SETTING THE SCENE
Bringing a close to the regular season, Stanford men’s basketball heads to Los Angeles for a Wednesday, March 3 contest with USC. The 7:30 p.m. contest will air on FS1.
THE OPENING TIP
• Stanford is 14-11 (10-9 Pac-12) on the season, with conference wins vs. Arizona (twice), Oregon State, Washington (twice), Washington State, UCLA, California (twice) and Utah.
• Senior captain Oscar da Silva is stating his case as the Pac-12’s top player, averaging 18.9 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists per night in league play.
• The team has controlled the paint in Pac-12 games, ranking first with a 54.8 percent mark from the field on two-point shots, while allowing just 45.7% on the opposite end, which ranks second in the league.
• The Cardinal leads the Pac-12 with four quadrant one wins, one more than USC, Oregon and Colorado.
• Stanford was the final power conference program to play at its home facility this season. The Cardinal is also one of two power conference teams to boast multiple road wins in non-conference play, joining Oklahoma State, and leads the power conferences in playing 19 road + neutral games.
• Jaiden Delaire has emerged as one of the most improved players in the Pac-12, averaging 13.8 points per game in conference action. He has reached double-figure scoring in 13 of the last 16 games, including three-straight with 20 or more points from Jan. 28-Feb. 2.
BUILDING A RESUME
Stanford is one of just 11 teams nationally with at least four Q1 wins and six road wins, joining Gonzaga, Michigan, Baylor, Illinois, Iowa, Alabama, Ohio State, West Virginia, Creighton and Oklahoma State. In ESPN’s most recent bracketology, each of the other 10 teams were seeded a five seed or higher. Only 26 teams have at least four Q1 wins in the country, while Stanford is the only program in the Pac-12 to reach the threshold. Wednesday’s bout at USC gives the Cardinal an opportunity for its fifth Q1 win, which through games of March 1, give the team an opportunity to join 18 teams at that threshold.