Stanford 67, Old Dominion 60: Ray Floriani's Tempo-Free Analysis

Johnny Dawkins looks on as his Stanford team advances to NIT championship with win over Old Dominion. (Photo courtesy of Ray Floriani)

NEW YORK CITY­ - The blowout that was too close to call. Stanford jumped out to a 15-0 lead early, later lost it, only to regroup and seal the 67-60 verdict in the stretch. The NIT semifinal game at Madison Square Garden saw the Cardinal advance to set up a championship date with Miami on Thursday. The pace and efficiency:

Possessions: ODU 67, Stanford 63

Offensive Efficiency: Stanford 106, ODU 90

Four Factors:

eFG%: Stanford 58, ODU 37
FT Rate: Stanford 72, ODU 41
OREB%: ODU 29, Stanford 14

TO Rate: ODU 8, Stanford 22

What Stanford did well: Shoot the ball. The Cardinal shot an outstanding eFG percentage of 58%. They actually were more deadly from long range. Stanford was 7-of-14 (50%) from three, and 19-of-39 (49%) inside the arc. Frequent visitors to the line, the Cardinal was 22-of-28 (79%) from the charity stripe.

What ODU did well: Share and care for the ball. Great ball movement and distribution saw the Monarchs assist on 11 of 21 field goals (52%). In addition, the Monarchs committed just five turnovers for an outstanding 8% TO rate.

Leading Scorers and OE:
Stanford: Chasson Randle, 24 points (OE .400)
ODU: Ambrose Mosley, 16 points (OE .400)

ODU's shooting was epitomized in junior guard Trey Freeman, who was 6-of-24 from the floor, scoring 13 points. The opposite side for the Monarchs saw senior forward Richard Ross, a perfect 7-for-7 from the field, good for 15 points.

Can't hit, grab the miss: ODU shot poorly as noted, but compensated by hitting the offensive boards. They ‘won’ the offensive rebounding percentage (OREB) as noted and in raw numbers, outrebounded the taller Cardinal 11-3 on the offensive glass. Those rebounds extended possessions and helped Jeff Jones’ club get back in the thick of things after falling behind early.

A nice move was exhibited by Stanford mentor Johnny Dawkins, who moved Chasson Randle from point guard to off guard down the stretch. Christian Sanders ran the offense during that change in position.

Separation: At the 8-minute timeout, the score was knotted at 49. Stanford came out and took advantage of two rare but damaging ODU turnovers to get in transition. The results: A Marcus Allen dunk, followed by a Randle three-pointer. The newfound five-point lead was never lost by Stanford during the stretch run.

ODU finished the season at 27-8. Stanford, playing for a second NIT title in four years, is 23-13 on the season.