated WSU in its last trip to Pullman, Washington, on Feb. 18, 2016. In Stanford's Jan. 31, 2015 road loss to the Cougars, Michael Humphrey and Dorian Pickens (then freshmen) scored a combined 10 points. In the 2016 matchup in Pullman, the sophomore duo combined for 40 points.   
 
CARDINAL PLAYERS AGAINST WASHINGTON STATE
Six active Stanford players have played against Washington State in their careers. Dorian Pickens, the lone Cardinal to have played five games against WSU, has averaged 8.6 ppg against the Cougars. Fellow senior Michael Humphrey has averaged 8.5 ppg and 6.3 rpg in four contests.

Player vs. WSUGamesMinutesPointsRebounds
Reid Travis233228
Dorian Pickens51194313
Michael Humphrey4813425
Robert Cartwright364288 (assists)
Josh Sharma22243
Marcus Sheffield225106


LAST TIME OUT
Freshman Daejon Davis hit a 50-foot three-pointer at the buzzer and Stanford shocked USC 77-76 on Sunday night at Maples Pavilion, erasing a 15-point second-half deficit to earn the win. Jordan McLaughlin, who scored 16 points and recorded seven assists, had given the Trojans a 76-74 edge with 1.7 seconds left on an acrobatic shot under the basket. Davis took the inbound pass, dribbled twice and let it fly, hitting nothing but net as time expired. Reid Travis matched his career-high with 29 points, adding 10 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season.


DAVIS' BUZZER-BEATER FIRST FOR THE CARDINAL IN 14 SEASONS
Freshman Daejon Davis' 50-foot heave to win the game as the buzzer sounded against USC last time out was the first buzzer-beater for Stanford in 14 seasons. On March 3, 2004, Matt Lottich hit a desperation three-pointer as time expired to give No. 1 and undefeated Stanford a 63-61 victory over Washington State at Beasley Coliseum, the same venue for Thursday night's contest against the Cougars. Davis' buzzer-beater at home last week was the first for the Cardinal at Maples Pavilion since Nick Robinson connected on a 35-foot running jumper at the buzzer to give No. 2 Stanford an 80-77 victory over No. 12 Arizona on Feb. 7, 2004.


PICKENS' OUTSIDE TOUCH
Dorian Pickens showed his shooting prowess in the win over UCLA Thursday, finishing with six three-pointers. The total, one shy of his career-high, is the most of any Cardinal in a game this season. The senior missed 11 games after injuring his left foot in the second game against Pacific on Nov. 12. He returned to action two games ago against California on Dec. 30. Pickens owns 138 career three-pointers, closing in on the top-15 three-point field goal totals in school history (Aaron Bright ranks 15th with 147).

 
The forward, the only player to start all 31 games last season, posted at least one three-pointer in all but four games, with multiple three-pointers in 19 contests his junior season. He ranked ninth in the Pac-12 in three-point field goals made in conference play (39, 2.2) and 11th overall (67, 2.2) as Stanford's leading three-point shooter (67-of-169, 39.6 percent) last year.
 
TRAVIS AMONG NATION'S BEST POST PLAYERS
Junior forward Reid Travis, a preseason All-American and candidate for several national player of the year awards, ranks second in the Pac-12 in scoring at 21.3 ppg. He averaged nearly 23 ppg over his final six nonconference games. The forward has matched his career-high with 29 points (first recorded against Kansas last season) in victories over USC last time out and San Francisco on Dec. 17. He became the 45th member of Stanford's 1,000-point club earlier this season and enters Thursday's game at Washington State with 1,085 points and 573 rebounds in his 79-game career so far. Travis ranks ninth in the Pac-12 in rebounding (7.6 rpg).
 

 
R2T2
Junior preseason All-American Reid Travis is living up to his accolades. The forward, who entered the year as the Pac-12's leading returning scorer and rebounder, is second in the conference in scoring at 21.3 ppg. He ranks in the top-10 in the Pac-12 in 13 categories entering Wednesday's games. 

CategoryConference RankNational RankTotal
Scoring Average22621.3
Total Points124340
Free Throws Made32790
Free Throws Attempted212126
Total Field Goals Made219121
Rebounding Average91407.6
Total Rebounds8130121


POST PRESENCE
Stanford's starting post players, Reid Travis and Michael Humphrey, have combined to average 33.5 points and 16.0 rebounds per game. The duo is second in the conference among starting post players in both combined scoring and combined rebounding, the only pair to rank in the top-three in both categories in the conference. Travis is second in the Pac-12 in scoring at 21.3 ppg, to go along with 7.6 rpg. Humphrey ranks third in the conference in rebounding at 8.4 rpg, to go along with 12.2 ppg.
 

