Two teams feeling confident and looking for a key victory to gain traction in Pac-12 play meet Sunday night at Boulder, Colo.
Colorado (13-11, 5-8 Pac-12) is coming off a 59-46 win over Cal on Thursday in a win that didn’t look so sure at halftime before the Buffaloes clamped down defensively in the second half.
Stanford (10-12, 4-7) has revived its season with five consecutive victories and is coming off of an impressive 78-72 road win at Utah on Thursday.
After starting the season 0-7 in Pac-12 play, the Cardinal have earned four of their five victories during their winning streak during conference play.
“We do strive to play our best and there’s a fine line between playing loose and confident while competing,” Stanford head coach Jerod Haase said. “We do have a group of guys that have bought into the message and I do feel we’re trending up.”
Stanford has just one player averaging in double figures in scoring — Spencer Jones at 13.3 points per game — but has four other players averaging 7.1 points or more.
Colorado is led by two players whose combined average is nearly half of the team’s 70.2 points per game. Tristan da Silva (16.2 points) and KJ Simpson (16.0 points) are the key offensive contributors, and they came up big in the victory over Cal.
Da Silva scored 17 of his 20 points after halftime to spark the win.
“He’s playing high level basketball on offense and on defense,” Colorado head coach Tad Boyle said. “He’s kind of become that rock for us that we can count on night in and night out.”
The Buffaloes lost J’Vonne Hadley for the season with a right finger injury on Thursday. Boyle said Hadley will undergo surgery.
Hadley, the team’s leading rebounder (5.9) and third on the team in scoring (8.0 points), was injured just two minutes into the game and didn’t return.
–Field Level Media
