Pac-12 – Page 23 – Sports Radio Service

Trojans Upset Cardinal on Ogwumike’s Record Setting Night

Published on March 8, 2014March 11, 2014 by joelami1 Comment

By Joe Lami

For the first time ever the Stanford Cardinal will not be going to the Pac-12 Tournament championship game, as the USC Trojans defeated the Cardinal 72-68 in the semi-finals on Saturday night. Stanford the number one seed and the favorite to win the Pac-12 Championship, is now unsure of how their NCAA Tournament is going to look. If the Cardinal came out of the Pac-12 Tournament unscathed, they would have received an almost sure bid to a number one seed in their host west region.

The first half ended with the score tied at 32. Stanford dominated the paint in the first half, with 18 points. However, the Trojans led the first with points off of turnovers, bench points and 2^nd chance points.

Coming out of the half, the Trojans jumped on the Cardinal early, going on a 14-4 run in the first 5:30. Stanford would be able to crawl back slowly, and would eventually take the lead back with 6:46 remaining. The Cardinal would push the lead to three, at 60-57 with 5:06 to go and be able to hold it for a couple of minutes. However, the Trojans would once again march back, much in part to Cassie Harberts’ ten straight points. This would get the USC lead to as high as seven before the Cardinal would find another bucket with 61 seconds to go.

The Cardinal pressed in the final minute to get the deficit as low as two, but the Trojans would be good enough at the foul line to be able to ice the game away and advance to the Pac-12 Championship game, where they will face the Oregon State Beavers.

Chiney Ogwumike led the way for the Cardinal with 30 points and 21 rebounds. The 30 points ties her with Stanford Alum, Candice Wiggins as the all-time Pac-12 scorer with 2,629. Unfortunately for Ogwumike, she scored career point 2,629 with over seven minutes remaining in the game, and couldn’t find another to break the record in game where every point mattered.

Stanford had an awful day from the field, finishing the game at just 32%. Lili Thompson finished with 13 points, going 4 of 11 shooting. Amber Orrange was the only other double digit scorer for the Cardinal, as she finished the night with 11 points and 3 of 11 shooting. Mikaela Ruef was held scoreless for the first time in recent memory, as the fifth year senior went 0 for 8 from the field, but she did bring down five rebounds. Taylor Greenfield was the only Stanford player to come off of the bench and contribute points, as she finished the game with five.

The Trojans didn’t shoot that much better, as they finished the game shooting just 39%. USC also saw three different players get into double digits. Alexyz Vaioletama led the way with 19 points. She also contributed 15 rebounds, with five of them coming on the offensive side of the glass. Guard, Ariya Cook, finished the game with 15 points. Game MVP, Cassie Harberts only had 13 points, but ten of them came at the most opportune time, as she scored ten straight with under three minutes to go to give the Trojan’s a lead good enough to win the game.

The win for the Trojans gets them that much closer into the NCAA tournament, as ESPN’s Charlie Creme has the ladies of USC on his first four teams out of the tournament. However, with this win it might just be enough to break the bubble and earn a bid. That is if they don’t receive the automatic bid on Sunday afternoon by winning the Pac-12 Tournament. Oregon State, their opponent on Sunday is looked at as already in the NCAA Tournament according to Creme.

Number four-ranked Stanford has their record drop to 29-3, and now they are a little unsure on how they will be entering the NCAA Tournament. Some questions arise, is Stanford still a number one seed? Does Stanford still deserve to be in the west region, their host region? Only time will tell what the selection committee decides, but for now we sit back and prepare for another great day of Championship basketball on Sunday.

Stanford Snaps Losing Skid in Dramatic Fashion Over Utah, Ends Pac-12 Play on High Note

Published on March 8, 2014 by Matthew HarringtonLeave a comment

By Matthew Harrington

STANFORD, Calif. – With the overflowing talent on display on a nightly basis in the Pac-12, it’s only fitting that it took Stanford literally until the last tenths of a second of conference play to better understand its Pac-12 tournament placement. While the conference tourney picture got a little clearer, it’s still about as blurry as a Monet masterpiece from ten feet out. As for the Cardinal odds for making its first NCAA tournament appearance under coach Johnny Dawkins in six seasons, those are as crystal clear as the scrambled channels on the higher ends of your TV guide.

