Arizona men's basketball scouting report: No. 4 Wildcats at Stanford, 2 p.m. Sunday

No. 4 Arizona (10-2) at Stanford (5-6)

Maples Pavilion; Stanford, Calif. — 2 p.m. Sunday — Pac-12 Networks — 1290-AM, 107.5-FM

Probable starters

STANFORD

G Jared Bynum (5-10, Sr.)

G Michael Jones (6-5, Sr.)

F Maxime Raynaud (7-1, Jr.)

F Andrej Stojakovic (6-7, Fr.)

C Brandon Angel (6-8, Sr.)

ARIZONA

G Kylan Boswell (6-2, So.)

G Caleb Love (6-4, Sr.)

F Pelle Larsson (6-6, Sr.)

F Keshad Johnson (6-7, Sr.)

C Oumar Ballo (7-0, Sr.)

How they match up

The series: Arizona leads 72-32 overall but is just 4-3 in the last seven matchups since Stanford snapped the Wildcats’ 20-game win streak in the series during a COVID-season game at Santa Cruz, Calif., on Dec. 19, 2020. Stanford also beat the Wildcats at a fan-less McKale Center later that season while upsetting the Wildcats 73-64 last season, on Jan. 28 at Maples Pavilion. In that game, UA big men Azuolas Tubelis and Oumar Ballo combined to take just seven shots, while guard Courtney Ramey hit 8 of 16 3-pointers for the Wildcats.

This season: Stanford and Arizona are also scheduled to meet on Feb. 4 at McKale Center.

Stanford overview: The Cardinal have continued their head-scratching ways into Pac-12 play. A team loaded with size, depth and experience that went 5-5 in nonconference play against a mid-level schedule, the Cardinal lost to ASU at Maples Pavilion 76-73 on Friday. The Sun Devils had lost three straight games and trailed Stanford by 14 points but shot 55.9% in the second half to pull out the comeback win.

The Cardinal is reasonably efficient offensively, especially inside, ranking 26th nationally in 2-point shooting (56.3%) while ranking 98th in 3-point shooting (35.1%) though they don’t get to the line that often (ranking 338th nationally in the ratio of free throws taken to field goals taken). They set up 60.6% of their field goals with assists, and while they don’t crash the offensive glass, collecting missed shots only 23.1% of the time, Stanford ranks 65th nationally in defensive rebounding percentage (74.1%).

Despite its size, Stanford allows opponents to shoot 48.9% from 2-point range, and it ranks only 273th in block percentage (7.1) and just 313 in overall defensive turnover percentage (15.0).

Stanford received standout forward Spencer Jones back from an injury that kept him out for the previous two games, but Jones missed all five two-point shots he tried in a nine-point effort off the bench. Jones started six previous games while mostly playing at small forward, while the Cardinal started returnees Maxime Raynaud, Brandon Angel and Michael Jones against ASU along with Providence grad transfer Jared Bynum and highly touted freshman Andrej Stojakovic.

Bynum has taken over for the departed Michael O’Connell at point guard, averaging 6.7 assists to rank ninth nationally and also scoring an average of 9.0 points a game while hitting 19 of 21 free throws. At shooting guard, fifth-year veteran Michael Jones is the Cardinal’s most prolific 3-point shooter (5.2 attempts per game) and hits them at a 38.5% rate. Stojakovic, the son of former NBA all-star Peja Stojakovic, adds size and versatility to the wing, taking nearly half of his shots from 3-point range and hitting them at a 37.5% rate.

At power forward, Angel is by far Stanford’s most efficient scorer, shooting 62.3% overall, 42.1% from 3-point range and making 19 of 21 free throws. At center, Raynaud is a skilled, long and athletic big who continues to improve rapidly as a junior.