Pac-12's Post Players in 2017-18

SchoolPlayersCombined ScoringCombined Rebounding
StanfordTravis/Humphrey33.516.0
Oregon StateTinkle/Eubanks32.113.8
Washington StateFranks/Bernstine24.414.8
USCBoatwright/Metu33.614.5
CaliforniaLee/Sueing25.713.7
UCLAWelsh/Golomon20.515.8
WashingtonTimmins/Dickerson21.113.1
ArizonaAyton/Ristic30.718.2
Arizona StateWhite/Mitchell19.915.1
OregonBrown/White23.111.6
ColoradoKing/Bey17.912.4
UtahCollette/Rawson25.111.1


YOUTH MOVEMENT
Stanford's roster has played 638 combined games. The Cardinal entered the season with the fifth-most veteran roster (games played) in the nation. While fourth-year players Reid Travis and Michael Humphrey anchor the post, injuries limited several veteran perimeter players early on. This has given one of the nation's top recruiting classes a chance to play important minutes as freshmen. All four members of Stanford's freshman class have started at least one game and three freshmen - Daejon Davis, Oscar da Silva and Isaac White - started together in six games earlier this season.
 
All four freshmen on the roster average more than 24 minutes per game. Davis leads the Cardinal in assists per game (4.4 apg), White leads the Cardinal in three-pointers (30) and da Silva ranks third on the roster in rebounding (5.4 rpg), is tied for the team lead in blocks (16) and is tied for third in steals (11). Fellow freshman Kezie Okpala made his collegiate debut four games ago. He is averaging 10.3 ppg in 31.0 mpg over those four contests.
 
Prior to this season, Stanford last started three freshmen on January 27, 1983 (at Washington) with Keith Ramee, Andy Fischer and Earl Koberlein earned the starting nod in that contest.

Freshman Production

NameG-SMinutesPointsRebounds
Isaac White16-924.68.81.9
Daejon Davis14-1429.79.54.4 (assists)
Oscar da Silva16-1026.85.85.4
Kezie Okpala4-331.010.33.0


OKPALA MAKING IMMEDIATE IMPACT
Freshman Kezie Okpala made his collegiate debut four games ago and has made an immediate impact. The forward is averaging 10.3 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.5 steals in 31.0 minutes per game in those four contests against Kansas, California, UCLA and USC. He has started the last three games, recording a season-best 13 points against the Bruins.

HUMPHREY CONTROLLING THE GLASS
Michael Humphrey, who was among the Pac-12 leaders in rebounding last season, ranks third in the Pac-12 in rebounding with an average of 8.4 rpg. The average is 77th nationally. The forward ranks third in the conference and 40th nationally in defensive rebounds per game (6.8 drpg). He posted a career-high 18 rebounds against Pacific on Nov. 12. The senior, who is averaging 12.2 ppg, has four double-doubles this year.

DAVIS HAS CONTROL OF THE POINT
Freshman Daejon Davis has started all 14 career games he has played in. After averaging 7.0 ppg in his first five games, he is averaging 10.9 points in his last nine contests. He had a career-best 22-point performance, that included 13 in the second half alone, in the win over UCLA and drained the game-winning buzzer-beater from beyond half court in the win over USC last week. Davis has registered 13 assists in his last two games against the Bruins and Trojans.


WIN NO. 100 FOR HAASE
The Dec. 17 victory over San Francisco was head coach Jerod Haase's 100th career coaching victory. He is in his sixth season as a head coach and second with Stanford, following four successful seasons at UAB. The win was Haase's 20th at the helm of the Cardinal.  

Shoutout to Reid and Coach Haase for reaching major milestones today! #GoStanford

A post shared by Stanford Men's Basketball (@stanfordmbb) on Dec 17, 2017 at 5:49pm PST


THE FOURTH-YEAR CLASS
The four members of Stanford's fourth-year class - Reid Travis, Dorian Pickens, Michael Humphrey and Robert Cartwright - accounted for 62.6 percent of the team's scoring and 55.4 percent of the team's rebounding last season. Pickens and Humphrey are true seniors, while Travis and Cartwright have each had their medical hardship waivers granted and are redshirt juniors with another year of eligibility remaining after this season. Cartwright missed the entire 2015-16 season with a compound fracture of his right forearm sustained in preseason practice on Nov. 2, 2015. Travis was forced to miss the final 22 games of the 2015-16 season with a right leg injury.
 
PETER SAUER CAPTAINSHIP
Head coach Jerod Haase announced the establishment of the Peter Sauer Captainship in September, naming Reid Travis, Dorian Pickens and Michael Humphrey captains. The three wear patches on their uniforms honoring the legacy of the late Peter Sauer, a team captain and leader of Stanford's 1998 Final Four team. Stanford will celebrate the 20-year anniversary of the 1998 Final Four team Feb. 24, 2018, against Washington State.