With a 61-60 win over visiting Utah (20-10, 9-9 Pac-12) Saturday afternoon at Maples Pavilion, the Stanford Cardinal broke a tie in the standings with their guests in a game with must-win implications. Also entering play with an identical 9-8 conference record were Oregon and Cal, a four-way tie for fifth in the Pac-12 standings. With Arizona State and Colorado boasting 10-7 entering Saturday, the Cardinal (19-11, 10-8 Pac-12) could secure a first-round bye in Las Vegas if Colorado, Oregon and Oregon State come away with wins in their regular-season finales. They could finish as high as tied for third, or as low as fifth depending on the rest of the weekend’s action.

“I know it’s important to finish at over .500 in conference,” said Dawkins after the game. “We’re in one of the best conferences in America. To finish over .500 should give you an opportunity to see what happens. That’s out of our hands. We just need to keep winning games.”

Stanford opened the morning with a heartfelt pregame ceremony honoring the senior stalwarts, players like all-time Cardinal blocks leader Josh Huestis and Dwight Powell, but after 40 minutes of basketball it was a junior, Chasson Randle, being lauded for his play while weathering the maelstrom of emotion.

“It’s a little emotional because of what the game meant and also because it’s Senior Day,” said Dawkins. “There’s a lot of family here. Senior Day is always interesting because of all the emotion. Our guys remained focus, stepped up and helped, the Chasson Randles, the Marcus Allens. I thought those guys really stepped up and helped the seniors.”

After an eye-popping 24-point night Wednesday in a loss to Colorado, Randle dropped 22 points over 39 minutes of play against the Utes, snapping Stanford’s season-high three-game losing streak to wrap up the last home game of the regular season.

“Chasson’s played terrific for us,” said Dawkins. “He’s doing everything for us. He scores. He makes guys better on our team based on how he goes out there and approaches it. I love coaching him. I’m proud of him because of the bounce back he had from last year. It says a lot about him, about his character, about who he is.

NBA draft hopeful Dwight Powell found himself in foul trouble for the second-straight game in a row, playing only 26 minutes Saturday after the forward saw action in only 24 Wednesday. He managed seven points on 3-of-8 shooting to accompany five rebounds. Stefan Nastic owned the paint in his absence, going 6-for-6 from the field to finish with 14 points. Guard Brandon Taylor led the Runnin’ Utes charge with 14 points, while fellow guard Delon Wright and center Dallin Bachynski notched 12 and 10 respectively.

Despite hitting over 55.6 percent of shots in the first half, Utah found itself trailing the Cardinal 33-25. Stanford made 14 shots on 31 attempts, only four fewer makes than Utah’s 18 attempts in the first. The Cardinal never trailed over the first 20 minutes of play, scoring on a Powell jumper 34 seconds in to take the 2-0 lead. Stanford outscored the Utes 27-16 over the first 14-plus minutes of play for the largest lead of the afternoon, but Utah finished the half with a 9-6 run to head into intermission trailing 33-25.

The Utes opened the second half with back-to-back field goals, including a Jordan Loveridge three, to cut the Cardinal lead to 33-30 just 1:05 in. It would be over ten minutes before either side made consecutive attempts from the floor after going nearly shot-for-shot when Nastic and Randle finally dropped consecutive jumpers to bolster Stanford’s edge 52-43. Nastic then took a Randle feed to the rim for a 11-point gap with 7:51 left in regulation.

“It was frustrating,” said Nastic. “We knew we had to come out with a higher energy level but for whatever reason, there were plays were weren’t making that the other team was making. It was very frustrating but we’ve been through a lot this season sticking together. We really tried to seize the opportunity at hand.”

Persistent Utah refused to yield with Wright and Taylor hitting shots from beyond the arc then Jeremy Olsen laid one up to cut the deficit to three points for the second time in the half. Randle made a pair from the stripe after Bachynski fouled the guard, but Olsen hit a jumper with 4:34 left in the half to make it 56-53. Nastic would hit one of two shots after Olsen fouled him on the floor with Stanford in the Bonus but Taylor ’s shot from downtown at the other end put Utah within one, the closest Utah disadvantage up to that point. Bachynski then hammered home the Utes first lead of the day, 58-56, with a heavy dunk after an offensive board 2:40 from a win.

