Arizona men's basketball scouting report: Stanford at No. 11 Arizona, 6 p.m. Saturday

Stanford (11-9, 6-4) at No. 11 Arizona (16-5, 7-3) | McKale Center | 6 p.m. Sunday | FS1 | 1290-AM, 107.5-FM

Probable starters

STANFORD

G Kanaan Carlyle (6-3 freshman)

G Michael Jones (6-5 senior)

F Spencer Jones (6-7 senior)

F Brandon Angel (6-8 senior)

C Maxime Raynaud (7-1 junior)

ARIZONA

G Kylan Boswell (6-2 sophomore)

G Caleb Love (6-4 senior)

F Pelle Larsson (6-6 senior)

F Keshad Johnson (6-7 senior)

C Oumar Ballo (7-0 senior)

How they match up

The last time: Stanford broke a school record by hitting 16 3-pointers on 25 attempts and shot 58.1% overall in the Wildcats’ 100-82 loss at Maples Pavilion on Dec. 31. Perennial Arizona nemesis Spencer Jones made 5 of 6 3-pointers while freshman Kanaan Carlyle came off the bench to hit 6 of 8 3s and win the Pac-12’s Freshman of the Week award two days later. UA shot 43.8% overall while guards Kylan Boswell (1 for 7) and Caleb Love (1 for 6) both struggled from 3-point range.

The last time at McKale Center: Stanford hasn’t visited McKale since the final weekend of the 2021-22 regular season, showing up on a Thursday night that was just two days after the Wildcats clinched the Pac-12 title by winning at USC. Arizona struggled with a predictable hangover early, leading just 39-37 at halftime, but wound up with an 81-69 victory in part by scoring 23 points off 17 Stanford turnovers. Bennedict Mathurin had 24 points, five rebounds and four assists while Christian Koloko had 21 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks.

Series history: Arizona leads Stanford 72-33 overall and 58-26 in the Pac-12 era, but the Wildcats are just 4-4 against the Cardinal since Stanford broke a 20-game losing streak to Arizona in a COVID-displaced game in Santa Cruz, Calif., on Dec. 19, 2020. UA beat the Cardinal three times during UA coach Tommy Lloyd’s first season at UA of 2021-22 and also in last season's Pac-12 Tournament, but the Wildcats lost at Stanford this season and last season.

What’s new with the Cardinal: Picked to finish eighth in the Pac-12 and with their entire rotation available only for its last two games, Stanford is only a game in the loss column out of first place after beating Arizona on Dec. 31. The Cardinal has won six of its last nine games, including a 71-62 victory on Thursday at ASU when Stanford finished on a 17-2 run. Brandon Angel (19 points, 10 rebounds) and Maxime Raynaud (12 points, 17 rebounds) both had double-doubles against the Sun Devils.

With an offense that ranks 11th nationally and second in the Pac-12 in assist-to-made field goal ratio, Stanford has four starters shooting 41% or better from 3-point range. Not only did the Cardinal hit 16-for-25 3s against Arizona, but Stanford now leads the Pac-12 in 3-point shooting at 43.8% during conference play and ranks 10th nationally at 38.9% in all games. But Stanford has shot less than 30% from long range in its past two games, at Cal and at ASU, after hitting 13 of 24 against Washington on Jan. 20 at Maples Pavilion.

Carlyle has risen to become the ninth-top scorer in the Pac-12 during conference games after his breakout performance against Arizona, which was just his third game after sitting out the first eight because of a Stanford academic issue. Carlyle plays both guard spots but has started at point guard since grad transfer Jared Bynum missed four games with a lower leg injury starting on Jan. 11. Bynum has played off the bench for the Cardinal’s past two games, though Stanford still has a veteran starting look with three seniors (Michael Jones, Spencer Jones and Brandon Angel) and one junior (center Maxime Raynaud).

Well-regarded freshman wing Andrej Stojakovic, who had 16 points against Arizona on Dec. 31, has mostly played off the bench during conference play. Former walk-on Benny Gealer has been backing up Carlyle and Bynum at point guard, dishing four assists in a 20-minute appearance at ASU.

He said it: “At full strength, they are dangerous. They're winning, they’re confident and they don’t have much to lose. They got a big W at Arizona State, and they should have won at Cal the way they were playing. They were up eight with a couple minutes to play and Cal made it back with a couple shots by (Jaylon) Tyson, which is kind of the opposite of what happened at Arizona State.

“(On Dec. 31), I think it was about playing one-on-one defense, don't get beat, the basics of basketball, and they made plays. Spencer Jones made 3s off our mistakes. You shoot yourself in the foot when you guard him for three seconds pretty good and then they go by you and you’ve got to help.

