How to Watch Oregon Ducks vs. Stanford Cardinal Basketball: Preview, Prediction
How to Watch
The No. 10 Oregon Ducks (10-1, 1-1) will take on the Stanford Cardinal (9-2, 1-0) on Saturday, Dec. 21 at 6 p.m. PT. The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.
The San Jose Tip-Off is a doubleheader event at the SAP Center in San Jose, California. The California Golden Bears (7-4, 0-1) out of the Atlantic Coast Conference will be playing No. 23 San Diego State (7-2, 1-0) out of the Mountain West Conference after Oregon vs. Stanford. The start time for that game is set for 7:30 p.m. PT on the ACC Network.
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Preview
Stanford coach Kyle Smith has made his return to the Bay Area with the Cardinal after stints at Columbia, San Francisco, and Washington State. In just his first season at Stanford, he has completely turned the culture around in Palo Alto after eight seasons of mediocrity under Jerod Haase.
After three years of developing within the Stanford system, senior Maxime Raynaud has turned into a star for this Cardinal program. The 7-1 center leads the team with 21.5 points per game on an efficient 50.3 field goal percentage, 11.7 rebounds per game, and 1.2 blocks per game. He has nine double-doubles on the season which ranks No. 1 in all of college basketball.
Senior guard Jaylen Blakes is putting Raynaud in all of these scoring opportunities at the rim. The Duke transfer know has a much bigger role than he did in Durham, North Carolina. He facilitates the offense with his team-high 5.5 assists per game and turns defense into offense with his team-high 2.2 steals per game. Blakes can fill it up as well with his 16.3 points per game on a 49.5 field goal percentage.
Oregon center Nate Bittle leads the Ducks with 14.3 points per game on a 54.3 field goal percentage, 8.5 rebounds per game, and 2.0 blocks per game. Bittle will have his hands full when trying to slow down Raynaud with his physicality, as making him uncomfortable in the low post is the name of the game. As for Blakes, Oregon coach Dana Altman should be throwing a lot of different defenders at him throughout the matchup to throw him off.
A full-court press should be in the game plan when dealing with this Stanford offense that doesn't turn the ball over very much. The Cardinal ranks No. 21 in the country with just 9.7 turnovers per game.
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