Stanford beat Washington 84-74 in Seattle tonight in a game that wasn't really as close as the final score might indicate. The Cardinal improved to 15-5 (6-2 Pac-12), while Washington fell to 14-6 (3-5).
This was the first game Washington played without Robert Upshaw, the nation's leading shot blocker, who was dismissed from the team for a violation of team rules. Stanford took major advantage of Upshaw's absence. Stefan Nastic scored 15 first half points to help the Cardinal to a 12-point halftime lead, and Anthony Brown and Chasson Randle got going in the second half to extend the Cardinal's advantage to 26. Washington cut into the Cardinal's lead late (Stanford was pretty sloppy down the stretch), but the outcome was never seriously in doubt.
Stanford was 0-5 in its previous five visits to UW, so they'll certainly take this one.
Reid Travis did not return to the floor tonight. Perhaps that will happen in Stanford's next game - Travis has been out since the start of Pac-12 play with a stress fracture, but he was ready to go tonight if needed.
-Marcus Allen has really provided a boost since being inserted into the starting lineup a few weeks back. He scored a career-high 12 points (6-8 shooting), and added three rebounds and two steals. The two steals came late in the first half and helped Stanford take a double digit lead into halftime. Allen is probably Stanford's best perimeter defender (his brother Malcolm is also supposed to be a good defender, though he's out for the year redshirting), and perhaps its best rebounding guard. (Assuming you count Anthony Brown as a small forward.) He also did a nice job driving to the hoop and finishing on a few occasions. Allen is not a great shooter but he seems to do everything else pretty darn well.
-As mentioned previously, Nastic was really, really good in the first half, and Stanford did a nice job taking advantage of the matchup. He got into some foul trouble and was scored only two in the second half
-Michael Humphrey is incredibly raw, yes, and commits fouls at an extremely high rate. But each game he does something pretty spectacular. His pass to a cutting Marcus Allen off an offensive rebound (that led to an and-one opportunity) qualified tonight, and six rebounds in 12 minutes was also impressive.
-Stanford shot north of 55 percent from three-point range and north of 50 percent from the field for the second straight game. Goes without saying they will be successful more times than not when that happens.
-On a not so positive note, Stanford's free throw shooting was poor tonight. They finished the game 20-29, which isn't terrible, but the percentage was boosted by Randle and Anthony Brown making a bunch in the game's final minutes. They were 6-11 and 9-17 from the line at various points in the game.
-Stanford travels to Pullman to take on Washington State Saturday alone in third place in the Pac-12, and even setting aside the standings for a minute, pretty clearly the league's third best team (behind Arizona and Utah) at this point. So not a bad place to be.
This was the first game Washington played without Robert Upshaw, the nation's leading shot blocker, who was dismissed from the team for a violation of team rules. Stanford took major advantage of Upshaw's absence. Stefan Nastic scored 15 first half points to help the Cardinal to a 12-point halftime lead, and Anthony Brown and Chasson Randle got going in the second half to extend the Cardinal's advantage to 26. Washington cut into the Cardinal's lead late (Stanford was pretty sloppy down the stretch), but the outcome was never seriously in doubt.
Stanford was 0-5 in its previous five visits to UW, so they'll certainly take this one.
Reid Travis did not return to the floor tonight. Perhaps that will happen in Stanford's next game - Travis has been out since the start of Pac-12 play with a stress fracture, but he was ready to go tonight if needed.
-Marcus Allen has really provided a boost since being inserted into the starting lineup a few weeks back. He scored a career-high 12 points (6-8 shooting), and added three rebounds and two steals. The two steals came late in the first half and helped Stanford take a double digit lead into halftime. Allen is probably Stanford's best perimeter defender (his brother Malcolm is also supposed to be a good defender, though he's out for the year redshirting), and perhaps its best rebounding guard. (Assuming you count Anthony Brown as a small forward.) He also did a nice job driving to the hoop and finishing on a few occasions. Allen is not a great shooter but he seems to do everything else pretty darn well.
-As mentioned previously, Nastic was really, really good in the first half, and Stanford did a nice job taking advantage of the matchup. He got into some foul trouble and was scored only two in the second half
-Michael Humphrey is incredibly raw, yes, and commits fouls at an extremely high rate. But each game he does something pretty spectacular. His pass to a cutting Marcus Allen off an offensive rebound (that led to an and-one opportunity) qualified tonight, and six rebounds in 12 minutes was also impressive.
-Stanford shot north of 55 percent from three-point range and north of 50 percent from the field for the second straight game. Goes without saying they will be successful more times than not when that happens.
-On a not so positive note, Stanford's free throw shooting was poor tonight. They finished the game 20-29, which isn't terrible, but the percentage was boosted by Randle and Anthony Brown making a bunch in the game's final minutes. They were 6-11 and 9-17 from the line at various points in the game.
-Stanford travels to Pullman to take on Washington State Saturday alone in third place in the Pac-12, and even setting aside the standings for a minute, pretty clearly the league's third best team (behind Arizona and Utah) at this point. So not a bad place to be.
