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A trip through the Rocky Mountains can be humbling for any Pac-12 team. Facing a surging Colorado squad adds to the challenges for Stanford on Saturday afternoon.
The Cardinal's two-game trip, starting with a loss at Utah on Thursday, concludes in Boulder in a matinee matchup. Stanford (8-4, 4-2 Pac-12) will try to stop the Buffaloes' winning streak at three games, but it won't be an easy task.
Stanford has played well after a slow start to the season, winning seven of eight before falling 79-65 to the Utes. The bright spot was getting to the foul line 30 times against Utah, but the downside was the Cardinal putting the Utes on the line an equal number of times. Stanford had more fouls (27) than rebounds (26), and it was a factor in the loss.
"We fouled too much," coach Jerod Haase said after the loss. "We just can't put a team on the free-throw line 30 times."
One Cardinal reached a milestone in the loss -- Daejon Davis returned to the lineup with 19 points and became the 49th player in program history to eclipse 1,000 career points.
Colorado (10-3, 4-2) also had a player reach a milestone in its 89-60 win over Cal on Thursday. McKinley Wright IV became the program's all-time assist leader with 574 when he dished out 12 in the win over the Bears.
"Before it's all said and done, McKinley Wright is going to go down as one of the all-time greatest players ever to play at this university," coach Tad Boyle said after the lopsided win.
Wright is in his last year with Colorado but a new, young star is emerging to become the next impact player. Jabari Walker has posted consecutive double-doubles, and his 23 points on Thursday were the most by a Colorado freshman since Wright had 30 in his first year.
Walker had a total of 19 points in the first four conference games and is averaging 19 over the past two.
"The game is feeling like it is starting to slow down for me a little bit. I'm just taking the advice the coaches are giving me and applying it," Walker said. "Everything else will work itself out. Just consistency and working in practice and applying it to the game."
--Field Level Media
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