DA SILVA DELIVERS CARDINAL AT HORN
Stanford knocks off No. 24 UCLA in OT despite missing three key players
SANTA CRUZ >> It was such an amazing finish that even the cardboard cutouts of fans nearly stormed the court.
Oscar da Silva scored on a layup off of an inbound pass from Michael O’Connell as the buzzer sounded, and the Stanford men’s basketball team improved to 5-0 at Kaiser Permanente Arena with its 73-72 overtime win over No. 24 UCLA on Saturday.
Stanford (9-5, 5-3 Pac-12) inbounded the ball with 0.8 on the clock. The final basket was reviewed by officials and signaled good, cueing the Cardinal, who flooded out of their chairs to celebrate, to roar with enthusiasm. Da Silva finished with a teamhigh 26 points.
“I gotta score,” da Silva said of his first buzzer-beating basket ever. “Initially I was supposed to get a lob, maybe drop back and shoot a 3, but I saw a space under the basket open up and I tried to unload it as quickly as I could.” He did and it was good.
Tyger Campbell, the shortest player on the court at 5-foot-11, provided the biggest play of the game until da Silva’s heroics. Campbell gave the Bruins their first lead of overtime, 72-71, with his and-one layup with 5.5 seconds remaining.
UCLA’s Jalen Hill swatted the
ball from driving junior forward Jaiden Delaire out of bounds to set up the final play.
“Twenty-eight years ago today my father died,” Cardinal coach Jerod Haase said, “and the next day we played UCLA. I had a good game and we won. So this has always been an emotional day for me. But this was one of the most courageous performances of the year.
“The amount of pride I have for my team is off the charts. Even if we lost this game, it would be off the charts.”
UCLA dropped to 12-3, 8-1 with the loss.
The game was played in Santa Cruz due to COVID-19 restrictions in Santa Clara County. No fans were allowed to attend, though more than 100 Cardinal faithful purchased cardboard cutouts of themselves or their pets to be placed in chairs.
Haase said the Cardinal worked on pressure situation plays at practice Thursday, after their game with visiting USC was postponed due to the Trojans dealing with COVID-19 related issues. He was more than pleased with his team’s execution.
The same couldn’t be said by Bruins coach Mick Cronin.
“We win as a team, we lose as a team,” Cronin said. “It’s the same play they ran at the end of the half. The same guys were in that gave up the same layup at the end of the first half. At the end of the day, it’s the coaching staff’s job to make sure you’re prepared for something like that. That’s how I look at it.”
The teams were tied 27all at the half and 58-all at the end of regulation.
Delaire scored 19 points for the Cardinal and sophomore forward Spencer Jones added 13.
If ever there was a team
win, this was it. The Cardinal were without three of their top-five scorers — all starters. Daejon Davis (undisclosed), Ziaire Williams (uncle’s funeral) and Bryce Wills (knee) all sat out. No timeline has been set for their return, Haase said.
Junior forward Lukas Kisunas played a careerhigh 34 minutes and finished with nine points, seven rebounds and two assists for Stanford. O’Connell, a freshman guard, also started and had five points and five assists — none bigger than his final dish.
“He was a real extension of me on the floor today,” Haase said of O’Connell. “He led the team, he organized the team and he made some big shots. It was a fantastic performance.”
Stanford relied heavily on its feisty man-to-an defense, getting help in the post, and was patient in its half-court sets on offense, an effort to keep the ball out of the hands of the offensive-minded Bruins.
UCLA sophomore guard Johnny Juzang, a transfer from University of Kentucky, buried five of his team’s nine 3-pointers and finished with a game-high
27 points. Sophomore forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. scored 14 points for the Bruins and Campbell, a sophomore
guard, added 13.