Category: Stanford Cardinal

Stanford football’s Pro Day to take place on Thursday

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Photo credit: gostanford.com

By: Ana Kieu

The Stanford Cardinal football team’s NFL Pro Timing Day will take place Thursday at Siebel Practice Field starting at 11 am PT. ESPN3 will broadcast the high-profile event with Troy Clardy ’97 and Tank Williams ’02 on the call.

15 former Stanford student-athletes are expected to showcase their skills in the weight room and on the field. Those 15 include linebacker Joey Alfieri, wide receiver JJ Arcega-Whiteside, punter Jake Bailey, wide receiver Isaiah Brandt-Sims, center Jesse Burkett, quarterback Keller Chryst, offensive lineman Brandon Fanaika, offensive lineman A.T. Hall, defensive back Alijah Holder, offensive lineman Nate Herbig, wide receiver Trenton Irwin, running back Bryce Love, defensive back Alameen Murphy, linebacker Bobby Okereke, and tight end Kaden Smith.

Stanford’s Pro Day will operate with a similar format to the NFL Combine in Indianapolis each winter.

The day will consist of classroom testing, weight room evaluations, on-field agility drills and football-specific position drills.

In the morning, select participants will begin in the weight room with measurables such as vertical leap, broad jump and bench press. After that, they’ll participate in the outdoor portion of the event. The outdoor drills are open to the public and admission is free.

On the field, select participants will be timed in the 40-yard dash, 5-10-5 shuttle, three-cone agility and position-specific drills.

Stanford will host its annual Cardinal and White Spring Game at Cagan Stadium on Saturday, April 13 at 1 pm PT. Admission is free and players will be available for postgame autographs.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary podcast with Barbara Mason: Final Four–Who’s going to win it all?; Stanford eliminated by Norte Dame women; plus more

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Photo credit: @SInow

Barbara Mason is filling in for Amaury Pi Gonzalez:

#1 The Final Four is amongst us and taking a look at each game this coming Sunday. Taking a look at Auburn-Virginia, Auburn has been the surprise — do you see this game being a real contest?

#2 Texas Tech-Michigan State is the next game on Sunday. The Red Raiders gave it their all when they beat Gonzaga last Sunday and the Spartans are one the winningest and high-ranking teams in the Tournament.

#3 The Stanford Women (31-5) and Notre Dame (34-3) battled it out, but after giving it their all all season long, the Cardinal could not withstand and lost to the Fighting Irish 84-68.

#4 The Oakland A’s started the 2019 season with two loses in Tokyo to the Seattle Mariners. Since that trip, it looks like the A’s have shaken off the jet lag and have been on track winning taking three of four from the Angels since coming back to Oakland and a win over the Boston Red Sox on Monday night to open another four-game series.

#5 The San Jose Sharks’ troubles continue after they dropped their eighth loss in nine games to the Western Conference first place Calgary Flames on Sunday. The win secures the Flames for first place and what was worse was that it was done on the Sharks’ home ice.

Barbara Mason does That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

KZ Okpala was a First-Team All-District selection by the USBWA

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Photo credit: gostanford.com

By: Ana Kieu

Stanford Cardinal forward KZ Okpala was a First Team All-District selection by the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA), based on voting from its national membership of more than 900 individuals.

Okpala, who was also a First Team All-Pac-12 pick, led Stanford in scoring at 16.8 PPG in his second year on The Farm. He ranks fifth in the Pac-12 in scoring with the second-most 20-point games (15) in the conference. He also ranks 17th in the conference in rebounding (5.7 RPG), and 12th in defensive rebounding (4.5 DRPG). During the Pac-12 regular season, he finished fifth in the conference in scoring (17.5 PPG).

Okpala, a semifinalist for the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award, scored a career-high 30 points in the win at California in February. He recorded four consecutive 20-point games for the first time in his career in the middle of the conference season, achieving the mark against Arizona (29), Arizona State (21), Washington (22) and Utah (22). He arned Pac-12 Player of the Week honors in November, after averaging 29.0 ppg in victories over Seattle and UNC Wilmington. He finished his sophomore season on The Farm with a pair of double-doubles, posting 22 points and 10 rebounds in the Pac-12 opener against UCLA and 20 points and 10 rebounds in the season opener against Seattle.