Huestis responded at the other end with a three to put the Cardinal up by two with 180 seconds remaining before Bachynski hit a pair of free throws to knot the game at 60 just 55 seconds from the final buzzer. Powell drew a foul with 36 seconds remaining and hit one of two freebies, the eventual game-winner, for a 61-60 edge. In total, Stanford hit only four of ten free throws over the closing five minutes.

“Utah is a very good basketball team,” said Dawkins. “They’ve been on the road, they’ve won six out of their last eight games. We knew it was going to be a tough game, we knew it was going to come down to the wire. Defensively, we got the stops that we needed. It offset some of the free throws we missed. Our guys didn’t hang their heads.”

With the shot and game clock down to one second, Brandon Taylor turned the ball over on a traveling call, seemingly icing the game for Stanford. Powell couldn’t find a way to inbound the ball, turning it over with .8 seconds of play, breathing new life into the Utes comeback bid. They would fail to get the ball back in play for a desperation heave, firing the inbound pass into two Stanford players’ grasp as time expired.

Dawkins predicted this game would be close, but even he had no clue how slim the margin of victory would be when he gathered his team at center court Friday to address some of his players for the last time on Stanford’s home floor.

“We stood at center court yesterday with the seniors,” said Dawkins. “I said ‘You know what, the game is about finding a way, finding a way to win, whatever it takes. All through your lives, you guys have worked hard. You worked hard to get into Stanford academically. You worked hard to play at this level in the Pac-12. It feels good because you were able to do something hard. The things you appreciate most as a player, as a coach, as a human being are the things where you had to fight and to struggle to make something work.’ It’s only fitting to win that way tonight.”

For now, Stanford will be scoreboard-watching as it waits to see who will try their luck against in the Cardinal in Las Vegas this Wednesday, or potentially Thursday if the cards fall just right for a first-round Stanford bye. With eyes on an uncertain bid for March Madness, Dawkins’ squad will look to leave the desert the big winners in the bracketology jackpot. Count Coach among the rare few not looking at the big board with bated breath.

Quipped Dawkins, “I may be the only person in the world, but I promise you, I’m not paying attention to it”.

Ogwumike Makes History in Stanford Win

Published on January 4, 2014January 4, 2014 by joelamiLeave a comment

Stanford players celebrate after a score during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Oregon, Friday, Jan. 3, 2014, in Stanford, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

By: Joe Lami

Friday night marked the first game of the Pac-12 season for the Stanford Cardinal, and it was one to remember for Chiney Ogwumike. Ogwumike became the all-time Stanford and Pac-12 rebound leader, as she surpassed Kayla Pederson with career rebound 1,267.

The Senior All-American was quite humble afterwards as she said “Records are great headlines, but I’m more excited about Bonnie (Samuelson) going 6 of 9 from three, Amber with eight assists and the contribution of the Freshman.” Samuelson added that it makes things a lot easier when you have the best player in the country on your team, and Ogwumike smirked and rolled her eyes in a joking sort of way.

Even though that there was a major record that was broken on Friday, there was still a game of basketball that was played, and a great one as the Oregon Ducks came into town. Oregon came into the contest with a record of 9-2, with losses to Sacramento State and number one Connecticut. Oregon was riding a seven-game winning streak and was ranked number one in the country in points scored per game, averaging over 105.

Stanford had put a stop to this holding the Ducks to 66 points, in what head coach, Paul Westhead, called “a joke” in the 96-66 Stanford win.

Stanford played all-around great defense, as it was something that Tara VanDerveer praised about all of the game. The key was holding, Chrisae Rowe, a freshman guard averaging nearly 25 points per game to only 11. “They tagged Rowe really well, that’s one of Stanford’s strengths” said Westhead.

The Cardinal were of course led by Ogwumike who scored 33, and had 14 rebounds. Bonnie Samuelson hit a career high 21 points, 18 of them came from beyond the arc, as she was lights out. Production was great for the Cardinal, as all but three players that saw playing time scored. Mikaela Ruef was strong once again, with eight points, nine rebounds, four assists, and two steals. Freshman, Karlie Samuelson played 13 minutes, scoring three on a three-pointer and she had one assist that came on a three made by her sister.

Stanford was lights out from beyond the arc as well, as they shot 50%, 12 of 24, “something that I’d take any night” said VanDerveer. The first half was even more impressive, as it seemed like they couldn’t miss going 9 of 16 from downtown. With the three starting to fall for the Cardinal, it relieved pressure off of Ogwumike and allowed her to work inside.

