Battle 4 Atlantis Finale

STANFORD MEETS MIDDLE TENNESSEE IN BATTLE 4 ATLANTIS FINALE
Stanford, coming off A 72-49 defeat to Florida Thursday, faces Middle Tennessee Friday at 4 p.m. PT in the seventh-place game of the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament. Friday's game will be televised on ESPNU and carried live on the Stanford Cardinal Sports Network (GoStanford.com/watch). 
 
BATTLE 4 ATLANTIS
Stanford is 1-4 in five previous games over two Battle 4 Atlantis tournament appearances. The Cardinal placed seventh in the 2012 Battle 4 Atlantis tournament, with losses to Missouri and Minnesota and a victory over Northern Iowa. Middle Tennessee is the lone team in the 2018 tournament field Stanford has not previously played.
 
Head Coach Jerod Haase is making his second appearance in the Battle 4 Atlantis. In his third season as the head coach of UAB, Haase and the Blazers fell to No. 2 Wisconsin, No. 16 Florida and No. 22 UCLA in the 2014 tournament.
 
AGAINST MIDDLE TENNESSEE
Stanford and Middle Tennessee have not previously met on the hardwood. The Cardinal last played a current member of Conference USA on March 31, 2015, as Stanford defeated Old Dominion (67-60) in the semifinals of the NIT at Madison Square Garden.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Stanford dropped a 72-49 decision to Florida in the Battle 4 Atlantis Thursday. The Gators shot nearly 60 percent in the first half and used a 21-3 run to jump ahead 28-7 early on. Meanwhile, Stanford was cold from the field for a second straight day, shooting 21.7 percent (5-of-23) in the first half. Florida took a 32-13 lead into the break. Stanford found its range in the second half, shooting 55 percent overall in the period. However, Florida continued to shoot the ball well, connecting on 58.6 percent of its field goals. Cormac Ryan scored all of his team-high 12 points in the second half for the Cardinal, tallying all his points on three-pointers.
 
CARDINAL LOOKS TO ERASE SHOOTING STRUGGLES IN BATTLE 4 ATLANTIS FINALE
Stanford has shot a combined 31.4 percent (32-of-102) in its first two games of the Battle 4 Atlantis. In Wednesday's tournament opener against Wisconsin, the Cardinal recorded its worst shooting percentage in three seasons, posting a 27.1 FG percentage overall and 11.1 percent from three-point range. Stanford shot 26.0 percent overall and 0.95 percent from three-point range in a 2015 defeat to Villanova. Thursday against Florida, Stanford shot 37.2 percent (16-of-43) overall. Stanford, which had 46 points against Wisconsin and 49 against Florida, has not scored less than 50 points in consecutive games since the 1961-62 season, That year, the Cardinal lost at Washington (65-49) on Jan. 27, 1962 and defeated Santa Clara on the road (45-41) in its next game on Jan. 30, 1962.
 
YOUNG SQUAD
Among the 15 players on the 2018-19 roster, 11 are in their first or second year playing. Only senior Josh Sharma and juniors Marcus Sheffield, Trevor Stanback and Rodney Herenton entered 2018-19 with at least two seasons played. Through five games, first and second-year players have accounted for 78.5 percent of the Cardinal's scoring (263 of 335 points). The underclassmen have also accounted for 82.3 percent of Stanford's rebounding total (144 of 175 rebounds).
 
Stanford's starting lineup against Wisconsin and Florida was made up of three sophomores (Daejon Davis, KZ Okpala, Oscar da Silva) and two freshmen (Cormac Ryan and Bryce Wills). 
 
OKPALA'S IMPACT AS A SOPHOMORE
Sophomore KZ Okpala is averaging a team-best 16.8 ppg in 35.4 mpg through five games this season. He averaged 12.4 ppg in 30.6 mpg in his first five games last season. The forward, who had a career-best 29 points in the season opener against Seattle, entered the tournament as the Pac-12's leading scorer. He was voted the Pac-12 Player of the Week on Nov. 12.
 
RYAN CONNECTS FROM DOWNTOWN
Freshman Cormac Ryan leads the Pac-12 in three-point field goals, averaging 2.8 per game. He scored a team-best 12 points, all in the second half and all on three-pointers, on Thursday against Florida. Ryan is second on the team in scoring, averaging 11.6 ppg. He is shooting 37.8 percent from three-point range (14-of-37).