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  • Stanford Basketball Stuns Pac-12 Leader Arizona, Upending the No. 4 Wildcats, 88-79

Stanford Basketball Stuns Pac-12 Leader Arizona, Upending the No. 4 Wildcats, 88-79

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Basketball

Spencer Jones scored all 18 of his points in the second half for Stanford and played a key role in neutralizing Pac-12 leading scorer Azuolas Tubelis, as the Cardinal stunned No. 4 Arizona 88-79 on Saturday night.

Stanford (11-14, 5-9 Pac-12) beat a ranked team for the first time this year and a top-five team for the second time in two seasons. Arizona (22-4, 11-4), hoping to stay a half-game behind UCLA for the conference lead, had a seven-game win snapped.

The win was Stanford's first over a top-four opponent since Jan. 28, 2007 (No. 3 UCLA, 75-68) and the first over a top-four ranked Arizona team since Jan. 10, 2004 (82-72, Tucson, AZ). The Cardinal shot a season-best 61.1 percent from the floor, and 55.6 percent from 3-point range, marking its best percentage from the floor against a ranked opponent since 2014, also against UCLA, and the best against a top-five program on record.

Michael O'Connell scored a team-high and career-high 22 points, helping the Cardinal outshoot the Wildcats 61% to 46% from the field. The point guard drew eight fouls and made seven free throws.

Brandon Angel added 14 points for Stanford, Maxime Reynaud had 13 points and Harrison Ingram contributed 12 points and game-highs of nine rebounds and seven assists. Stanford had five players scoring in double figures in the same game for the first time since Feb. 20, 2021 (vs. Washington State).

Tubelis, who entered the night leading the league in scoring and rebounding, finished with just four points and zero rebounds for the Wildcats.

Jones took command of a back-and-forth game a third of the way through the second half, scoring all 13 of Stanford's points during a nearly seven-minute stretch that ended with a layup that gave the Cardinal a 67-66 lead with 7:35 remaining.

A 3-point play by Angel extended Stanford's lead to 70-66 before a Ramey 3-pointer cut the lead to one.

But the Cardinal scored the next nine points, punctuating the run with a wide-open 3-pointer by O'Connell that extended their lead to 79-69 with 3:28 left.

The win was the sixth in the last eight games for the Cardinal.

Stanford returns to action on Thursday, Jan. 16 at No. 7/7 UCLA. The 8 p.m. tip will air on ESPN2.