Stanford is looking to bounce back after a gut-punch of a loss, and they won’t have to travel far to do it. The Cardinal head down the road this Saturday for a Bay Area showdown with San Jose State, a matchup that suddenly feels a lot more interesting than it might’ve a few weeks ago.
Stanford enters at 7-2, but that second loss still stings. Last Sunday, they fell 75-74 at home to UNLV in a game that slipped through their fingers in the final seconds.
Ebuka Okorie showed up in a big way, dropping 18 points along with five boards and three assists. He even tied the game late, giving the Cardinal a shot.
But a clutch free throw from Kimani Hamilton sealed it for the Runnin’ Rebels, handing Stanford a loss they’ll be eager to move past.
It wasn’t just the final score that hurt - it was how it happened. Stanford had a nine-point lead in the first half but couldn’t hold on. Head coach Kyle Smith didn’t sugarcoat things afterward.
“That was obviously a tough loss for our program, for our team,” Smith said. “They kept us on our heels with their defenses, mixing defenses, and we didn’t handle it well enough.
I thought they forced us into ... obviously turning the ball over, which is a little bit uncharacteristic. We took some questionable shots.”
Translation: Stanford got out of rhythm and couldn’t get it back. But this is still a team with talent and depth, and a road game against an up-and-down San Jose State squad might be just what they need to reset.
On the other side, the Spartans are trending in the right direction. After a rocky start to the season, they’ve clawed their way back to .500 at 5-5 and are 4-1 at home. Most recently, they pulled off an 89-83 overtime win over Long Beach State in a wild one that featured 14 lead changes and 18 ties.
Colby Garland was the star of that show, pouring in 27 points, grabbing five rebounds, and dishing out four assists. He also scored 10 of his points in overtime, showing he’s more than comfortable with the game on the line. Sadraque NgaNga hit the go-ahead layup in OT, and Yaphet Moundi (18 points) and Jermaine Washington (14 points, six assists) rounded out a balanced attack.
After the win, head coach Tim Miles kept things in perspective.
“We’ve got a lot of other problems we have to solve before we celebrate this too much,” Miles said. “But I think it can be good for us.
Every team has to figure out how to win, and I saw really exciting things today. I was disappointed in a lot of things, too.
We’ll get better from this, and we have a tough one against Stanford.”
He’s not wrong. Stanford will be one of the tougher tests San Jose State has faced this season.
But the Spartans are showing signs of life, and Garland is playing at a high level. If he stays hot and the supporting cast continues to step up, San Jose State could make things interesting.
This will be the first meeting between these two programs since the 2021-22 season, when Stanford rolled to a 76-62 win at home. A lot has changed since then - both teams have new faces, new energy, and something to prove.
For Stanford, it’s about proving that last week’s loss was a blip, not a trend. For San Jose State, it’s a chance to show they can hang with a Pac-12 program and keep building momentum.
Tip-off can’t come soon enough.