STANFORD, Calif. – Freshman guard Kanaan Carlyle scored 25 points, Spencer Jones added 21 points on 8-for-9 shooting and Stanford surprised No. 4 Arizona 100-82 in a Pac-12 matchup Sunday.
Andrej Stojakovic scored 16 points and center Maxime Raynaud had 12 points and seven rebounds for the Cardinal (6-6, 1-1), who made a school-record 16 3-pointers in the victory.
Caleb Love led Arizona (10-3, 1-1) with 23 points and center Oumar Ballo added 12 points and seven rebounds.
The victory was Stanford’s first over a ranked opponent since beating Arizona last season and its eighth over a ranked team since 2020.
“I think this will absolutely be the peak moment of this season for 2023,” Stanford coach Jerod Haase said. “For 2024, we’re going to start from scratch and see new peaks and new highs. Usually I tell them to enjoy the win until midnight. This time I told them they could enjoy this one for the rest of the year.”
Stanford raced to an early lead, scoring the first seven points. After Ballo made a layup to bring the Wildcats within a point at the 6:56 mark of the first half, Stanford went on a 21-7 run for a 43-28 lead with under three minutes left in the first half.
The Cardinal got a big boost from both of its freshman guards off the bench in the first half. Carlyle scored 13 of his 25 points in the first half while making all four of his 3-point shots. Stojakovic scored nine points and grabbed two rebounds.
Haase praised his young players and said they were a big part of the win.
“(Kanaan) was fearless out there,” Haase said. “With Kanaan and Andre, their eyes are full of wonder and excitement. I think we can all feed off that.”
Arizona struggled to find a its rhythm in the first half, shooting 41.2% from the field and 25% from long distance.
Stanford led 44-35 at halftime.
Stanford’s hot shooting continued in the second half. Jones scored 11 of the Cardinal’s first 16 points after halftime.
Arizona closed within 11 points at 80-69 when Ballo made a second-chance layup with just over seven minutes left in the game.
A layup by Jones gave Stanford a 95-75 lead with 2:57 left in the second half for its largest advantage of the game.
The win could give Stanford a huge confidence boost as it will go on a three-game trip against UCLA, USC and Oregon State in the coming weeks.
“The people in the locker room all believe what we can do,” Stojakovic said. “We knew we were able to accomplish a win like this. We had a couple games not go our way, but I think this one was finally the game to show that we are one of those teams and we can make a lot of noise in the Pac-12.”
The Wildcats, who are third in the country in fast-break points per game (18.67), were held to just six points in transition by Stanford. Arizona made just seven of its 26 3-point shots and allowed Stanford to make 58.1% of its shots.
“They outplayed our guys,” Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said. “I don’t care who it was, they outplayed us.”
UP NEXT
Stanford: At UCLA on Wednesday.
Arizona: Home against Colorado on Thursday.
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