SETTING THE SCENE
Stanford (16-6, 5-4 Pac-12) caps its road trip to the mountains with a Saturday afternoon battle at No. 24/24 Colorado (18-5, 7-3 Pac-12). The action will be broadcast on Pac-12 Networks.
THE OPENING TIP
• Stanford entered the weekend as one of five teams at the top of the Pac-12 table with three losses, but fell in OT to Utah on Thursday. The Cardinal is looking for consecutive wins over ranked opponents.
• Junior Oscar da Silva leads the team with 16.4 points per game, a mark which ranks ninth in the conference. He also holds the 22nd-best national mark in field goal percentage (60.2), and is the reigning Pac-12 Player of the Week.
• Stanford held 12 of its 13 non-conference opponents below 70 points and has limited its Pac-12 foes to an average of 61.6 points per game, which paces the conference. The program also boasts the best overall scoring defense in the Pac-12 (59.9), and the eighth-best nationally. As of Feb. 7, KenPom rates the Cardinal defense as the fifth-most efficient in the country.
• Scoring well from beyond the arc, three Cardinal players boast 3-point percentages above 40.0. Spencer Jones paces the team at 43.2 percent, while Isaac White (41.2) and Tyrell Terry (40.6) follow close behind. As a team, Stanford ranks 27th nationally in 3-point proficiency (37.3%).
• Stanford is looking for back-to-back wins over Colorado for the first time since sweeping the Buffaloes in 2011-12, which is the last year that the Cardinal picked up a win in Boulder.
6 THE MAGIC NUMBER
Locking down its opponents, Stanford has limited its last two opponents, Oregon and Utah, to just six field goals apiece in the second half of consecutive games. The Cardinal is allowing just 21.8 percent shooting in the latter frame in February, while holding the Ducks and Utes to just 24 and 22 points, respectively, which are its best two second halves this season. Only San Jose State (4, 1st half) and Maryland Eastern Shore (5, first half) have scored fewer field goals in a half against Stanford this season.