Kansas Jayhawks head to Stanford looking for sweep of four-game basketball series
Kansas’ current four-year men’s basketball scheduling agreement with Stanford, which expires after Sunday’s game in California, was set up prior to the 2016-17 campaign — former Jayhawk guard Jerod Haase’s first as head coach at the Pac-12 school.
The series of games included two contests at Allen Fieldhouse, one at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California and one at cozy 7,392-seat Maples Pavilion on Stanford’s campus. The building opened in 1969 and was renovated in 2004.
KU has won the first three games of the series — 90-84 in overtime on Dec. 1, 2018 at Allen Fieldhouse; 75-54 on Dec. 21, 2017 in Sacramento and 89-74 on Dec. 3, 2016 at Allen.
Sunday’s game will start at 2 p.m. Central time at Maples Pavilion and be shown live on ABC.
Here’s a look at the first three games of the four-year set and also two additional games between KU and the Cardinal during the Bill Self era.
Kansas 90, Stanford 84 (OT), Dec. 1, 2018, Allen Fieldhouse
Haase, who went 42-0 as a player in Allen from 1994-97, fell to 0-2 as a coach in Allen last season.
Lagerald Vick, who like Haase was a collegiate combo guard, forced overtime by hitting a three-pointer, then scored eight straight points to open the extra session and help the No. 2-ranked Jayhawks survive a Stanford team that led by 12 points with 12 minutes left.
Vick finished with eight of KU’s 15 points in OT and 27 points overall on 10-of-17 shooting (7 of 11 from three). His three with :07 left tied the score at 75. Daejon Davis (19 points) missed a last-second three to close regulation.
Vick hit a three to open the extra session, dunked and hit another three that gave KU an 83-75 lead with 2 minutes, 22 seconds left in OT.
“He’s fantastic,” Haase said of Vick, who wound up leaving school during the Big 12 season and did not finish the campaign with the Jayhawks. He is currently playing pro ball in Taiwan.
“He made big-time plays. I mean there’s only a few guys in the country who can probably do that. He made tremendous plays not only the last shot of the game but through the end of the (overtime),” Haase stated.
KU’s final play of regulation in a 75-72 game initially was going to be a three-point try by Dedric Lawson, who scored 24 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. But the shot went to Vick, who “was great down the stretch,” KU coach Self said. “We needed every one of ‘em (points). They outplayed us and deserved better than how it ended.”
KU hit 7 of 16 threes to Stanford’s 12 of 34.
“That was an Allen Fieldhouse win, an arena win, a building win. We had nothing. We were down 12 twice in the second half with nothing going on. Lagerald got us going a bit,” Self said.
Udoka Azubuike scored 18 points with nine boards and Devon Dotson had 10 points as KU improved to 6-0 and Stanford dropped to 4-4.
Stanford was led by KZ Okpala, who scored 22 points. Davis had 19 and Isaac White 15.
The Jayhawks trailed 54-42 at 12:14 but used a 20-6 run to finally grab a 62-60 lead on a Vick three at 5:31. Then it was close the rest of the way.
Kansas 75, Stanford 54, Dec. 21, 2017, Sacramento, California
KU center Azubuike scored 24 points as the No. 14-ranked Jayhawks rolled to their 10th win in 12 games; Stanford fell to 6-7.
Devonté Graham scored 14 points with six assists, while Svi Mykhailiuk also had 14 points and Vick 13 points. Michael Humphrey had 20 points, and Reid Travis 12 points and four boards.
KU made 6 of 18 threes to Stanford’s 6 of 20. Overall Stanford made just 34.4% of its shots to KU’s 52.5%.
“The game plan was a big part of it (of the defensive struggle) and obviously with Azubuike, he had a heckuva game. We didn’t have an answer to be able to stop him, but that lies on my shoulders,” Haase said of the game. “It was a conscious decision on our part to try and take away as many three-point shots and neutralize the four perimeter players out there as much as possible. That left Mike (Humphrey) and Josh (Sharma) on an island a little bit. There were certainly some mistakes made here and there. That’s certainly on my shoulders,” Haase added.
Azubuike scored KU’s first 10 points, three coming off dunks. However, Stanford led 11-10, at 15:32.
Graham then hit two threes in an 18-2 run. Graham capped the surge with an alley-oop feed to Azubuike that gave Kansas a 15-point edge, 28-13.KU led 47-29 at halftime.Stanford did cut the deficit to 14 points, but the Cardinal went without a field goal seven minutes. KU rebuilt the lead to 19 points at the 10 minute mark.
Kansas 89, Stanford 74, Dec. 3, 2016, Allen Fieldhouse
Graham hit five threes the first half and finished with 15 points, while Frank Mason had 20 points and five assists and Josh Jackson and Mykhailiuk 13 points apiece for KU as the No. 4-ranked Jayhawks (7-1) cruised to victory over the Cardinal (6-3).
Big man Reid Travis scored 29 points and grabbed nine rebounds. He hit 19 of 22 free throws, a record for a KU opponent for both number of makes and attempts from the line.
