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LAS VEGAS — It’s March, which means great — or unexpected — basketball is brewing.
Already, the Pac-12 Tournament has seen No. 12 USC upset No. 5 Arizona State on a late-game run, and No. 10 Colorado beat No. 7 Oregon State to advance to the next round. In the final game of play in the opening round Wednesday, Stanford’s Chasson Randle hit a game-winning 3-pointer with three seconds left in the game to seal a 71-69 victory over the Washington Huskies.
March tends to bring out a wild atmosphere in tournament play, but the Runnin’ Utes are focused and ready for the challenge.
“I live for it. I can’t imagine any other place I’d rather be, nor a team I’d rather be coaching,” head coach Larry Krystkowiak said. “These guys have been locked in Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday — honestly they’ve been maybe three of our best practices.”
Krystkowiak said the great practices this week were due in part to a re-focused emphasis on effort following a disappointing loss on the road to Washington last Saturday and a simplifying of the execution needed to get a win.
“At this point, based on how we practiced this week, I’m glad we lost to Washington. It got everybody’s attention and hopefully we’ll be playing a lot better brand of ball than we have here recently,” Krystkowiak said. “The only way it becomes disastrous is if we don’t throw a good punch and do what we know we can control.”
At this point, based on how we practiced this week, I'm glad we lost to Washington. It got everybody's attention and hopefully we'll be playing a lot better brand of ball than we have here recently. The only way it becomes disastrous is if we don't throw a good punch and do what we know we can control.
–Larry Krystkowiak
“I think it’s perfect timing,” junior guard Brandon Taylor said. “Yeah, we didn’t end the season like we wanted to, but we still had a winning record; we finished third in the Pac-12 and we have a great opportunity to get to the championship here and take the whole thing back home.”
The Utah basketball team was in attendance for much of the Stanford-Washington game and are ready to get back into action against the Cardinal.
“This year I think we’re more prepared and we have a better team to go deep in the tournament,” senior guard Delon Wright said.
“We have to put more effort in, we have to play harder, we have to be more defensively sound, we have to be more uplifting, we have to be more focused,” Taylor said. “It’s not a lot of things that we do differently, it’s just the little things about how we approach the game differently.”
Stanford claimed the victory Wednesday, but it was a physical battle down to the end, which could have an impact on Thursday’s game against Utah. But Stanford head coach Johnny Dawkins said his team will not use the physical nature of play as an excuse for how they play against Utah on Thursday.
“We can't let fatigue be an excuse. We can't have any excuses,” Dawkins said. “What we need to do is focus on Utah. They're a very good team, terrific coach. They're having a fantastic season, and we need to prepare for them. And it's going to be a big challenge, and we need to make sure that we're ready.”
“I think their offense really complements what they do,” Dawkins added, speaking about Utah. “They're a very efficient basketball team on the floor. That's the thing I was most impressed with. We have to study tape and find ways to maybe disrupt some of the things they do. But they've done a very good job this year.”
Utah beat the Cardinal in convincing fashion earlier in the year, but Stanford has the playmakers to make it difficult on Utah in the second go-around. Stanford was lead by Stefan Nastic on Wednesday, scoring 21 points and five rebounds. It was the 27th time Nastic has scored in double-figures this season and is the fifth time he has scored more than 20 points.
Randle, too, can be an offensive threat, despite a shooting slump in the latter part of the season. Randle had 10 points in the win Wednesday. Stanford forward Anthony Brown had 16 points on 4-of-7 shooting from behind the arc Wednesday and has scored in double-figures 28 times this season.
“We respect Utah; they're a great program,” Nastic said. “And we want to learn from how we played in previous games to give us the best shot (Thursday).”
