Stanford pummels Jackrabbits in road defeat

By Robert myers Sportswriter

The men’s basketball team finished their California road trip with an embarrassing 92-60 loss to the University of Stanford Cardinals in a game that was decided by halftime.  

SDSU has yet to win a road game this year, with four of their five road losses coming in the state of California. Although a victory over Stanford would have been difficult to achieve, the Jacks at the very least hoped to make the Cardinal earn it, something that the Jacks failed to do.

“I think that most of our players and our staff are embarrassed by the effort that was given tonight,” head coach Scott Nagy said. “We feel like, really, we wasted Stanford’s time. We have a mess right now and I think that we all have to own it – not just the players but the coaches too.”

The game began with a 13-0 run by the Cardinal (6-2), before it was interrupted by a Brayden Carlson 3-pointer. The Jacks trailed 23-3 before finally showing some life after Connor Devine took a charge at the 14:12 mark. A Cory Jacobson 3-pointer cut the Cardinal lead to 14 points, 30-16 at the 8:26 mark. The Jacks never got any closer, as the Cardinal finished out the half on a 28-8 run, taking a 58-24 lead into the locker room. Stanford led by as many as 39 points in the second half before cruising to the final buzzer.

The Jackrabbits (3-6) were held to just 33.8 percent shooting from the field and only 24 percent from beyond the three point line. They did manage to shoot 76.9 percent from the free throw stripe, but that was their lone bright spot on the stats sheet.   

“We have to own our mess,” Nagy said. “We’re going to have to watch this, which will be difficult. I think some coaches will just say just move on to next one, but I don’t think at this point we can. I think that people need to see where they’re not listing to the coaching staff, where they’re not giving the kind of effort that they need to. And it’s hard. It’s to watch that stuff. It’s hard to own your mess, but think if you do, you have a chance to change.”

Jordan Dykstra led the Jacks with 20 points but was limited to just four rebounds. Devine led the Jacks in that category, pulling down seven rebounds and scoring seven points in what was his best game for the Jacks.  Carlson came up with 16 points and Marcus Heemstra gave the Jacks a solid effort off the bench, pulling down five rebounds and scoring two.

“I would say that Connor did what he could do,” Nagy said. “I was very proud of Brayden and the effort that he gave and I was very proud of Marcus. I thought particularly our two seniors, I thought that those guys really loved on their teammates, played hard and did everything that they could do.” 

The Jacks will return home to host the Dakota State Trojans on Wednesday, Dec. 4 in a game the Jacks both should and need to win as they try to come together as a team and rally to reach their potential.

“It’s a great opportunity,” Nagy said. “Number one, it’s an opportunity to grow because you usually don’t grow when things are going well. You grow when things are going tough and there’s a lot of growing that needs to happen on our basketball team. And I think that will happen. I still think this is the best team, that maybe if we could get it together, that maybe could be the best team I’ve ever coached, but right now clearly we’re not.”