Oregon was held to their lowest scoring total of the season with 66. Leading the way for them was Jillian Alleyne, the second highest scorer on the team going into the night. Alleyne scored 26, and “took the most over her opportunities, as she was open down low, after we guarded the 3-point line” said VanDerveer. Alleyne also finished the double-double adding 13 rebounds. Starters, Ariel Thompson and Rowe both had 11.

The Ducks fall to 9-3, with a 0-1 record in Pac-12 play. Oregon next travels to Berkley, to take on the number 23 ranked Bears Sunday to finish off their first weekend of Pac-12 play. The Bears won their opening game on Friday as well, which should make traveling through the Bay Area a tough trip this season.

“It was a good first game for our team to start off Pac-12 play” said VanDerveer, as the Cardinal improve their record to 12-1 and their conference record to 1-0. The other team from Oregon is up next for Stanford, as the Oregon State Beavers take on the Cardinal on Sunday at Maples. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.

Who Will Be Going to the Rose Bowl?

Published on December 6, 2013 by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

by Jerry Feitelberg

Who will Represent the Pac-12 in the Rose Bowl?

The championship of the Pac-12 will be decided Saturday afternoon at 4:45pm. The game will be played at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona, the home of Arizona State University. Both the Cardinal and the Sun Devils have identical season records of 10-2. ASU , even though they lost to Stanford in the third game of the season had the better record in conference play and thereby gained the right to host the Pac-12 championship game.ASU’s was 8-1 in conference play and their only loss came at the hands of Stanford. Stanford, on the other hand had a 7-2 record and both losses came on the road. The Cardinal fell to Utah and USC.

Should be an interesting game. Stanford really creamed ASU earlier in the season by a score of 42-28 and the game wasn’t really that close. Stanford controlled every facet of the game before ASU scored three touchdowns late in the fourth quarter when the game was well in hand.. ASU coach Todd Graham “apologized to the players for not having them ready.” Rest assure that Coach Graham will have his troops ready for Saturday’s game. It will be a home game and the fans will be the 12th man on the field for the Sun Devils.

ASU’s offense is led by Taylor Kelly. In he first game against Stanford, Kelly threw for 367 yards and three touchdowns. Jaelen Strong caught 12 passes for 168 yards. Notre Dame and Stanford beat ASU early in the season and the Sun Devils have been on a roll having won seven straight games.

Stanford will be led by quarterback Kevin Hogan as well as running backs Tyler Gaffney and Anthony Wilkerson. TY Montgomery is the ace of the receiving corps. The Cardinal’s defense has been outstanding all season long. They shut down three top quarterbacks so far this season. The Qbs at UCLA,Oregon State and Oregon all know what the Stanford defense can do. So it’s up the front three

and the great linebackers, Shayne Skov, Trent Murphy and A.J.Tarpley plus the outstanding corners

and safeties, especially Ed Reynolds to shut down the ASU offense.

The Cardinal players had a great time last year at the Rose Bowl. They want to go back again and

Coach David Shaw will have his troops ready for the game. Should be a war out there Saturday. Don’t miss it.

Stanford beats Houston in Brooklyn

Published on November 25, 2013 by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

by Jerry Feitelberg

Stanford beats Houston in Brooklyn

The Stanford Cardinal traveled all the way across the country to meet the Houston Cougars in the second round of the Progressive Legends semi-final game of the tournament in Brooklyn at the Barclay Center. The winner of the game will meet the University of Pittsburgh for the title Tuesday night. Prior to the game, Stanford Head Coach Johnny Dawkins said that he is “happy the way way we run the offense” and that Houston is “ a well-coached team and that they they use a lot of multiple defenses.” The first half of the game was

even after 20 minutes of play but the Cardinal owned the second half and beat Houston 86-76.

The play in the first half was very fast but scoring was at a premium. Houston had a two point lead with 10:30 left in the half but both teams started to score in the second half of the first period.

Houston went on a 15-4 run to take a 28-19 lead but the Cardinal came back with a 9-0 run of their own and the score was at 32 at the end of the first half. Anthony Brown was the scoring leader for Stanford with 11 points and Houston’s TaShawn Thomas put in 10 for the Cougars and had 11 rebounds.

Houston scored 13 points on turnovers while the best Stanford could get was just 3 on Houston mistakes.

