Stanford and Minnesota will be looking to rebound from surprise losses to West Coast Conference teams when they meet on Thursday evening in their opening game at the Acrisure Invitational in Palm Desert, Calif.
Stanford (4-1) comes off a 77-69 loss to Seattle on Friday at home. The Cardinal led by 13 points with 11 minutes remaining, but were outscored 33-12 the rest of the way.
“That’s what it’s about, how you handle adversity, how you handle success. Sometimes success is harder to handle,” said Stanford coach Kyle Smith. “We were 4-0 and up 13 at home, feeling good about ourselves and got to learn.”
Stanford senior guard Benny Gealer said the loss to Seattle may have been what the Cardinal needed.
“Obviously, we wanted to win, but they were the better team and we’ve got to bounce back,” Gealer said. “Part of every great season, great journey, is going to be bumps in the road, adversity, so we’ll see how good we are when we head into Palm Springs.”
Minnesota (4-2) comes off a 77-65 loss to San Francisco on Saturday in Sioux Falls, S.D. The Golden Gophers never led in the game, partly because they shot 15-for-30 from the free-throw line.
“We work on free throws every day,” said Minnesota coach Niko Medved. “Our teams in the past have always been good free-throw shooting teams.”
North Carolina transfer Cade Tyson averages 21.8 points and shoots 40% from 3-point range for Minnesota, but the 6-foot-7 senior wing was limited to 14 against San Francisco. Junior forward Jaylen Crocker-Johnson is the Gophers’ No. 2 threat with 11.7 points and 10.5 rebounds per game.
Four players for Stanford average double figures in scoring, led by freshman Ebuka Okorie (23.8 ppg). He failed to score at least 20 points for the first time against Seattle when he went 5 of 15 for 17 points.
Chisom Okpara averages 16.0 points followed by Gealer (10.6) and AJ Rohosy (10.0), who also leads Stanford in rebounds (6.0) and field-goal accuracy (54.8%).
Smith said the Cardinal need to play better when the ball’s not in their hands.
“We’ve got to do a better job of screening, being physical,” Smith said. “If you don’t get a screen, it’s hard to get any edges.”
Stanford and Minnesota have played six times previously with the Golden Gophers winning five of the matchups. The winner on Thursday plays the winner of Santa Clara (6-0) and Saint Louis (5-0) for the Acrisure Invitational title on Friday.
