In bid for Pac-12 bye, Stanford can’t afford to lose to UW

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Jerod Haase says he doesn’t ponder what Stanford’s season would have been like without Daejon Davis.

Like, what if Washington hadn’t fired head coach Lorenzo Romar, leading to Davis’ switch to the Cardinal?

They are clearly not as dangerous when Davis isn’t on the court, as was evident during the times in Sunday’s 77-73 win at Cal when he sat because of foul trouble.

The freshman from Seattle will play against the Huskies again at Maples Pavilion on Thursday night. He had 16 points, 10 rebounds and five assists when Stanford won the Jan. 13 meeting in Davis’ hometown, where Huskies fans booed him as a result of his decision to decommit from UW.

Now both teams are 8-6 and tied for fifth place in the Pac-12. Only the top four get first-round byes in the conference tournament; everybody else would have to win four games to take the title and the automatic NCAA Tournament berth.

Since the 12-team format began in 2012, only Colorado, in that first year, won the title the hard way — needing four wins after finishing the regular season in a tie for fifth place.

Seattle native Daejon Davis, shown against Cal on Sunday, had 16 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in Stanford’s first meeting with Washington. Seattle native Daejon Davis, shown against Cal on Sunday, had 16 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in Stanford’s first meeting with Washington. Photo: Jeff Chiu, Associated Press Photo: Jeff Chiu, Associated Press Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close In bid for Pac-12 bye, Stanford can’t afford to lose to UW 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

“We understand that what separates second place from ninth place is very minimal,” Haase said. “Our attitude is we’re fighting for our lives.” Getting a bye “would be a goal for this team, but now we need to focus on the short-term goals.”

The Cardinal (14-13 overall) probably need to win at least three of their last four regular-season games to land in the top four. That won’t be easy, considering that after Saturday’s home game against Washington State, Stanford travels to No. 14 Arizona and Arizona State.

The Huskies (18-9 overall) don’t have quite as tough a road. After visiting Cal on Saturday, they host Oregon State and Oregon next week. Three weeks ago, they appeared to be on their way to snapping their seven-year Big Dance drought when they upset then-No. 9 Arizona and then-No. 25 ASU. Then Washington lost three in a row, including a double-overtime heart-breaker at Oregon State on Stephen Thompson Jr.’s last-second three.

Although its chances for an at-large NCAA berth were all but extinguished weeks ago, Stanford can pin its dark-horse hopes on a Pac-12 title. To make that kind of a run, it would have to stop being so sloppy with the ball. Through Tuesday, only 34 of the 351 DivisionI teams had committed more turnovers that the Cardinal’s 14.9 per game.

“We have a variety of turnovers, it seems like every game, that we need to eliminate,” Haase said. “Having said that, I think it’s important for me not to panic every time one of our younger players makes a mistake when they’re trying to be aggressive. The thing I don’t want is for them to be passive and play not to make mistakes.”

Davis, for all his skills, still commits too many turnovers. Averaging 4.2 a game, he’s second in the nation, trailing only Oklahoma’s Trae Young (5.3).

In another negative statistical category, Stanford has the highest percent of shots blocked in the Pac-12. And it is about to play a Washington team that leads the conference in blocks (5.1) per game and steals (8.4) per game.

“Hopefully, my legacy here will be one of fearlessness,” Haase said. “Our shot is going to get blocked sometimes, and we are going to turn the ball over sometimes, but our ability to bounce back and be resilient hopefully is even a bigger definition of our team.”

Tom FitzGerald is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tfitzgerald@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @tomgfitzgerald

Thursday’s game

Who: Washington (18-9, 8-6 Pac-12) at Stanford (14-13, 8-6)

Where: Maples Pavilion

When: 6 p.m.

TV/Radio: P12Net