The USBWA All-District IX Team recognized 11 standouts from Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington. Gonzaga’s Rui Hachimura was the District IX Player of the Year.

Stanford, with 11 of 15 players in their first or second year, completed the season 15-16 overall and 8-10 in the Pac-12.

Stanford falls to UCLA 79-72 in first round of Pac-12 Tournament

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20190313 - Stanford 08


Photo credit: Shawn McCullough, Sports Radio Service

By Shawn McCullough

Stanford shot just 35.5% from the field as the UCLA Bruins beat the Cardinal 79-72 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

The Cardinal shooting woes continued from their last two games of the regular season in which they shot a combined 40% from the field.

“We’ve shown over the last, I guess, three games a pretty anemic shooting display”, said Stanford head coach Jerod Haase.  “And that was certainly a big part of not making shots and not just threes but around the rim.  And we struggled to score the basketball to that level.”

Senior Josh Sharma led the Cardinal with 18 points and 13 rebounds, while Marcus Sheffield came off the bench to add 18.

He’s a heck of a player and a heck of a person”, said Haase about Sharma.  “When I first got the job and wanted to play more minutes, and he was a fantastic ambassador to the program and the university. And this year he flourished.  Always tried to do what I asked him to do and did it at a high level.  And it will mean a lot not just for today but for a long time.”

“Obviously it was a disappointing year, especially the last couple of games”, said Sharma.  “But a lot to do with Coach Haase and the rest of the coaching staff, I think my confidence playing the game and my love for the game has never been greater.  And obviously still disappointed that we lost, and that hurts a lot.”

Stanford trailed the entire game, but rallied late in the second half to cut a 14 point halftime deficit to just seven points at the end of the game.

Sheffield on shots falling late in the game, “I think we just started getting a few stops, our energy increased. And once the shots started falling, they just started falling.  So, yeah, we just tried to compete to the end, really.”

With the loss, the Cardinal fell to 15-16 on the season.

“We’re certainly disappointed”, said Haase on the season.  “At this point, though, we’re probably looking back to the entire year and trying to find some of the positives and understand some of the negatives, as well.”

Game Notes:

  • Stanford is now 17-21 all time in the Pac-12 Tournament
  • Stanford lost to UCLA last season in the Pac-12 Tournament 88-77 in the quarterfinals
  • The Cardinal won their only Pac-12 Tournament championship with a 77-66 win over Washington on March 13, 2004

Stanford Cardinal basketball podcast with Joey Friedman: Cal gives Stanford fits on home floor in season finale

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Photo credit: @StanfordMBB

On the Stanford Cardinal podcast with Joey:

#1 The Cal Bears, who couldn’t win a Pac-12 conference game to save their lives, took two games from the Washington Huskies and the Washington State University Cougars, and dominated Stanford on Thursday night at Maples Pavilion at Stanford.

#2 For Cal, Connor Vanover and Austin Paris led the Bears in scoring in the first half of Thursday’s game.

#3 It was Stanford’s home floor, the Cardinal normally don’t have too much problem at home. Is Cal a possessed team since getting those two wins against those Washington schools last week?

#4 What’s it going to be like for Stanford when KZ Okpala leaves for the NBA Draft?

#5 Talk about the job that Cardinal head coach Jerod Haase did against Cal on Thursday night in trying to back into the game.

Listen to the Stanford Cardinal podcasts each Friday with Joey at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Cal fends off Stanford 64-59 in final game of regular season

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Photo credit: @CalMBBall

By: Eric Epstein

PALO ALTO, Calif. — The University of California Golden Bears bested the Stanford Cardinal at Maples Pavillion Thursday night with a score of 64-59, spoiling Stanford’s Senior Night and last game of the regular season. With their loss, Stanford moved to 8-10 in Pac-12 play, leaving them in 10th place in the conference. Cal improves their Pac-12 record to 3-15, however, they still sit at the bottom of the conference standings.

The Bears dominated the first half, outscoring the Cardinal 37-24. Only a couple minutes into the game, Cal rattled off a 17-0 run over five minutes, extending their lead to 19 points only 10 minutes into the game. Stanford was able to slowly narrow their deficit to 10 points before Cal freshman guard Matt Bradley banked home a long 3-point basket at the half to give the Bears a 13-point lead going into the locker room.

