Stanford’s challenging non-conference schedule will continue Tuesday night when the Cardinal host No. 17 San Diego State at Palo Alto, Calif.
The Cardinal (1-1) are looking to bounce back from a 60-50 loss to Wisconsin on Friday at American Family Field, home of Major League Baseball’s Milwaukee Brewers.
Forward Brandon Angel scored 14 points to lead Stanford, while guard Michael Jones added nine and forward Spencer Jones tallied eight points and four blocks. Stanford made just 1 of 16 3-point attempts in the unusual setting.
After hosting San Diego State, Stanford is headed to a Thanksgiving week tournament at Florida that includes a matchup against Ole Miss. The Cardinal also will face Texas at Dallas next month.
“The schedule’s extremely challenging,” Stanford coach Jerod Haase said. “We understand you need to be a big-time team to try and tackle it, but we want to be aggressive with it.
“We have big-time dreams and goals, and if you want to try to get to the top, you have to play really good teams.”
San Diego State qualifies in that category. The Aztecs improved to 2-0 with an 82-75 victory over BYU on Friday.
They were led by a pair of newcomers in TCU transfer Jaedon LeDee, who scored 23 points, while Seattle transfer Darrion Trammell added 21.
San Diego State was held to 40 percent shooting from the field and 4 of 14 (28.6 percent) from 3-point range, but the Aztecs forced 20 turnovers and took control down the stretch.
“I don’t know if it was poetry,” San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher said, “but it was hard-fought basketball. We continue to play hard, even though we don’t play great all the time. We just made enough plays to get a win.”
Stanford and San Diego State will meet for the first time since 1997, with the Cardinal winning all four of the teams’ previous matchups.
The Cardinal were picked to finish fifth in the Pac-12 and boast a veteran squad led by Michael Jones, who scored a career-high 31 points in an 88-78 win over Pacific last Monday.
Stanford is shooting 23.7 percent from beyond the arc through two games.
“I do think at the end of the day, we’re going to have a fantastic 3-point-shooting team, and we’ll be a very efficient offensive team,” Haase said. ”Obviously that wasn’t the case (against Wisconsin).”
Stanford forward Harrison Ingram, the reigning Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, was held to six points on 2-of-8 shooting vs. Wisconsin. The 6-foot-7 forward will need an improved effort against San Diego State’s imposing front line.
Aztecs forward Nathan Mensah received Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year honors last season and finished with 14 points, 10 rebounds, four steals and three blocks against BYU.
San Diego State’s deep roster also includes a player familiar to Stanford in senior guard Matt Bradley. The Cal transfer averaged 16.9 points and 5.4 rebounds while starting all 32 games for the Aztecs last season.
–Field Level Media
