Chasson Randle Leads Stanford Cardinal to Victory
The Stanford Cardinal and Rhode Island Rams last met 17 years ago. Their previous meeting also took place in tournament play. In 1998, the Cardinal took down the Rams 79-77 in the Elite 8 of the NCAA tournament. That game was highlighted by a dynamic last-minute Stanford comeback.
Arthur Lee scored eight points in the final 52 seconds, and the Cardinal stunned the Rams, who held a 71-65 lead with only 59 seconds left in the game.
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The 2015 match-up wasn’t quite as dramatic, and in the closing seconds, the crowd wasn’t blessed with an impromptu dance by any Cardinal players, unlike in 1998 when Mark Madsen and Lee broke out in an energetic dance in the closing seconds.
This game lacked the game-changing moments and thrilling ending of its predecessor.
The game never found a true rhythm, and both teams had difficulty finding their shooting stroke. Fourteen minutes into the first half Stanford was shooting an awful 19% from the field, while the Rams were slightly better shooting at 20%.
Things weren’t all bad for the Cardinal. Chasson Randle had a brilliant first half, and almost single-handedly led Stanford to a 31-27 halftime lead.
“I just want to keep winning, to be real”, said Randle.
Both teams struggled early on and neither one could find a scoring rhythm. Stanford was basically a one man wrecking crew. No Cardinal player besides Randle scored from the field until the 3:33 mark of the first half, while E.C. Matthews led the Rams with 10 points.
The second half took on the same theme as the first. Randle’s dominance continued to be on display. He continually drove through the lane at will and his jumper remained steady.
The same couldn’t be said of his teammates, who were a combined 4-of-25 from the field four minutes into the second half.
The game remained close throughout the second half, with the Cardinal never relinquishing the lead.
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Rhode Island had plenty of opportunities to over take the Cardinal but could never get over the hump, and routinely found itself on the wrong end of the referee’s whistle. This did not sit well with Rams head coach Dan Hurley.
Hurley regularly found himself at odds with the game officials. He always seemed a moment away from getting a technical, but never crossed that imaginary line which separates an intense coach from an abusive coach and the refs never issued him a tech.
The Rams fought hard until the final whistle, but Randle and the Cardinal slowly pulled away.
The game may have lacked the intensity and memorable moments of the 1998 clash, but for the Cardinal, the similar game-ending result is all that matters.
Stanford will play host to Vanderbilt on Tuesday. The winner of that game will advance to the semifinals at Madison Square Garden.
Next: Cardinal's Strong Second-Half Pushes Them Past UC-Davis