Stanford came to life in the second half. Led by Dwight Powell, Anthony Brown and Stefan Nastic, The Cardinal was able to take a 10 point lead with7:50 left to play in the game. Houston went to an full court press but Stanford met the challenge. Houston did creep to within seven as Stanford was in foul trouble early in the second half. Houston made eleven free throws in a row to get back in the game but Anthony Brown made a big bucket with just 1:56 left in the game. Houston kept fouling Stanford but it was not enough as the Cardinal won the game 86-76.

Game notes- Stanford is now 5-1 for the season while Houston ,with the loss, drops to 5-1.

Stanford Forward, Josh Huestis, also had a strong game for the Cardinal as he was in double digits in scoring and rebounding. Huestis is also the front runner for Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year., Huestis is averaging 11.2 and 7.8 rebounds per game and is hoping to be the first Cardinal to average a double-double- since Curtis Borchard in 2001-2002.

It was the fourth meeting ever between the two teams and with the win Stanford and Houston each have two wins.

Stanford Rolls Over Texas Southern

Published on November 21, 2013November 22, 2013 by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

by Jerry Feitelberg

Stanford rolls over Texas Southern

The Stanford Cardinal won their fourth game of the year to start the Progressive Legends Classic by beating the Texas Southern Tigers by a score of 97-71. The game was close for the first half but the Cardinal blew the Tigers away in the second half. Below is a summary of the format of the Legends Tournament and the game.

Progressive Legends Classic Format
Stanford is participating in the seventh annual Progressive Legends Classic, which gets underway with Stanford, Houston, Pittsburgh and Texas Tech hosting regional round games this week. The eight-team event, which also includes Howard, Lehigh, South Dakota State and Texas Southern, will be aired on the ESPN family of networks and wraps up next week with the championship rounds at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. Following Thursday’s meeting against Texas Southern, Stanford will face Houston (Mon., Nov. 26) and either Pittsburgh or Texas Tech (Tue., Nov. 27) at the Barclays Center. The Cardinal will then host South Dakota State (Sun., Dec. 1) at Maples Pavilion in a regional round contest.

The Stanford Cardinal played the visiting Tigers of Texas Southern University Thursday night at Maples Pavilion. Texas Southern is located in Houston and has about 10,000 undergraduates. The Tigers came into the game with a record of 2 wins against 3 losses and all three losses have been on the road.

Stanford,looking to improve to 4-1 for the season, played a very fast uptempo first half against Texas Southern. The Tigers are led by their 6ft 10 inch center Aaric Murray who is averaging over 20 points per game. The Cardinal took a 51-44 lead at halftime. Anthony Brown led the Cardinal with 15 points

and he had great support from Josh Huestis, Dwight Powell and Aaron Bright. Bright,Powell and Huestis all had 9 points each. The Tigers were led by Murray and Jose Rodriguez. These two accounted for 28 points. Stanford shot 51.4% from the floor with Texas Southern shot just 40%. Rebounds were even at 20 apiece.

In the second half, Stanford’s defense shut down the Tiger offense. Stanford pulled away to lead by 26 points with 8 minutes left in the half. The Tigers’ Aaric Murray and Jose Rodriguez were held to just 8 points total between them up to this point. The Cardinal offense was led by Anthony Brown and the Cardinal had four other players in double figures. Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins pulled all his key players with about five minutes left in the game but TSU could not mount a charge and they lost their fourth straight game. TSU’s Aaric Murray had 28 points in a losing effort and Jose Rodriguez added 24 for the Tigers.

Second game of the Classic will be Monday night against the University of Houston.

Stanford beats Northwestern

Published on November 14, 2013 by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

by Jerry Feitelberg

The Stanford Cardinal rebounded form the trouncing they took Monday night at the hands of Brigham Young University. The BYU Cougars shredded the Stanford defense and the Cardinal was looking to turn things around Thursday night at Maples Pavilion. The Cardinal did just that as they played a very stout defense and they beat the Northwestern Wildcats 71-58. The Cardinal improved to 2-1 for the season and Northwestern, coached by first year head coach Chris Collins, dropped to 1-1. Collins is the son of former NBA star Doug Collins.

The first half was very close. The half ended with Stanford holding a slim two point lead 29-27.

