Photo: @StanfordMBB
By Alexandra Evans
PALO ALTO–With eight days remaining until the regular season, the Stanford Cardinal men’s basketball team commenced with an exhibition match against the Chico State Wildcats on Thursday, November 2.
The Cardinal welcomes five new additions to the team this year:
Kezie Okpala of Los Angeles, CA (6’8”, 195 pounds)
Daejon Davis of Seattle, WA (6’3”, 175 pounds)
Isaac White of Adelaide, Australia (6’1”, 185 pounds)
Kodye Pugh of Baltimore, MD (6’8”, 205 pounds)
Oscar Da Silva of Munich, Germany (6’9”, 210 pounds)
The first half started off smoothly for the Cardinal as forward Reid Travis made a shot less than a minute in. Just before the 10 minute mark, the Wildcats trailed the Cardinal by 11 points.
Chico began to step up their game about 15 minutes into the first half; the Wildcats trailed the Cardinal by seven points. Keith Datu, a Chico forward, then made a three-pointer and the Wildcats were only down by four with 3:33 remaining.
The score was tied at 17:00 exactly, when Marcus Sheffield made both free throws after a foul just over 10 seconds later.
Just before the 18:00 mark, two Chico players tried to tip the ball from the rim into the hoop, but Stanford’s Josh Sharma got the defensive rebound, keeping the score tied.
Chico’s Nate Ambrosini shot a three pointer, giving the Wildcats a 33-31 lead.
The score was tied 35-35 at halftime, signifying a decline in Stanford’s defensive plays.
A slam dunk just under 30 seconds into the second half by Travis gave Stanford a 37-36 lead. Minimal, but a step in the right direction. Travis then made one free throw, one basket, and another free throw to give Stanford a 41-36 lead.
The first eight minutes of the second half were a scoring frenzy. Stanford kept the lead, though there were very few moments where Chico trailed by more than five points. Envision a lion (predator) chasing a gazelle (prey). Chico’s score represents the lion’s movement and Stanford’s score represents the gazelle’s. Over the course of these eight minutes, the lion got close enough to nip the gazelle’s tail off. After the eight minute mark, the gazelle uses every single ounce of energy in its system to outrun the lion, which it eventually escapes.
In sports terminology, Stanford kicked things into overdrive after the eight minute “no more than five points ahead” stint and stepped up their game substantially about nine minutes in. They brought the score to 63-48 in the blink of an eye. They eventually exceeded Chico by 23 points (86-63), Travis making a majority of the baskets. Stanford kept the lead, which never dropped below 10 points the entire last half of the second period.
The final score was 91-81.
Travis was, undoubtedly, the stars of the game. He and fellow Marcus Sheffield sat down with the media after the match.
“I like the way we attacked,” Travis said. “I felt that on offense we tried to do the right thing as far as getting to the paint, getting to the buckets. I did not like the way we did not distribute that in the first half. That was a big emphasis on the offseason.”
“I think it just clicked for us,” Sheffield said of the eventual 23-point lead. “We had a few guys step up and play hard, get a few stops, and we were able to run out and get some easy baskets.”
Head Coach Jerod Haase then stepped into the conference room.
“I like the way the guys responded in the variety of times that I challenged them,” Haase remarked. “Competing on the defensive end, sharing the basketball on the offensive end, they responded to the things I said, I liked that. Defensively, there were certainly a lot of teachable moments out there. The energy was not consistent. Chico State has good defense, we weren’t ready for it. It is definitely something we can work on.”
Expected growing pains are present among the team, especially with a number of rookies and with a few absences, such as Cameron Walker who is dealing with injuries off the court. However, if the team continues to work in tandem as they had in the second half, the season should progress smoothly.
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