SETTING THE SCENE
Emerging from a 12-day pause for finals, Stanford men’s basketball hosts Green Bay on Friday, Dec. 16. at 5 p.m. on Pac-12 Network.
THE OPENING TIP
• The Cardinal is 3-6 (0-2 Pac-12) to open the campaign, including home wins over Pacific (88-78) and Cal Poly (80-43) and a win over Florida State (70-60) at the ESPN Events Invitational in Orlando.
• Through nine games, Spencer Jones leads the team with 11.9 points per game, while Michael Jones and Harrison Ingram are also in double figures at 10.3 and 10. 1 points per game, respectively.
• Harrison Ingram, who was Stanford’s first Pac-12 Freshman of the Year since Casey Jacobsen in 2000, withdrew his name from the 2022 NBA Draft to return to The Farm for his sophomore campaign. He is averaging 10.1 points, 4.9 rebounds and a team-best 3.2 assists per game.
• The Cardinal returns eight of its top nine rotation players from a year ago, ranking fourth nationally in minutes continuity, per KenPom, while also bringing in the program’s first transfer in 12 years and the first graduate transfer in program history in Michael Jones (Davidson). Jones had a game to remember in the season opener, with his 31 points the most by a Stanford player in his team debut on record.
• Spencer Jones paces the program in Pac-12 play with 15.5 points per game, which ranks eighth in the league. He also averages 4.0 offensive rebounds per game, which is the second-most league-wide.
• The Cardinal has faced a rigorous schedule, ranking 13th nationally per Ken Pom and with the sixth most difficult opposition defense. The NET rankings on Dec. 12 have 20 of Stanford’s 31 games coming in quadrants one or two, with Stanford holding two more quadrant one opportunities in December against Texas and Utah.
ON THE HORIZON
The matchup with the Phoenix marks just the third game in Stanford’s history against a current Horizon league member, as the Cardinal is 2-0 with wins over Cleveland State in 2012, 76-65, and Green Bay in 2015, 93-89 (OT). The win over Cleveland State came in the opening round of the 2012 postseason NIT at Maples Pavilion, while the victory over Green Bay came in a campus-site game of the 2015 preseason NIT.