The Cardinal was paced by center Stefan Nastic who had eight points and Chasson Randle added seven and forward Josh Huestis pitched in with five. The Wildcats were led by Drew Crawford who had thirteen points and four rebounds. Stanford’s Dwight Powell committed two personal fouls early in the first half and was on the bench for the rest of the period.

The second half belonged to Stanford. The Cardinal went on a 6-0 run to take a 41-32 lead with 12:46 left to play. Stanford kept increasing the lead as their defense shut down Northwestern. The Cardinal

continued to play well and had a seventeen point lead halfway through the second half. Northwestern made a run and closed the gap to nine but Stanford put on the pressure and coasted to a 71-58 victory.

The star of the game was Josh Heustis. Heustis, a senior from Great Fall, Montana, scored eighteen points. Anthony Brown had twelve, Stefan Nastic added eleven, while Chasson Randle, who had thirty-three Monday against BYU, was held to fourteen and Dwight Powell, who had twenty-eight Monday,

scored just eight points. JerShon Cobb and Drew Crawford were the stars for Northwestern.

Notes- Stanford plays its first road game of the year Sunday night when the meet Denver University

in Denver. The next home game is next Thursday when they face Texas Southern at 7pm at Maples Pavilion.

Stanford vs USC Preview

Published on November 14, 2013 by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

by Jerry Feitelberg

Stanford vs USC Preview

The Stanford Cardinal, coming off an impressive win against previously unbeaten Oregon last week, travel to Los Angeles to face the rejuvenated Trojans of the University of Southern California.

The Trojans had a turbulent start to the season going 3-2 under Lane Kiffin. The Trojans felt they

had enough of Kiffin and fired him in September. Firings usual come at the end of season and

SC must have had it up to their ears with Kiffin to make such a drastic move. This was not Kiffin’s first mid-season firing as the Oakland Raiders dismissed him a few years when the late Al Davis pulled the rug from under him as Raider head coach.

Stanford (8-1)will be looking to beat USC (7-3) for the fifth consecutive time Saturday night.

Stanford coach David Shaw said “ I think we are at that point in the season no where we cannot afford to go up and down. It’s November, and there’s only one way you can play in November and that’s all-out.”

The Trojans appointed Ed Orgeron as the interim head coach and the Trojans have won three in a row and four out of the five. USC creamed Cal last week 62-28 and have their rushing game going as they have 498 yards rushing in the last two games and 988 total yards in those two games.

Cody Kessler is the Trojan quarterback and he sparked the Trojans during the winning streak by completing 74.3 % of his passes for 9.24 yards per attempt with four touchdowns and one interception.

The running game is led by sophomore tailback Javorius “Buck” Allen who has gained 268 yard in 22 caries in the wins over Oregon State and Cal. Other players on the USC team to keep an eye on are

Nelson Aghlor who has returned two punts for touchdowns and Josh Shaw who blocked a punt and returned it 14 yards for the score.

The Cardinal defense stopped the Oregon running game cold last week and will have to do the same against the Trojans. Shayne Skov had eleven tackles for the Cardinal last week and did a tremendous job. Trent Murphy and A.J.Tarpley have been stellar for the Cardinal at linebacker and Henry Anderson’s return at defensive end has been a big boost for the Cardinal. Free safety Ed Reynolds has been named a semi-finalist for the 10th annual Lott IMPACT award for defensive players.

In the last three games the Stanford defense has shut down three very good quarterbacks. The stopped UCLA’s Brett Hundley, Oregon State’s Sean Mannion and Oregon’s Marcus Mariota.

The offense has done its job,too. The offense is led by quarterback Kevin Hogan who went 18 for 25 and 227 against UCLA but threw only 31 total passes in the games against Oregon State and Oregon.

The reason for that that was Tyler Gaffney’s impressive performance. Gaffney has rushed for 1043 yards so far and is third in the Pac-12. He averages 4.9 yards per carry and has 14 touchdowns to his credit. Gaffney has scored seven times in the past four games and set a team record 45 carries good for 157 yards in the win against Oregon.

There’s a lot at stake for the Cardinal. A win will keep them in contention for a BCS berth. USC wants

to snap the four game losing streak against the Cardinal and will be going all out to achieve that end.

Should be a great game. Don’t miss it.

BYU outruns Stanford lose 112-103

Published on November 11, 2013November 11, 2013 by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

by Jerry Feitelberg

The Stanford Cardinal met the Cougars of Brigham Young University Tuesday night at Maples Pavilion. The Cardinal the Bucknell Bisons last Friday night to start the season 1-0. BYU also got off to a good start defeating Weber State for their first win of the season. BYU is coached by Dave Rose.

