In the last career home event for its three seniors 𑁋 guard Daejon Davis, guard Daniel Begovich and forward Oscar da Silva 𑁋 Stanford men’s basketball (14-1, 10-9 Pac-12) fell 73-62 to visiting Oregon State (13-11, 9-9 Pac-12) on Saturday. 

A quiet night from Davis and the absence of da Silva required extraordinary contributions from the Cardinal’s remaining lineup, which it struggled to produce. Saturday was the second consecutive game that saw da Silva sidelined with a lower-extremity injury. The senior also missed Stanford’s 71-68 loss against the Ducks. 

While the continued lack of da Silva may have been anticipated, Davis’ limited presence against the Beavers was more unexpected. The guard spent 33 minutes in action on Thursday, but just 17 on the floor Saturday, including just two minutes in the second half. 

“[It was] just a coach’s decision,” said head coach Jerod Haase, in reference to the choice to keep Davis out of the active rotation for much of the final 20 minutes. Haase did not offer further explanation.

 Davis reeled in one defensive rebound for the Cardinal during his minimal time as floor general, but remained almost entirely absent from the stats sheet in all other categories after going 0-for-2 from the field during the opening 20 minutes. Without him, the point guard role was largely left to freshman guard Michael O’Connell, who added five second-half points in 19 minutes. 

Freshman forward Ziaire Williams led the Caridnal’s scoring efforts, netting 14 points on a 5-for-9 effort from the field. Demonstrating his depth as an offensive threat, three of 6-foot-8 Williams’ baskets came from behind the arc, where he shot 50%. In familiar fashion, fouls were an issue for the freshman; he picked up his third foul with over six minutes to play in the second half, while the Cardinal trailed by just five points, 54-49. 

Junior forward Lukas Kisunas complemented Williams’ eleventh double-digit performance of the season with 12 points of his own to tie his career high. Kisunas also snagged a team-high eight rebounds for the Cardinal, but his efforts to crash the boards were not enough to keep Stanford from being out-rebounded by the Beavers, 31-29.

Sophomore forward Spencer added another 10 points in the loss, and junior forward Jaiden Delaire recorded nine. 

Turnovers again proved to be a weakness for the Cardinal and an error that the team will need to minimize if it wants to proceed beyond the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament. Stanford committed the crime twice as much as Oregon State, handing the ball over 16 times to the Beavers’ eight. The visitors converted Stanford’s errors into 20 points. 

With the defeat, which extends Stanford’s losing streak to three, the Cardinal’s attention turns to its final regular season contest. Stanford will travel to Los Angeles to face USC on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. PT.