SETTING THE SCENE
Heading to the Lone Star State for its third neutral site event of the season, Stanford men’s basketball will take on No. 7/8 Texas in the Pac-12 Coast-to-Coast Challenge at American Airlines Arena in Dallas on Sunday, Dec. 18. The contest tips at 10 a.m. PT on ESPN2.
THE OPENING TIP
• The Cardinal is 4-6 (0-2 Pac-12) to open the campaign, including home wins over Pacific (88-78), Cal Poly (80-43) and Green Bay (85-40) and a win over Florida State (70-60) at the ESPN Events Invite in Orlando.
• Through 10 games, Spencer Jones leads the team with 11.7 points per game, while five players are posting at least seven points per game.
• 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 9.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and a team-best 2.9 assists per game.
• The Cardinal returns eight of its top nine rotation players from a year ago, ranking sixth 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 26th nationally per Ken Pom and with the 13th most difficult opposition defense. The NET rankings on Dec. 17 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.
FORCING TURNOVERS
The Cardinal defense has escalated its pressure over the past three games, averaging 10.7 steals per game and forcing 20 turnovers per night against UCLA, Arizona State and Green Bay. Green Bay was forced into a season-best 27 turnovers, which were the most for Stanford under head coach Jerod Haase, and the most for the Cardinal since causing 27 against UC Davis on Nov. 28, 2006.