Rose is in his ninth season and has an outstanding record of 209-66. BYU players to keep an eye on are Tyler Haws, Kyle Collinsworth and Matt Carlino. Haws scored 28 points and hauled down 13 rebounds in the game against Weber State. Colloinsworth had 11 points and 10 rebounds while Carlino notched 22 points in the win. This is BYU’s first visit to Stanford since 1969.

BYU outran the Stanford Cardinal by a score of 112-103. Reminded me of the Boston Celtics of the ’60s or the Los Angeles Lakers of the ’80s as both teams raced up and down the court. Stanford was

led by Chasson Randle and Dwight Powell. Randle knocked down thirty-three points while Powell added twenty-eight. The Cougars were led by Matt Carlino, who had twenty-six, Tyler Haws’ had thirty-one and had three other players in double digits.

The pace of the game was very uptempo from the start. The Cougars held a slim 15-13

lead with under five minutes played in the half. Matt Carlino had seven points for BYU and the Cardinal’s Chasson Randle also had seven. Both teams continued their fast and furious play but BYU took the lead at the 5 minute mark and the Cardinal could not catch up. BYU had a ten point led with 3:35 left as they went on a 7-0 run. Both teams roared up and down the court but BYU, behind a very large and loud contingent of supporters, finished the first half with an eight point lead 54-46. BYU was led by Kyle Collinsworth who had twelve points and four rebounds. Matt Carlino added seven more while Tyler Haws also added nine for the Cougars. Stanford was led by Chasson Randle and Dwight Powell. Randle had sixteen points and Powell chipped in with twelve.

Both teams played well in the second but BYU pulled away to build a seventeen point lead with 10:45

left in the game. The Cougars have played better defense, run the court faster and out-hustled the Stanford five so far in the second half and now lead 88-70 with 7:20 left in the game. The Cardinal

did not give up and they cut the deficit to ten points but there is just left 2:51 left in the game and it will take a miracle for Stanford to pull out the victory. BYU was just too tough and the Cardinal took it on the chin. Final score 112-103.

Stanford’s next game is Thursday night November 14th at 8pm at Maples Pavilion against Northwestern University.

Johnny Dawkins

Published on November 8, 2013 by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

by Jerry Feitelberg

Stanford’s Johnny Dawkins

Well fans, another college basketball season is upon us. The goal of every team in the Pac-12 and Division I is to make it to the NCAA tournament in March. Everyone knows that there is nothing like “March Madness.” 65 or 66 teams make it to the tournament and fans love to see if their team can advance to the Sweet Sixteen round and then the Elite Eight and , hopefully, to the Final Four.

Other teams that don’t make the NCAAs may be invited to the NIT but it’s not the same as the NCAA

Tournament.

The head basketball coach of the Stanford Cardinal is Johnny Dawkins. Dawkins is starting his sixth season as head man of the basketball program. Johnny is in charge of the program and he is determined to win it all this year. What do we know about Johnny. We know that Johnny had a great college career and played 9 years in the NBA. Where did Johnny get his start? Let’s take a look at his basketball history and what has he done with the Stanford program? Johnny is a native of Washington, DC and went to Duke University to play basketball. At Duke, Johnny was part of three NCAA tournament teams and was captain of the Blue Devils his senior year. Johnny also set many records while at Duke. Dawkins then played nine seasons in the NBA with the San Antonio Spurs,

Philadelphia 76’ers and Detroit Pistons. When Johnny retired form NBA play, Duke University retired his number and he was inducted into the Duke Sports Hall of Fame in 1996.

Since being Stanford’s head coach , Johnny’s team are 94-74 and were NIT Champions in the 2011-2012 season. Johnny’s team this year enters the season with high expectations as they have all their starters returning except for one. Aaron Bright, Chasson Randle, Dwight Powell and Josh Huestis

are all veterans and they will be ably supported by center Stefan Nastic, forward Anthony Brown Robbie Lemons, and freshman Grant Verhoeven. Also in the mix will be senior John Gage who has made so many critical three pointers over his college career.

The Cardinal opened the season Friday night against Bucknell. Let’s hope that Stanford will go all the way to the Final Fours and then see what happens then.