After loss to Cal, road trip key for Cardinal
With its rocky start in Pac-12 play last season still fresh in its mind, Stanford knows it needs to win at least one of two games in Oregon on its first conference road trip.
The Cardinal (9-4 overall), who lost their Pac-12 opener to Cal at home last Thursday, hope to rebound against Oregon State (8-6, 0-2) in Corvallis on Thursday evening. Playing No. 17 Oregon (13-1, 1-1) in Eugene on Sunday afternoon figures to be a tougher test.
Last season, Stanford started 0-2 and 1-3 in conference play on its way to a 9-9 Pac-12 record. It dearly wants to avoid a repeat of that early struggle.
It won’t have sophomore forward Rosco Allen on this trip. After missing the first 11 games with a stress fracture, he played briefly in a win over Cal Poly on Dec. 29 but has had a setback and it’s not sure when he’ll be back, head coach Johnny Dawkins said.
Stanford is already without two starters from last season, guard Aaron Bright and forward Andy Brown, and backup guard Christian Sanders, all of whom are out for the season. Bright recently underwent shoulder surgery.
Stanford needed a much better showing on free throws and three-point shots against Cal, but both skills deserted the Cardinal. They were 10for-20 on foul shots and 4for-14 on treys. Beyond improving those numbers, Dawkins said, “it’s important that we show we can go on the road and compete in those environments.”
Guard Chasson Randle (18.4 ppg) and Dwight Powell (14.4) are the Cardinal’s leading offensive threats. Anthony Brown (13.5) is second in the Pac-12 in three-point shooting (54.3 percent) after missing last season with hip problems. He has also given the team a big lift defensively, Dawkins said.
Defense will be critical this week against two of the highest scorers in the conference: Oregon State’s Roberto Nelson (first at 21.1) and Oregon’s Joseph Young (third, 19.1).
Beavers head coach Craig Robinson calls Nelson “the most unselfish leading scorer that I’ve ever been around. I sometimes have to beg him to shoot the ball.”
Oregon State won six of its first eight games, including a 90-83 win at Maryland on Nov. 17, but lost its first two Pac-12 games to Colorado and Utah. Eric Moreland, a 6foot-10 forward who was the Pac-12’s second-leading rebounder last season, is trying to regain his form after serving a 12-game suspension for a violation of team rules.
Oregon is still trying to integrate its latest transfers, Young (from Houston), Mike Moser (UNLV) and Jason Calliste (Detroit). Point guard Dominic Artis, who played at Salesian-Richmond before completing his prep career in Nevada, was suspended along with forward Ben Carter for the Ducks’ first nine games for selling team apparel.