Key players

STANFORD — Maxime Raynaud

After improving dramatically as a sophomore last season, then helping lead France to a gold medal at the FIBA U20 European Championships by averaging 14.1 points and 5.1 rebounds, Raynaud has become Stanford’s go-to guy inside. The 7-foot junior shoots 63.1% from inside the arc and is a tenacious rebounder, grabbing opponents’ missed shots 27.2% of the time when he’s on the floor.

ARIZONA — Motiejus Krivas

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The Wildcats’ 7-foot freshman was Lithuania’s top rebounder (9.7) and second-leading scorer (12.9 points) in the U20 event and, though Lithuania didn’t face France, he’ll get to see plenty of Raynaud at Stanford. Krivas played less than seven minutes in UA’s games against Purdue, Alabama and FAU but is coming off an 18-point effort in 18 minutes at Cal on Friday.

SIDELINES

Lloyd pondering bigger rotation

After going with just eight players during the Wildcats’ final three nonconference games Lloyd said he was “committed to playing more guys,” and inserted sophomore wing Filip Borovicanin as the ninth player in the first half at Cal.

Borovicanin had six points, three assists and three rebounds over 14 minutes.

“It felt great, definitely,” Borovicanin said. “I appreciate coach Tommy for giving me a chance and I hope that I earned some other chances during the season.”

Lloyd also played his 10th and 11th available scholarship players, wing Paulius Murauskas and Conrad Martinez, in the second half.

“I want to play them all,” Lloyd said. “They’ve all earned an opportunity. But it’s hard. I don’t want to disrupt our team’s rhythm totally. It’s hard to inject three guys into a rotation as opposed to one at a time. So we’ll see how it goes. No promises, no guarantees, but I feel good about doing it.”

Body language

After posterizing Cal’s Gus Larson during the second half of Arizona’s 100-81 win at Cal on Friday, UA guard Caleb Love picked up a technical foul in an exchange of sorts that followed with Larson, who picked up a personal foul on the play.

But after the game, Lloyd said he actually didn’t think Love said anything verbally — but that body language alone can lead to whistles.

“It’s hard in this day and age,” Lloyd said. “If you make a highlight play and even look at the guy you had the highlight against, it’s like an automatic technical which I get — referees have to do their job. I don’t know how many we’ve had in my three years here, but we’ve had a highlight dunk (before) that’s followed up by an immediate technical foul. We have to make the adjustment on that because I don’t think the referees are going to.”

Staying put

After becoming a second-team all-Pac-12 pick as a fourth-year senior last season — and graduating from Stanford — forward Spencer Jones could have been expected to dip into the NBA draft pool or head into the transfer portal and see what kind of NIL cash could be out there while playing a fifth season with his COVID bonus year.

Jones did neither.

“I thought about leaving,” Jones said. “But I was like, when you get this old — 22, not crazy old — it feels like you’re just trying to put yourself in the best position to get drafted,” Jones said at Pac-12 media day in October. “So I didn’t see a difference between staying another year and being 23 versus 22, which is already a little old, if that meant I would come back and be even more NBA-ready.

“So once I really just focused on that, it was just a basketball decision — what (school) is going to prepare me best to for the next level, and where can I also win?”

Jones ranks No. 73 on ESPN’s current list of available NBA Draft prospects, indicating he’s still on the bubble to get picked in next June’s draft. But he’s missed four games with injuries while Stanford has gone 5-6 so far. Jones returned against ASU on Friday and is expected to play Sunday.

Numbers game

2: Arizona’s Kenpom ranking in adjusted defensive efficiency (allowing 89.4 points per 100 opponent possessions).

6: Arizona’s Kenpom ranking in adjusted offensive efficiency (119.2 points per 100 possessions).

27: Stanford’s Kenpom ranking in average Division I experience (2.69 years)

2,711: Stanford’s average home attendance in seven games so far, second-lowest in the Pac-12 ahead of only Washington State (2,289)

— Bruce Pascoe

Photos: No. 4 Arizona Wildcats blast Cal to open Pac-12 play, 100-81