Longtime Pac-12 rivals will meet as non-conference foes when Stanford and No. 10 Oregon duel in the opener of the four-team San Jose Tip-Off men’s basketball event on Saturday night in California.
The doubleheader also features Cal dueling No. 23 San Diego State in the nightcap.
The opener brings together Stanford (9-2) and Oregon (10-1) for a game outside of league play for the first time since the 1967 Portland Far West Classic. The Ducks now are members of the Big Ten, with Stanford part of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The clubs met once last season, with Oregon venturing south and flying home with a 78-65 victory.
The Ducks will be playing a former Pac-12 opponent for the fourth time this season. They beat Oregon State 78-75 on the road in November, before splitting Big Ten contests against Southern California (68-60 road win) and UCLA (73-71 home loss) earlier this month.
Oregon has played just once since its lone loss, beating Stephen F. Austin 79-61 at home last Sunday in a game that included a scary moment involving key reserve Kwame Evans Jr.
Evans, who is averaging 5.5 points and 4.4 rebounds, had to be helped to the bench late in the game with an apparent knee injury. But coach Dana Altman reported this week there’s no structural damage, only the pain of a deep bruise.
Evans’ teammates breathed a sigh of relief when they got the news.
“KJ is like our quiet assassin,” Jadrian Tracey said. “His energy and his presence are big-time for us, especially on the defensive end. His length and his versatility, he has to guard one through five. … He’s doing a lot of things for us defensively.”
Oregon has built its lofty ranking on the strength of neutral-site wins. They won the Players Era Festival last month in Las Vegas, defeating Texas A&M, San Diego State and Alabama along the way.
Stanford will be facing a ranked team for the first time this season. The Cardinal lost the only time they met an opponent on a neutral court, falling 78-71 to Grand Canyon in Palm Springs, Calif., on Nov. 26.
The Cardinal will take a three-game winning streak into their final non-conference contest before jumping with both feet into Atlantic Coast Conference play. The run included an 89-81 win at Cal in each team’s ACC debut.
The match-up with Oregon gives Stanford star Maxime Raynaud an opportunity to close the book on a difficult rivalry he’s had with the Ducks over the years.
Raynaud, who leads the nation with nine double-doubles this season, has never had one in five previous games against Oregon. In fact, he’s averaged just 8.4 points and 5.6 rebounds in those contests, far from his averages this season of 21.5 points and 11.7 rebounds.
The senior said he looks forward to the challenge of an elite-level opponent as Stanford seeks a signature win.
“The one thing we lack is the finishing game,” Raynaud said, pointing to the team’s seven-point losses to Grand Canyon and Cal Poly. “Other than that, we have all the ingredients to be one of the top teams in our league.”
This time around, Raynaud will have to deal with fellow 7-footer Nathan Bittle, the Ducks’ leading scorer (14.3 points) and rebounder (8.5). Bittle, who missed last year’s head-to-head because of an injury, will be celebrating a homecoming of sorts after having played at Prolific Prep in Napa in San Francisco’s North Bay.
–Field Level Media
