Washington St. @ Stanford preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 19, 2019 ) Stanford 78, Washington St. 66

Two teams looking to regain their momentum from earlier this month meet Thursday as Stanford hosts Washington State. After making a brief push up the Pac-12 standings, the teams took a step back last weekend and need to regroup ahead of the conference tournament in Las Vegas.

After winning back-to-back games against USC and UCLA, Stanford’s struggles away from Maples Pavilion continued last week with ugly losses to Arizona State and Arizona. Sophomore forward KZ Okpala, the fourth-leading scorer in the conference at 17.2 points per game, returned after missing one game due to an upper-body injury and scored 10 points in 36 minutes in last Sunday’s 70-54 loss to Arizona. Stanford has lost 19 straight games against Arizona but can point to much better results against Washington State, having won five in a row and 10 of the last 11 meetings. The Cougars entered last Saturday’s contest against Utah on a roll with three wins in their last four games but lost 92-79 after allowing the Utes to shoot 52 percent from the field and 45 percent from 3-point range.

TV: 9 p.m. ET, Pac-12 Network

ABOUT WASHINGTON STATE (11-16, 4-10 Pac-12): Senior forward Robert Franks leads the Pac-12 in scoring with 22.4 points per contest and had 29 with seven rebounds in the loss to Utah. The Cougars’ only other player averaging double figures in scoring is freshman forward CJ Elleby (15.2 points and 6.7 rebounds), who had a team-high 18 points in last month’s 78-66 home loss to Stanford. Coach Ernie Kent had to adjust his rotation against Utah minus junior forward Jeff Pollard, who has started 21 games but sat out due to a concussion and is listed as day-to-day.

ABOUT STANFORD (14-13, 7-8): Point guard Daejon Davis and forward Oscar Da Silva combined for 26 points against Arizona, but the Cardinal shot 4-of-20 from 3-point range and were outscored 23-3 by the Wildcats’ bench. One bright spot has been the play of senior center Josh Sharma (9.8 points and 6.4 rebounds), who is making a case for the Pac-12’s most improved player award after averaging 3.5 points and 2.3 rebounds last season. Freshman guard Cormac Ryan is fifth on the team in scoring (8.6 points) but averaged 4.5 points on 3-of-19 shooting over his past two games.

TIP-INS

1. Washington State’s last win at Stanford came on Jan. 15, 2011, when Klay Thompson scored 21 points in the 61-58 victory.

2. Franks has been held in check in five career games against Stanford, averaging 9.8 points on 39.6 percent shooting.

3. Stanford is 9-2 at home but 5-11 away from Maples Pavilion.

PREDICTION: Stanford 72, Washington State 65