March Madness is time comebacks and buzzer beaters, and Stanford pulled both off to begin championship week.
Down 69-55 late in the second half, Stanford pulled off a 16-1 run and beat Arizona State 71-70 on a James Keefe put-back as time expired.
Arizona State led at halftime 31-27, then opened the second half on a 19-6 run to take a 17-point lead. However, the Cardinal stormed back, outscoring the Sun Devils 38-20 the rest of the way, including that final run to move onto the next round.
After the game, Keefe couldn’t explain how he pulled it off.
“Honestly, I don’t know what to tell you. I think, Harrison (Ingram) was driving and somehow the ball got bounced right to me,” Keefe said on the Pac-12 Network. “You know, eight-foot shot right off the glass in the middle of the key just like we practiced a million times.”
When Keefe was asked if he called his bank shot, he assured everyone that was the intent.
“I don’t know if I called it, but I meant to bank it I promise you that.”
Neither Stanford nor Arizona State are currently included in SI’s Kevin Sweeney’s latest bracket projections. For Stanford, that likely means they need to win more games to have a chance at making the Men’s NCAA Tournament. For Arizona State, that means this loss was probably their last game of the season.
Stanford next plays the top seed in the Pac-12 Tournament, No. 2 Arizona, tomorrow.
