The No. 4 Arizona men’s basketball team faced Stanford University on Sunday, Dec. 31, at 2 p.m. in Maples Pavilion in California. Arizona was beaten by Stanford 100-82, suffering its third loss of the season. The Wildcats are coming off a dominant 100-81 win against the University of California, Berkeley on Friday, Dec. 29. Arizona currently still leads the all-time series record against the Cardinal, 70-34.
First half
Opening the game, Stanford forward Brandon Angel quickly scored putting them on the board. The Cardinal then went on a 7-0 run until Pelle Larsson stopped the scoring with a jumper, gaining Arizona’s first points. As the Wildcats crept up on the score with a dunk made by Keshad Johnson, the Cardinal would continue to answer back with their first 3-pointer of the night taken by Kanaan Carlyle keeping the lead 10-6. Arizona came within one point of the lead until Carlyle shot back to back 3-pointers, widening the now 28-21 score. Stanford took immediate control of the game as Caleb Love made a layup to try and cut the score to 35-26. In the last three minutes of the first half, Carlyle made another 3-pointer going 4-4 from beyond the arc to push Stanford’s lead to 13 as he also led the Cardinal with 13 first half points. Love went for a layup in the last few seconds to cut the lead to single digits marking the first half score at 44-35. Love led the Wildcats with eight first-quarter points as the offense seemed to be a struggle for Arizona.
Second half
Stanford took back its double-digit lead as the second half began with more shots from the 3-point line, this time from Spencer Jones pushing the 60-43 score. Arizona couldn’t get within reach to stop the constant offense Stanford put out as KJ Lewis put up a layup to chip away the growing 69-55 lead. Collectively, the Cardinal shot 16-25 from the 3-point line. Arizona was able to weather down the lead to 11 as Oumar Ballo made a layup but was quickly answered by Angel on the other end to extend the score 84-69. Within the last five minutes, Stanford was up to an 18-point lead as the crowd ignited with Carlyle adding to the fuel, drowning the 15th 3-pointer of the night. Arizona couldn’t get within reach to save the game as the score concluded 100-82. Love led the Wildcats with 23 points as Ballo finished as the second leading scorer with 12 points and seven rebounds. Carlyle led Stanford with 28 points and 8 rebounds as Jones was behind him scoring 21 points for the night. Notably, Andrej Stojakavic finished with 16 points and five rebounds for the Cardinal, showing off the team’s efforts together.
Looking ahead
Arizona will return home to face off against Colorado University on Thursday, Jan. 4, at 7:30 p.m. in the McKale Center to try and get back in the win column against the Buffaloes.
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