Unbeaten Stanford goes up against a 30-win team from a year ago when the Cardinal take on Grand Canyon in Palm Desert, Calif., on Tuesday night.
The Cardinal (6-0) recorded their most impressive victory of the season Saturday, rallying from 11 points down for a 71-69 triumph at Santa Clara.
Star center Maxime Raynaud has led the way this season for Stanford with six straight double-doubles, including a 32-point, 16-rebound effort on Saturday. He got plenty of support from Oziyah Sellers, who had 23 points, and Jaylen Blakes, who hit a game-winning shot in traffic with two seconds remaining.
Grand Canyon (3-2), which is located in Phoenix, has a slight edge over Stanford in terms of campus proximity to Palm Desert, but Raynaud promises he and his teammates won’t be fazed after what they experienced at Santa Clara.
“I personally love it,” he said. “I personally strive in this kind of environment. I really like when the crowd gets into it. I think the guys did an amazing job of resilience. I think we have really mature (players) that knew how to make the best of the situation, and we got the ‘dub’ in the end.”
Stanford and Grand Canyon have had two opponents in common this season. Both beat Norfolk State, but while the Cardinal handled visiting UC Davis 79-65 on Nov. 17, the Lopes were toppled on their home court by the Aggies 75-68 on Wednesday.
Grand Canyon, a second-round NCAA Tournament team that went 30-5 last season, rebounded with a 91-73 home win over Norfolk State on Friday. Ray Harrison led the turnaround with eight assists among the team’s school-record 31.
“All of us kind of felt embarrassed after the last loss,” Harrison said. “We just knew we wanted to play the right way. That’s really the only thing that changed — we played the right way.”
Also, Lopes center Duke Brennan made his season debut on Friday. The 6-foot-10 junior, who missed the first four games with an injured left arm, contributed 13 points and seven rebounds. He figures to go head-to-head with Raynaud.
–Field Level Media
