Uncertainty was in the air as Stanford entered Saturday’s
game with 18,000 hostile hosts. Uncertain if their inexpierianced
new starting five could pull together and produce in “The
Pit”. Uncertian if Josh Childress, Rob Little, and Chris
Hernandez would be able to be effective when they look around and
see 18,000 as opposed to the 800 faces they saw in last years
games. Well everything was answered in Stanford’s resounding
81-65 victory over the New Mexico Lobos in which could be one of
the more difficult road tests of the year.
Stanford ran out of the gates and hit two three’s and a
layup by Curtis and led 8-0 before the Lobos supporters could
even take their seats. Then New Mexio woke up and went on a huge
run of their own and pushed together a lead of 20-12. Montgomery
then told his players to slow the pace down and take advantage of
a New Mexico defense that tends to overplay. The results worked,
Stanford jumped out to a double digit lead and went into the
locker room ahead 38-26. Things just got better after that as
they pushed the lead to 20 on three Tony Giovacchini treys in a
2:30 span. The lead reached its highest at 22 but then New Mexico
went on its final run pulling the lead down to 11 on an 8-0 run
keyed by Marlon Palmer, but after that Stanford breezed home to
defeat New Mexico 81-66.
This showed that Stanford is a legit top 15 team and should be
ranked in the top 10 when the new rankings come out Monday
morning. New Mexico has a .811 winning percentage at the Pit and
it showed as they play with a lot of energy and hustle. They
still have trouble shooting the ball, which was evident last
year, and don’t really have a consistent, reliable scorer.
Curtis and Casey shared the scoring lead with 17 points each
in which was a very balanced attack by the Card. Every starter
was in double figures including an electrifying 5-5 shooting by
Justin Davis which included three dunks and one putback which
could have been his fourth. Tony had 13 points which included 3
treys which keeps his 3 point percentage for the season at 100%
as he hasn’t missed a three in his first eight tries. Josh
also started slow but looked great in the second half and
finished with 13 points in a very exciting fashion. He will
definitely be a great player at Stanford for the years too come
as he has dramatically improved his shooting since his display in
the McDonald’s All-American game. Eric Chatfield led the
Lobos with 17 points, but their offense never seemed to get into
a rythmn or have any kind of low post threat.
Overall this is a very encouraging game for Stanford as many
people including myself were worried about this one. The schedule
doesn’t get easier as they have to play Souther Utah (NCAA
Tourney team), Purdue on the road and number 24 Texas on the
road. They way this one went though you have to like
Stanford’s chances in all three of those games.