Stanford lost big despite hitting 30 of 37 free throws to KU’s 13 of 22.
“It was certainly an emotional day,” said Haase. He was pictured converting a layup during his KU days during the pre-game video shown prior to the KU starter introductions on the center videoboard. “My emotions right now are more frustrated that we didn’t perform at a higher level, but I am also very proud of the way our guys performed. For me personally it means a lot (because of) the reception and the relationships and experiences I had here.”
Haase’s return to Lawrence as Stanford coach received as much attention as the game.
“I don’t know that there was one moment (that stood out),” Haase said. “There are a number of people that I have kept in touch with and some I haven’t. I remember clearly the first time I walked into Allen Fieldhouse when I was first recruited by Kansas (after the South Lake Tahoe, California native decided to leave Cal after one season).
“I think I will probably remember the first time at shootaround when I walked into the arena and saw what it looks like. It looks phenomenal. It has a bit of a different feel than when I played to be honest. But they have done a great job keeping it up and making it pristine. And the sound on the scoreboard works pretty well too, it was loud.”
Stanford’s Travis, who ultimately left for Kentucky as a grad transfer forward for his senior season, said: “I’m not surprised at all (that Haase received a standing ovation from KU fans during pre-game introductions). Right when we got off the plane people were running to shake his hand. Someone was telling me on the plane ride over here that he’s a legend (at Kansas). We definitely saw that with the ovation.”
Stanford entered the game holding opponents to 39% shooting. KU hit 52% on the day, including 12 of 22 from three.
Now a quick look at the other two other games against Stanford during the Self era. Stanford’s coaches for those games were Johnny Dawkins and Mike Montgomery, not Haase. Overall, throughout history, KU leads the series between the teams, 11-3. The Jayhawks are 3-2 against Stanford in the Self era.
Stanford 60, Kansas 57, second round NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional game, March 23, 2014, St. Louis
No. 10-seeded Stanford, coached by Dawkins, advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2008. The No. 2-seeded Jayhawks were without Joel Embiid, who missed his sixth consecutive game with a stress fracture in his lower back.
One-and-done KU wing Andrew Wiggins, who entered averaging 17.4 ppg, was guarded closely by Stanford’s Josh Huestis and finished with four points and four turnovers.
“They’re long. We don’t go against very many teams that are bigger than us,” Self said. “So they bothered (Wiggins) with length, and I think that he had an off game. Give them credit for that, but certainly he put himself in position to make some plays and didn’t make them.’‘
KU freshman guard Conner Frankamp hit a three-pointer with one second left in the first half that gave the Jayhawks a 24-22 lead. That was the first lead of the game for KU. Wiggins scored just two points the first 20 minutes with three turnovers.
Kansas forward Tarik Black opened the second half with a dunk.
But led by Chasson Randle, Stanford went on a 10-3 run to take a 40-33 lead with 10:40 left. Kansas (25-10) tied it 49-49 with 5:11 left on a dunk by Perry Ellis.
In the final half-minute, Stanford (23-12) led 59-54. But Frankamp hit a pair of three-pointers in a span of under 10 seconds to pull KU to 59-57 with 14.9 seconds left. Stanford, coached by Johnny Dawkins, hung on for the win with the help of a free throw by Anthony Brown.
Forward Dwight Powell led Stanford with 15 points. Randle had 15. Tarik Black, who fouled out, had 18 points for KU.
“To beat a team like this, a storied program with great coaching, great players, always feels amazing,” Powell said.
Stanford 64, Kansas 58, Dec. 6, 2003, Anaheim, California
Matt Lottich scored 18 points, including a three with 2:27 remaining to lift No. 21 Stanford past No. 1 KU at the John Wooden Classic.
Wayne Simien hit two free throws to cap a 6-0 run and tie the game at 54 with 4:30 left. But KU (3-1) was outscored 10-1 before Omar Wilkes cashed a three in the closing moments.
Lottich made two free throws with 4:05 left to put Stanford (4-0) ahead for good. He hit his huge three just before the shot clock expired to make it 59-55 Stanford.
Aaron Miles led Kansas with 11 points.
“I think obviously Stanford was better than us today. Give them credit. They played us smart, made us play to some weaknesses. Our passing was horrendous,” Self said.
Chris Hernandez was 0 of 6 from the field but went 11 of 11 from the foul line. Joe Kirchofer added 10 points for Stanford to equal his career high.
“Down the stretch, Lottich hits a huge 3, Chris was nails from the line and we kept our poise,” Stanford coach Montgomery said. “This presented a great opportunity for us. We’ve been in this position before, being No. 1. People just get pumped up to play you. It means so much on a national basis, people are going to talk about it.”
Simien and Keith Langford each had 10 points for the Jayhawks, who had only six assists as a team — four by Miles.
‘We had a lot of one-pass-and-shot scenarios against the zone,’ Langford said. ‘You place the blame squarely on the players’ shoulders.”
Kansas shot 36.7% to Stanford’s 32.7%.
This story was originally published December 26, 2019 at 9:27 AM.