In the first period, Cal shot with much higher efficiency from Stanford everywhere except for the foul line. The Bears made 6 out of their 10 3-point attempts, whereas the Cardinal were not able to connect on any of their 12 tries.

7-foot-3 freshman Connor Vanover provided the Cal offense with a red-hot shooting spree, scoring his 18 first-half points on 7-8 shooting, including connecting on all 4 of his three-point attempts.

The first half Stanford offense ran through sophomore forward KZ Okpala, who scored 13 points on 6-8 shooting. Stanford struggled mightily with ball security and playmaking, as they turned the ball over 8 times and only totaled 3 assists. With usual starting point guard Daejon Davis still sidelined with a foot injury, the bulk of the ballhandling was done by freshman guards Bryce Wills and Cormac Ryan.

Cal scored three straight buckets to open the second half, increasing their lead to a game-high 21 points. The two squads traded off bursts of scoring until Stanford was able to string together some quick baskets and defensive stops to decrease the lead to single digits with 4 minutes left in the game. After missing their first 21 3-point attempts, Stanford hit 3 straight 3-pointers down the stretch to work the Cal lead down to a measly 3 points. However, Vanover responded on the other end, drawing an and-one foul on a shot under the basket. After that, the Cardinal were forced to play the foul game and could not make up the 6 point deficit incurred in the final minute.

Vanover led the game in scoring with 24 points on 9-12 shooting and 5-6 from three. Bradley and junior guard Paris Austin also lit up the scoreboard with 14 and 15 points, respectively. Sophomore forward Justice Sueing also pitched in a notable effort of his own, scoring 9 points and 10 rebounds en route to a near double-double. Only 5 Cal players got on the scoreboard Thursday evening, and the Bears bench was only able to scrape 2 points together over the course of the whole game.

Okpala led the Cardinal in scoring yet again with 21 points on 9-14 shooting. Senior center Josh Sharma put on a good show for Senior Night with 11 points and 13 rebounds, however, his game was cut a couple of minutes short due to his fifth personal foul. Ryan, who missed his first 7 shots, caught on fire down the stretch for 8 points on 3 shots. He also recorded a very impressive no-look overhead pass from his back to a streaking Marcus Sheffield for a transition bucket late in the second half.

This marks the last game for the Cardinal before the Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas next week. This game likely marks the last home game for graduating senior Josh Sharma as well as sophomore KZ Okpala, who is expected to enter the NBA Draft this summer.

Washington escapes Maples with a 62-61 win over the Cardinal

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Photo credit: @StanfordMBB

By: Eric Epstein

PALO ALTO, Calif. — The Stanford Cardinal fell to the Pac-12-leading Washington Huskies by 1 point on Sunday afternoon. KZ Okpala’s missed 3-point attempt as the buzzer sounded would have given Stanford the win had it been good, but with its miss, Washington walked away with a narrow victory.

Coming off a 3-point loss to Cal, yet still clinching the Pac-12 regular season title on Thursday, Washington was never able to fully pull ahead from Stanford and establish itself as the dominant team. In the first half, Stanford held a single-digit lead for the first seven minutes, until Washington took over and held a lead for all but a minute and a half of the remainder of the period. In the second half, Stanford managed to grab some brief leads throughout the first 15 minutes, but the scoreboard was still mostly controlled by Washington. However, down the stretch, the teams traded off buckets and experienced 4 lead changes—no margin higher than 3 points. 2 straight jumpers by sophomore Husky guard Jaylen Nowell in the final minute and a half of play proved to be too much for Stanford to come back from as they could only scrape together one basket in the rest of regulation.

Washington outscored Stanford 29-33 in a slow-paced first half that featured 17 total turnovers and a combined 29.8% shooting percentage from the field. Sophomores KZ Okpala and Oscar da Silva, as well as senior Josh Sharma, saw limited playing time in the first period as they all picked up 2 personal fouls.

Out of the 10 players that saw first-half time for the Cardinal, only 5 recorded points, and only 4 of those connected on any of their field goal attempts.

The teams played much cleaner basketball in the second half, shooting a combined 52% from the floor, including a remarkable 56% from downtown.

