Utah @ Stanford preview
Kaiser Permanente Arena
Last Meeting ( Jan 14, 2021 ) Stanford 65, Utah 79
Visiting Utah will attempt to sweep Stanford in the season series and catch the Cardinal in the Pac-12 Conference standings in the process when the clubs duel Saturday night in Northern California.
The Utes (9-7, 6-6 Pac-12) survived a wild finish that required a missed free throw in the final second to escape with a 76-75 win at Cal on Thursday afternoon.
The win was Utah's third straight as it began a stretch of four in a row on the road.
The first time Utah and Stanford met Jan. 14, the Utes got 22 points from Timmy Allen and held Stanford's high-scoring Oscar da Silva to 11 in a 79-65 home win. Utah outshot the Cardinal 49.0 percent to 35.4 percent.
Utah might have won at Cal on Thursday, but coach Larry Krystkowiak was not allowing his guys to enjoy it after almost blowing a six-point lead in the final 31 seconds.
"We were really fortunate," Krystkowiak said. "You know, it wasn't a typical road celebration in the locker room. But as I shared with our guys, there are a lot of lessons to be learned in life."
Allen led the Utes with 18 points, but Krystkowiak saved most of his praise for freshman Ian Martinez, who had 16 points in 19 minutes off the bench.
"He stepped up big-time," the coach said.
While Utah avoided disaster across the bay at Cal, Stanford could not in its blowout home loss to Colorado.
The Cardinal (12-8, 5-8) got 22 points from da Silva, while standout freshman Ziaire Williams returned from a five-game absence, but it wasn't nearly enough to offset a 3 of 15 night from 3-point range.
Williams (1 of 5) and da Silva (0 of 3) combined for seven of the 12 misses. Williams finished with just seven points in 29 minutes off the bench.
Stanford coach Jerod Haase tried to be upbeat afterward.
"We lost a tough game to a team that is very, very good," he said. "We understand why we didn't necessarily produce our A-game today, but I think they played much closer to their A-game."
If the Cardinal are to rebound from Thursday's effort, they are going to have to end a recent trend. They have alternated two-game losing and winning streaks over their last nine games, with the loss to Colorado coming immediately following two straight wins.
The Utes have had Stanford's number in recent years, prevailing in five of the last six meetings dating back to February of 2017.
--Field Level Media