SETTING THE SCENE
Stanford will face its first true road opponent this season, and its fifth away from Maples Pavilion, with a trip to Tempe to face Arizona State on Sunday, Dec. 4. The action begins at 4 p.m. PT on ESPN2.
THE OPENING TIP
• The Cardinal is 3-5 (0-1 Pac-12) to open the campaign, including home wins over Pacific (88-78) and Cal Poly (80-43) and a win over Florida State (70-60).
• Through eight games, Spencer Jones leads the team with 11.7 points per game, while Michael Jones is also in double figures at 10.3 points per game. Spencer Jones had 18 points in the Pac-12 opener.
• Harrison Ingram, who was Stanford’s first Pac-12 Freshman of the Year since Casey Jacobsen in 2000, withdrew his name from the 2022 NBA Draft to return to The Farm for his sophomore campaign. He is averaging 9.9 points, 4.9 rebounds and a team-best 3.0 assists per game.
• The Cardinal returns eight of its top nine rotation players from a year ago, ranking seventh nationally in minutes continuity, per KenPom, while also bringing in the program’s first transfer in 12 years and the first graduate transfer in program history in Michael Jones (Davidson). Jones had a debut to remember in the season opener, with his 31 points the most by a Stanford player in his team debut on record.
• Stanford won the series with Arizona State a year ago, 2-1, winning in the Bay Area as Brandon Angel sealed the game with three clutch free throws while James Keefe sent the Sun Devils home in the Pac-12 Tournament with a buzzer-beating floater from the middle of the lane.
HIT THE GLASS
Stanford has been one of the nation’s elite rebounding teams this season, ranking ninth nationally in defensive rebound percentage (80.8) and second among power conference teams (Creighton). The Cardinal is also rebounding 31.4 percent of its offensive attempts. The Cardinal holds the fourth-best rebounding margin in the Pac-12 at plus-6.0, and is limiting opponents to a league-best 29.9 rebounds.