Duke Downs Stanford in Lopsided Game

Coming into this one for the Stanford Cardinal, they needed a decent showing in order to perhaps give them some goodwill when selection time comes for the NCAA tournament. Instead, Duke showed why they're one of the best programs in college basketball, winning 106-70.

Welcome to the ACC.

The most glaring takeaway in this game was how impactful forward Maxime Raynaud was in the first half, scoring 18 points and grabbing four boards at the break--only to be held completely in check in the second half. The 7-foot-1 Frenchman went 0-for-5 from the field, including 0-for-2 from three, and split a pair of free throws, which gave him his lone point after the break.

He finished with 19 points and seven rebounds, but when you break it up by half, it shows just how good the Duke Blue Devils were at limiting Stanford's best player.

Even with Raynaud unable to keep things going in the second half, the Cardinal still ended up scoring 36, two more than they put up in the first half. Granted, some of that came down the stretch with Duke already up by 30 and just a couple of minutes remaining.

The other big takeaway from this one was how Duke kept former Blue Devil Jaylen Blakes in check. The senior would finish with just two points on 1-of-10 shooting, pitching in two assists, two rebounds, and a steal.

All season long, Blakes and Raynaud have been the top two players for Stanford, and on Saturday against Duke, they were held ineffective for large periods of time.

For Duke, projected No. 1 pick in this summer's NBA Draft Cooper Flagg put up 19 points with five rebounds and six assists. Junior Tyrese Proctor led the Blue Devils in scoring with 23, adding two rebounds and four assists.

In total, Duke had five players in double figures. Stanford had three, with Raynaud, along with Oziyah Sellers (11) and Donavin Young (10).

The Cardinal didn't have an extreme number of turnovers, finishing with 10, they were just outplayed in this one, which will certainly hurt any chance they had of snapping their decade-long tournament-less streak. Stanford is now 16-10 on the season, including 8-7 in ACC play.

They have five winnable games remaining on the schedule, with their next tilt coming against Cal, at home, next Saturday. Following the rivalry game, the Cardinal will face Boston College and SMU at home, then head out on the road to take on Notre Dame and Louisville to wrap up the regular season.

The game against Cal is on Saturday, February 22 at 7 p.m. (PT) and will air on ESPN2.