Stanford and Florida play in the Motion Bracket of the PK80 Invitational. Who comes out victorious in this first round game?
TV schedule: Thursday, Nov. 23, 10:00 p.m. ET. ESPN2
Arena: Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon
The Stanford Cardinals (3-2) come into this game with one of the more underrated players in the country in Reid Travis, who averages 21.2 ppg and 6.6 rpg. He hasn’t scored less than 16 points in any game this season, and, even against great competition like North Carolina, he performed well, getting 21 points and six boards in the defeat.
The issue that second year head coach Jarrod Haase has been dealing with is providing Reid enough help on offense. He’s gotten some good production with senior big man Michael Humphrey, who’s averaged a double-double with 12.2 ppg and 10.6 rpg.
The issue for the past couple of years has been the guard play. Freshman Isaac White has been a pleasant surprise, bringing in double-figure scoring. Daejon Davis has shown some promise as the point guard of the future.
However, it’s junior guard Robert Cartwright who has to step up. His 7.4 ppg and 35% shooting numbers (29% from deep) aren’t going to cut it for a team trying to be on the positive side of the bubble. They already had a slip up to Eastern Washington, even though a couple of starters were out with an injury.
They’re going to have to find a way to beat the No. 7 Florida Gators (3-0), a team that, in just a couple of years, has become a Final Four contender under Mike White. Florida returns a number of quality players from last year’s team, including senior point guard Chris Chiozza and juniors Kevarrius Hayes, KeVaughn Allen and Virginia Tech transfer Jalen Hudson, who’s second in scoring at 18.0 ppg.
The biggest surprise of the season for the Gators has been Rice graduate transfer Egor Koulechov, who leads the team in scoring at 20.3 ppg and 8.3 rpg. His 34 points against Gardner Webb was the most points in a debut game in school history. Considering he has surpassed the expectations of just being the replacement of Canyon Barry, Florida has now become even more dangerous.
Next: Preview of the PK80 Motion Bracket
The Gators will still be without center John Egbunu, who’s still recovering from an ACL injury. However, White has plenty of talent at his disposal, and, with the Cardinals being a bottom-half team defensively, expect this one to not be close. Unless of course, Reid goes off, which is not out of the realm of possibility.
Prediction: Florida 83 – Stanford 68