"These last two games, our biggest improvement is defense. The reason we're playing better defense is we’re not getting beat one-on-one. Our basic defenses has been more solid, and now suddenly doesn't look like the other teams are getting great looks.

“They are a good team. They maybe don't get that maximum respect. Because they go play in the Bahamas and they lose to Arkansas (who was) making crazy shots. They get injuries. They lose. All these things always contribute to your perception. They're a good team. They're very experienced. You look at the roster. Guys have been there forever, like (Brandon) Angel, (Maxime) Raynaud, Spencer Jones. Those guys have really talented freshmen like Carlisle and Stojakovic. so it's a good mix of veterans.

“(Carlyle) is definitely in a bigger role. His numbers (say he’s) one of the the best guards in conference. I think part of their strength is they have a lot of guys that can have a good game."  

— UA assistant coach Riccardo Fois, who scouted the Cardinal

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Key players

STANFORD — Spencer Jones

There aren’t many more frequent sites in Arizona-Stanford games than Jones breaking loose for a good look beyond the 3-point line, or hitting a 3 of any sort, really. He’s shooting 56.8% in his five games against Tommy Lloyd-coached Wildcats since 2021-22.

ARIZONA — Oumar Ballo 

Ballo managed a double-double against the Cardinal on Dec. 31 after being limited to just five shots over 27 minutes at Stanford last season, and he’s coming off a big game against Cal on Thursday. Arizona will need him to dominate inside and help defend Raynaud and Stanford’s bigger players from venturing out for 3-pointers.

Sidelines

WCC (Wrong Coast Conference)

Of all the departures that the Pac-12 is facing after this season, the one where Stanford and Cal head to the Atlantic Coast Conference makes the least geographic sense.

That much is obvious, and Stanford coach Jerod Haase won’t dispute that.

“We need to figure out the logistics of how that's going to work,” he said. “We're gonna figure out recruiting, we’re gonna have to figure out a lot of different things. My day-to-day my focus is on this game and this season. But truthfully, I think it's important for me to have a global view of everything.”

In one sense, adjusting may be the least of it. Like so many around the Pac-12 this season, Haase expressed despair for the league’s demise as a whole.

“Day to day, it’s certainly not top of mind but it is on my mind,” Haase said. “It’s very, very sad. It’s borderline tragic in a lot of ways.”

Road warriors

If it wasn’t enough for Stanford to think of all those far-flung road trips it will be taking as a member of the ACC next season, the Cardinal was handed an extra day for three of its four two-game Pac-12 road trips this season — meaning Thursday-Sunday or Wednesday-Saturday pairs of games.

“We're the only team in the league with that,” Haase said. “It’s a little bit unfortunate, but it's also part of it.”

Arizona, by contrast, has none, playing each of its four two-game trips on a tidy Thursday-Saturday schedule that allows for a Saturday night charter flight home and a full day of rest before classes start on Monday (though a mechanical issue with their plane at Washington State meant the Wildcats didn’t return from that trip until Sunday evening).

But Haase has developed a way to deal with it. He said he tries to “read the situation” between games and then decide what to do.

This weekend, Stanford played at ASU on Thursday, then traveled to Tucson for a Friday night practice at McKale and a Saturday practice at the Richard Jefferson Gym, with some sort of presumably fun activity mixed in there somewhere.

Portal-era anomaly

With a unique mix of veterans who have mostly spent their entire careers at Stanford, and well-regarded freshmen in guard Kanaan Carlyle and Andrej Stojakovic, the Cardinal has a unique construction for a high-major college team these days.

That may have helped Stanford flash a distinct resiliency on Thursday night during its win at ASU. The Cardinal fell behind 9-0 but went on a 10-2 run immediately after that — and finished off the Sun Devils by outscoring them 17-2 in the final 7:25.

“We’ve built a culture here and honestly, in college basketball nowadays there aren't rosters that are around each other for a long time,” Haase said. “That's not always an easy thing. I think it's something we need to hang our hat on.

“We have a group that is older, but it's also very stable, very mature. I'm going to call timeout being down 9-0 at Arizona State, but it wasn't to go rip them. It was just to kind of tell them, 'Hey, let's remember what the game plan is, let's do this and this.’ And they responded well.”

Numbers game

5: Stanford guard Michael Jones’ national rank in Kenpom effective shooting percentage (69.7), which adds 50% credit to 3-point shots. Stanford forward Brandon Angel ranks No. 15^th at 66.9

20: Years since Stanford swept a weekend road trip in Arizona. The Cardinal beat UA and ASU in January 2004.

60.9: Ballo’s shooting percentage this season after he went 8 for 8 against Cal. Ballo’s career field goal percentage at UA of 62.9 still ranks as the best in Arizona history.

— Bruce Pascoe

Photos: University of Arizona cruises past Cal 91-65, Pac 12 basketball