Stanford looking to get back on track vs. Oregon State

Stanford was brimming with excitement when it lambasted then-No. 4 Arizona on the final day of 2023. That upset ended a stretch of five losses in seven games. Now the Cardinal will look to win for the third time in four games when they battle Oregon State on Thursday night in Pac-12 play at Corvallis, Ore.

Stanford (7-7, 2-2 Pac-12) followed its upset of Arizona with a 59-53 road win at UCLA. But the Cardinal stumbled Saturday, losing 93-79 at Southern California.

The Cardinal fell short despite Michael Jones scoring 23 points on 8-of-9 shooting from the floor and making all five of his 3-point attempts. Brandon Angel made all three of his while scoring 18 points.

Overall, Stanford was 13-for-22 from behind the arc. The Cardinal lead the Pac-12 by making 9.4 per game.

The game against Oregon State will be the Cardinal’s third straight on the road since Stanford delivered that 100-82 rout over Arizona. The Cardinal made a school-record 16 3-pointers (in just 25 attempts) during the upset.

“We knew we were able to accomplish a win like this,” freshman Andrej Stojakovic said after the win. “We had a couple games not go our way, but I think this one was finally the game to show that we are one of those teams and we can make a lot of noise in the Pac-12.”

Stanford has won three straight games against Oregon State and swept last season’s two meetings by an average of 22 points.

Oregon State (9-6, 1-3) is 9-1 at home with the lone blemish coming in a 69-62 loss to UCLA on Dec. 28.

The Beavers bounced back for an impressive 86-70 home win over USC before going 0-2 during last week’s road trip to Washington State and Washington. Oregon State lost both games by seven points — 65-58 to the Cougars on Jan. 4 and 79-72 to the Huskies on Jan. 6.

Jordan Pope averaged 24.5 points in the two games — including 29 against Washington — and has scored at least 20 in four of the past five. Pope averages a team-best 17.9 points per game.

Oregon State is hoping third-leading scorer Dexter Akanno (12.1) is recovered from a foot injury. Akanno missed the Washington State game and he came off the bench to play nine scoreless minutes on 0-of-5 shooting against Washington.

Beavers coach Wayne Tinkle believes his team’s mental approach will be pivotal as the Pac-12 season progresses.

“Teams will come at us, and we can’t be bullied,” Tinkle said. “We have to be ready for the mental and physical battles upon us.”

–Field Level Media

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