After all the great road performances this
season for Stanford, one could only wonder how long it could keep
up. After only 3 weeks perhaps we forgot that we do have four new
starters and are very inexperienced. Experience played a huge
factor in the game yesterday as Stanford couldn’t quite take
control of the game late. Texas was able to force Overtime, and
then dominate the extra period. Chris Owens and TJ Ford ran the
show on offense, and Royal Ivey played a masterpiece on defense,
shutting down Casey in all facets of his game. Owens took
advantage of Curtis having to sit major minutes on the bench due
to foul trouble and took control of the paint. He scored 26
points, including 13-17 from the free-throw line and grabbed 12
rebounds. TJ Ford, the heralded freshmen had a huge game as well.
He was a basket away from a triple-double with 8 points, 11
assists and 12 rebounds - definitely a player who might be
thinking NBA next season. Then Royal Ivey shut down Jacobsen on
defense, constantly with a hand in his face; he frustrated
Jacobsen and took him completely out of his game. Ivey also
chipped in with 18 points of his own.
Jacobsen struggled mightily and shot 3-17
from the field and for the second straight game didn’t make
a 3-pointer. On top of that, he was 3-8 from the free throw line,
which definitely hurt the Card at the end. In fact the whole team
had a monumental struggle from the line, going a Shaq-like 40%
(10 of 25). Everyone was talking about the slippery ball, but
even so it was very ugly to watch. Jacobsen ended up with nine
points in the game but they were few and far between. Borchardt
continued to play well as he scored 8 points and grabbed 11
rebounds in very limited action. Josh Childress had himself
another nice game, and has definitely established himself as the
number 2 option on the court. He took a lot of the big shots to
get Stanford back in the game in the first half, and to force OT
in the second. He ended up with 15 points and is looking like a
player who is going to be consistent and not have those down
games. Barnes and Little also gave big lifts off the bench, as
Barnes score 13 points (albeit on 14 shots), and Little scored 11
points and shot 5-6 from the line! He should have shared his
secret with the rest of the team! Little also might get some
consideration to start now as he was much more effective than
Davis and has been the last couple of games. Little seems to have
become much more fundamentally sound than when he first got to
Stanford, and it is definitely helping the team.
Many things went wrong Saturday. Texas
definitely had a huge quickness edge and took advantage. Stanford
didn’t really seem to adjust to it, even though Texas
consistently drove into the paint. It was troubling not to see
someone make a big play on defense as Stanford couldn’t make
a run in the second half to give themselves any sort of lead.
Another thing that worries me is that teams are starting to
figure out Jacobsen. He hasn’t made a three-pointer in two
games now and all of his points are coming with lots of effort.
This loss isn’t anything to be worried about, as it is early
and the team should improve. The only thing that hurts is the
free-throws, because even if they only shot 60% they would have
won this game.
Some things also went well for Stanford.
Julius seems like he wants that starting point guard spot and he
is taking many big shots. He is very erratic and often times out
of control, but is starting to look like a good player as he hit
some very tough shots. Rob also looked very good inside - a big
guy to keep off the boards - who I imagine might push Justin for
his starting job in the near future. Overall it was a game in
which Stanford played very poorly. They shot the ball badly; they
didn’t make their free throws and played some sloppy
defense. But when it all came down, they pushed a NCAA Tourney
caliber team to OT and had its chances to win the game. Now they
have 2 weeks to fix these problems and prepare to make amends.
Michigan State and others lurk in the near future.