By Savanna Stewart on February 26, 2020

Big contributions from Stanford men’s basketball’s Tyrell Terry and Oscar da Silva are anything but uncommon. Twenty-point nights from the freshman guard or junior forward are a slightly more rare but not unfamiliar. Twenty points apiece from the duo in the same game, however, was unheard of. That is, until Wednesday night when their combined 47 points helped the Cardinal (19-9, 8-7 Pac-12) stretch its win streak to three with a 70-62 home victory over Utah (15-13, 6-10 Pac-12).



It took da Silva less than a minute to get Stanford on the board with a dunk, and Terry wasted no time tacking on three of his own with one from behind the arc a possession later. Terry had no way of knowing it at the time, but the triple would be just one of seven he sank en route to a career-high 27 points. Terry’s 11 attempts from deep are the most by a Cardinal player during a single game this season, but hardly an issue to head coach Jerod Haase.



“[Terry] has a presence about him, a confidence about him,” Haase said of the freshman who averages 15.4 points per game.



“I have told him before…the idea of a green light,” Haase continued. “In those kinds of moments, that green light is very, very, very green.”



Two-thirds of Terry’s points came in the final 20 minutes of play, but the nine he added before halftime, in addition to 13 from da Silva, let the Cardinal head to the locker room with a comfortable leading by 12 at the break. It appeared as though Stanford’s third straight victory would come easily on its home court, but the Utes had other plans.



Though none of Utah’s players were able to match the offensive performances of Terry or da Silva; four managed to break into double figures with sophomore guard Timmy Allen’s 17 pacing the squad. Allen finished having shot 8-of-14 from the field in his 35 minutes on the court. Freshman center Branden Carlson wreaked havoc on Stanford’s offense in the paint and had eight blocks to show for his efforts by the end of the night.



Despite Carlson dominating down low, da Silva was able to tally 20 points against the Utes. As is typical of the 6’9″ forward, the majority of da Silva’s buckets came from inside the paint, where also reeled in a team-high 7 rebounds for the Cardinal. Both Terry and da Silva finished the game having shot 8-of-14, though Terry’s perfect 4-for-4 showing from the charity stripe slightly outdid da Silva’s 3-for-4 effort.



While Terry may have dazzled the crowd with his seven three-pointers, it was a long-range launch by sophomore forward Jaiden Delaire that truly sealed the deal for the Cardinal. After Utah had whittled Stanford’s lead down to just three points — largely thanks to a 57.69% success rate from the field in the second half — a pass from freshman forwards Spencer Jones found an open Delaire in perfect position to sink one from behind the arc and make it a two-possession game with just a minute remaining. To post 11 total points from Delaire for the night,.

“My goal, whether it’s a game or practice, is to go in everyday, work as hard as I can [and] try to get better,” Delaire said. “I have been putting in a lot of work on my shot, and just being able to step in and having the confidence to knock that down was really helpful for me tonight.”



Delaire was hardly the only one confident is his ability to make the play, regardless of the narrow lead Stanford was struggling to hold following three and a half scoreless minutes.



“Hopefully [Delaire] is gaining confidence that I have confidence in him,” Haase said. “If you looked at me on the sideline…I looked at [the shot] and I smiled.”



“He has worked and worked and worked these last few weeks,” Haase continued. “Instead of hoping that things turn out well or that he plays well, [Delaire] has worked at it.”



Up next for the Cardinal is No. 21 Colorado on Sunday. After one of Stanford’s longest breaks of the season, action tips off at 3:00 p.m. PT at Maples Pavilion.



Contact Savanna Stewart at savnstew ‘at’ stanford.edu.