Upset

 

            The 2023 PAC-12 tournament has been a tournament of upsets.  There were two upsets in each round!  Unfortunately for Stanford, there were only two games in the third round and Stanford was the higher seed.  

Stanford 76 - Oregon 65

             On Thursday Stanford avoided the upset in a tight game against Oregon. Against Oregon, the CARD took the lead from the first minutes and held on to it. One of the most positive notes from the Oregon game is that all of Stanford’s starters scored at least eight points.  The team was led by Cameron Brink’s 22 points (along with 11 rebounds for another double-double) and Haley Jones’ 13 rebounds (with eight points and eight assists). Hannah Jump and Talana Leopolo also scored in double figures. Off the bench Belibi added eight points with 10 rebounds and Betts scored seven points and grabbed two rebounds. Additionally, all of the CARD’s starters were perfect from the free throw line! 

            In the Oregon game Stanford had more rebounds (56 -39), more assists (16 -11), more points-in-the-paint (30-14), and more bench points (15-11). Interestingly, although they led the entire game, the CARD won the first quarter by seven, the second by six, played Oregon even in the third, and Stanford lost the fourth by two.  This second half loss of fire pre-shadowed an even bigger second half let-down on Friday.  

UCLA 69 — Stanford 65

            Against UCLA the game started out with Stanford looking strong.  The CARD took the lead at roughly 90 seconds into the game and led the entire first half; wining the first quarter by 9 and the second by 4 to take a 13 point lead into halftime.  Several of Cameron Brink’s first half field goals were elbow jumpers, not her usual layups.  That development of her game, along with her continued perfection at the free-throw line, should be a big plus for Stanford going forward.  Many teams try to stop the CARD by clogging the paint.  The best ways to stop that are having three point shooters draw the defense out and other players hit elbow jumpers.  In the first half against UCLA Stanford did just that.

            The second half was a different story.  UCLA started to find their range in the third quarter, but Stanford continued to hold on.  The CARD only had four made baskets in the quarter, but went 6 off 6 from the free-throw line.  Stanford lost the quarter by three but still took a 10 point lead into the fourth quarter.  UCLA came out on fire in the fourth and Stanford seemed to run out of gas, at least at the defensive end of the floor.  The Bruins out scored the CARD by 14 in the fourth quarter, 29 to 15.  UCLA took their first lead with just over two minutes left to play and Stanford was unable to answer.  That inability was aided by several calls by the referees that seemed questionable at best.  One was on a Brink rebound which was ruled a jump ball while Cam was trying to call a timeout.  There were several others, in the last few minutes that hurt Stanford — but of course, it’s never a good idea to let things get so close that the referees can decide the game.  Given the five weeks Stanford has just gone through, perhaps the best news in that Sunday the CARD will be home sleeping in their own beds.