STANFORD, Calif. — Josh Huestis needed to change his mojo and thought a haircut just might do the trick. It worked better than he expected.
Huestis and Anthony Brown each scored 15 points and Stanford ran away from Washington State, 80-48, Wednesday night.
Huestis, who grew out his hair as a sophomore, was 0 of 7 from the floor in Stanford’s victory at Oregon on Sunday. He showed up to play against the Cougars, sporting a new hairstyle and hitting 7 of 10 shots overall.
“It was a decision I had to make,” Huestis said. “I’ve been struggling and decided this could be a new beginning. Cutting my hair was a signal to the team that I had a new mindset.”
He surprised his teammates, his coaches and his parents when he showed up at Tuesday’s practice without his signature full head of hair.
“I was in the back of the room at our meeting when we started to go over Washington State,” Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins said. “I was starting to get a little angry thinking he wasn’t there until I finally noticed he had his hair cut. I love it, especially if he plays like that.”
Several people mistook Huestis for Brown, who has kept his hair short since arriving at Stanford. Huestis’ mother gasped in surprise when she first saw it.
“I gave no hint that I was going to do it,” Huestis said. “I didn’t even tell my parents. My mom was surprised because of all the times I refused to get it cut.”
Dwight Powell added 10 points for the Cardinal (11-5, 2-2 Pac-12), who won their second straight and six of eight overall. Marcus Allen added 11 points.
Que Johnson scored 21 points to lead the Cougars (8-9, 1-4), who lost their fourth in five games. Royce Woolridge added 13 points.
“We played pretty well at both ends of the floor for the first 15 or 16 minutes or so, and Que was our main scorer at that time,” Cougars coach Ken Bone said. “He picked up two fouls, and I took him out to try and save him from getting his third. From that point on, Stanford really took over. We struggled scoring, and they executed well.”
The Cougars are playing without their leading scorer DaVonte Lacy, who missed his third straight game with a rib injury. He’s missed five of the past six Washington State contests overall.
“Coach has asked me to be aggressive and score,” Johnson said. “I’ll take whatever the defense will give me. Stanford’s a very good team, a great team, actually. Their bench players played good, they made shots. I just didn’t make enough shots.”
Stanford led by as many as 32 points in the second half.
Robbie Lemons hit consecutive 3-pointers for the Cardinal as part of a 13-2 run over the final 4:14 of the first half that snapped a 27-all tie. Chasson Randle hit a jumper at the buzzer to give Stanford a 41-29 halftime advantage.
Huestis, who averages 10.5 points a game, reached double figures for the first time in conference play.
Brown was 1 of 10 against Oregon State and is 15 of 19 in the two games since.
“I use Anthony as inspiration,” Huestis said. “He was struggling and then he came out and showed what he could do. I think we both learned how to bounce back.”
Washington State shot over 44 percent from the field in the first half but was held to less than 30 percent in the second half, in which the Cougars scored 19 points.
Stanford received a season-high 28 points from its bench.
