The Stanford Cardinal made the long trip to Kansas to face their Missouri
Valley Conference opponent, the Wichita State Shockers, looking to continue on
their postseason journey in the College Basketball Invitational. Playing
in front of a near sellout crowd (8,816) at the Charles Koch Arena, the Cardinal bolted
out to a 20-point lead in the first half, withstood a spirited Wichita State
rally in the second half, before ultimately prevailing by a final score of
70-56. Stanford moves to 20-13 on the season while Wichita State ends the
year at 17-17. The Cardinal move on to the CBI Semifinals to be played on Wednesday evening as they'll head to Corvallis to take on the Oregon State Beavers, 71-70 overtime winners at home over Vermont.
The Cardinal got off to a hot start, running out to a 15-4 lead with 12:38 to
go in the first half, getting shots from Lawrence Hill, Landry Fields, and
Anthony Goods, two of those from deep, quickly quieting the home crowd who were
loud to start off the contest. After a couple of traded baskets, Jeremy Green came into the game and made his presence known immediately, hitting two
big three-pointers to push the advantage to 15, 25-10, with 8:45 left in the
half. Four more points in a row for Stanford made is 29-10, but Wichita
State calmed down a bit, cutting the lead down to 32-18 after a free throw by
Toure’ Murry with 3:47 to go in the half. Stanford, though, would
not the Shockers get any closer, closing out the half with a Mitch Johnson layup
in the lane, giving the Cardinal a 42-26 lead going into the locker room.
At the half, Stanford shot 61% from the floor, made 4-7 of their
three-pointers, and was also 4-7 from the free throw line. Wichita State
converted on 32% of their attempts from the field, was 2-9 from beyond the arc,
and made 6-10 from the charity stripe. The Cardinal narrowly outrebounded
the Shockers, 17-16, although Wichita State got six offensive rebounds to
Stanford’s two. Meanwhile, the Cardinal did a tremendous job holding into
the ball against a pressing and zoning Shockers squad, committing just two
turnovers while dishing out 10 assists. Wichita State logged only three
assists, but did turn the ball over just four times. Stanford outscored Wichita State 12-10 in the paint.
Individually, Stanford was led by Hill who had 11 points on 5-7
shooting. Goods had nine on four of his eight shots, while Green and
Fields tallied six and five, respectively. The Shockers were led by their
outstanding freshman, Murry, who scored six on 2-6 shooting from the
field. Clevin Hannah had five, while big man Garrett Stutz and David Kyles
each scored four off the bench.
Could the Cardinal continue their winning ways in the second half? From
the outset, Wichita State made a concerted effort to apply more pressure to the
Cardinal ballhandlers, causing three turnovers in the first five minutes.
However, the Shockers continued to try and shoot from the outside and saw
several looks go long. Despite a Fields missed dunk, the Cardinal went
inside on several possessions, getting makes from Goods, Fields, and Josh Owens,
to go up 51-34 with under 15 minutes remaining in the game. After a free
throw from Hill following a media timeout, Wichita State started to chip away at
the lead as their defense turned it up another notch and their shots began to
drop, running off six in a row to get within 12 with under 13 minutes left in
the game.
Two Goods free throws after a timeout calmed things for a bit, but a dunk by
JT Durley electrified the crowd, getting WSU within 11, 57-46, with 8:33
remaining in the contest. Stanford, though, tightened up on defense and
the Shockers continued to try shots from long range rather than attacking the
paint versus their Pac-10 opponent. As the minutes wound down, the crowd
got quieter and quieter and a Hill dunk off a beautiful feed by Johnson bumped the
lead back up to 16, 64-48, with just 4:33 to go. A couple of rushed layups
by Kenny Brown and Johnson didn’t fall, giving the Shockers one last chance
at making a run at the Cardinal. One free throw by Durley cut the margin
to 13 with 3:09 to go, but layups by Goods and Hill finally put the Shockers away.
For the game, Stanford shot 51% from the field, although they did cool off
the second stanza, making just 40% of their field goals, hit 46% from beyond the
arc, and made 10-15 at the charity stripe. Wichita State finished the
contest converting on just 34% of their field goal attempts, made just four of
17 from outside the three-point line, and shot 16-24 at the free throw
line. The second stanza saw the Cardinal finish up six boards on the
Shockers, 37-31, as both teams got 12 offensive rebounds on the evening.
The Cardinal dished out 13 assists and turned the ball over just nine times,
while Wichita State passed out just six assists, but only notched seven
turnovers. Stanford had 24 points in the paint to 20 for the Shockers.
Stanford was led by Hill’s 21 points (8-13 shooting) and six rebounds,
followed by Goods’ 18 points and five boards. Green and Fields both scored
nine, the latter also grabbing seven rebounds. Johnson had just the two
points at the end of the first half, but he led the squad with eight assists
against just one turnover. Wichita State’s leading scorer was Hannah, who
got 13 for the Shockers on 4-7 from the field. Next in line was Durley who
nearly notched a double-double, getting 11 points and eight rebounds.
Forward Ramon Clemente was third in scoring with seven.
Head coach Johnny Dawkins and the Stanford Cardinal will go back west and face the Oregon State Beavers in Corvallis in the College
Basketball Invitation Semifinals on Wednesday evening. The contest will be
televised on HDNet with a start time of 7:00 pm PST. This will be the fourth time these teams have faced each other with Oregon State winning two of the three, but with the Cardinal winning their last matchup in the Pac-10 Tournament Opening Round, 62-54. It is the first time Stanford will face a team four times in a season since they faced both the USC Trojans and UCLA Bruins on four occasions in the 1962-1963 season.
Stanford at Wichita State - Complete Statistics
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