The Pac-12 leader in field goal percentage in Josh Sharma led the second half in total points with 10. He also pitched in 6 rebounds to finish with game-leading 16 points and 14 rebounds. Freshman guard Cormac Ryan caught on fire during the second half, shooting 3-4 from deep, finishing with 13 points. Da Silva was the third double-digit scorer for Stanford, totaling 15 points on 5-8 shooting along with 9 rebounds and 3 assists.

Overall, Stanford shot 40% from the field and after going 0-8 on threes in the first half, they shot 6-9 from deep in the second period to bring their percentage up to 35%.

Nowell, who finished with 13 points on 6-11 shooting, was the leading scorer for Washington. Disturbed by primary ball handler and point guard David Crisp’s assist-less effort, Washington did not pass the ball well at all and finished with only 7 points at 14 turnovers.

Like Washington, the Cardinal also dealt with passing and playmaking struggles. Stanford played the whole game without their starting point guard in sophomore Daejon Davis, who is still hurt from a foot injury that he suffered in Stanford’s last game against Washington State. The Cardinal greatly missed Davis’ playmaking abilities, as they tallied a terrible assist to turnover ratio at 10:19.

To round out their regular season and make one final push for Pac-12 tournament seeding, Stanford will host Cal on Thursday evening at Maples.

Stanford continues homestand against No. 25 Washington on Sunday afternoon

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Photo credit: @StanfordMBB

By: Ana Kieu

Stanford Cardinal men’s basketball lit up the scoreboard, got the conference win and snapped a two-game losing skid with a 98-50 rout of the Washington State Cougars inside Maples Pavilion Thursday evening. Moreover, it’s safe to say that the Cardinal clobbered the Cougars after suffering back-to-back defeats in the Grand Canyon State at the hands of the Arizona State Sun Devils and Arizona Wildcats on February 20th and February 24th.

In the win over WSU, Stanford (15-13, 8-8 Pac-12) was led by KZ Okpala, who scored 22 points.

“I made the right plays tonight,” Okpala said. “We were all locked in with each other. We came out and did what we had to do.”

Cormac Ryan hit four 3-pointers as well. This led to the Cardinal earning their chance to extend their winning streak against the Cougars to six games.

“I thought our energy level was off the charts,” Stanford head coach Jerod Haase said. “I loved our energy defensively.”

No. 25 Washington watched their three-game winning streak come to an end Thursday night as the Cardinal’s rival, the Cal Golden Bears, edged the road team 76-73 for the upset. Not only that, Cal finally snapped their 16-game losing skid, which was a great feeling for the players and coaches to say the very least. But as you might’ve guessed, this will likely be a challenge for Stanford, who has been rather wishy-washy this season. Stanford can put on a show or simply freeze into ice on the hardwood.

The Cardinal’s second to last home game at Maples will be against No. 25 Washington Sunday afternoon at 1:00 pm PST on the Pac-12 Network. Yes, Stanford has home court advantage, but there’s a reason or two on why Washington found its way back into the AP polls, so the Cardinal has to put on another spectacular performance to prove that they can, too, be a hot-shooting team.

I predict that the Cardinal will fall to No. 25 Washington 75-73. After all, No. 25 Washington likely wants to be crowned as Pac-12 Champions. All they need is one win in the Bay Area to do just that.

Stanford Cardinal podcast with Joey Friedman: Start to finish, Cardinal don’t let up WSU in 48-point blowout

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Photo credit: @Pac12Network

On the Stanford Cardinal podcast with Joey:

#1 From start to finish, the Stanford Cardinal (15-13) left little doubt about this game with the Washington State University Cougars (11-17) as the Cardinal won it by 48 points at Maples Pavilion Thursday night.

#2 KZ Okpala led the Cardinal with 22 points and was a key factor for the big margin win for the Cardinal.

#3 The Cardinal’s Isaac White and Cormac Ryan both finished second in scoring with 14 points they were finding their accuracy in this game.

#4 There was no mercy rule in this one Stanford head coach Jerod Haase milked it for all it’s worth getting all the offense he could out of the players.

#5 The Washington Huskies are up next Sunday at Maples and they are not a pushover, ranked 25th in the nation and first in the Pac-12. Will the Cardinal have their hands full or will they be able to hang with the Huskies?

Joey does the Cardinal podcasts each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com