In all the articles I have written for
TheBootleg I hopefully have come off as a writer who looks at
things objectively. In recapping games, I look for what Stanford
did right and what Stanford did wrong. I like to see what trends
seem to be occurring and what things need to be improved. But
after Saturday's game, I walked out of Maples not knowing
specifically what went wrong or where this team is going. It also
isn’t my style to bring refs into the equation, but I think
they played a major role in this game. True there were bad calls
against both teams, but I felt when the game was on the line,
calls were not going Stanford’s way. I felt Stanford played
well enough to win this game, and I also felt that the better
team today did not win. Arizona-Stanford games have become the
top rivalry on the West Coast for sure. I thought it was UCLA,
but Arizona games are just an unbelievable emotional
rollercoaster. This game was very similar to the game last year,
a one-point loss courtesy of a Michael Wright jump hook as time
expired. I never thought there could be a more heart-wrenching
loss than that, but today it was sure beat.
This matchup started extremely well for
Stanford once again. This marked the third game in a row in which
Stanford exploded out of the gates. It also marked the third game
in a row Stanford blew a double-digit lead, only salvaging
Thursday night’s game on an unbelievable game by Casey
Jacobsen. It looked like Stanford was finally going to make a
statement to the rest of the conference that they were ready for
the stretch run. Just nine minutes into the game it was 29-15;
the 6th man was rocking (for once); and the players
were excited. The Wildcats looked vulnerable: six freshmen on
their roster and no seniors who play significant minutes.
Different from Arizona teams of the past, it looked like this one
could roll over and be happy with a Bay Area split after its
68-58 defeat of Cal two days ago. This unfortunately was
Stanford's largest first half-lead. It was a dominating first
half, but even with a good lead, it felt like the Wildcats were
about to break out. A real turning point in this game was when
Julius Barnes picked up his second foul with three minutes left
in the first half. This brought Tony off the bench to guard Jason
Gardner, and to put it lightly, it was ugly. Gardner scored on
three or four straight possessions, and even though Stanford was
able to put together some baskets itself, I felt that Arizona
still had the halftime momentum. It felt like they were about to
make their move. Nevertheless Stanford entered the locker room
with a 43-33 lead.
The second half began as one might have
expected. Arizona scored a quick basket and the lead was eight.
But for the next two-plus minutes I thought Stanford finally
broke through. Two baskets engineered by Julius Barnes increased
the Stanford lead to 47-35, and a long three-pointer gave
Stanford a 50-35 lead and sent Maples into a frenzy. It was
short-lived though, as Luke Walton seemed to slither his way
through the key and keyed an 8-0 run for Arizona. The lead was at
seven again. The game was still in Stanford’s control, but
at each television timeout it seemed the lead was shrinking. At
12 minutes it was seven; at eight minutes it was four; then at
four minutes it was one. Arizona roared back with superb defense
and a little luck, and were back into the game. A Curtis
Borchardt basket and two Teyo Johnson free throws made the score
75-70 with 3:49 on the clock. I don’t know if people
realized this but Stanford scored ZERO points for the rest of
regulation. This was in part to the complete breakdown in
officiating as well as some bad rebounding. Arizona essentially
had the ball from the 3:30 mark all the way down to two minutes.
Repeatedly it seemed Rick Anderson, Channing Frye, Luke Walton,
etc were all over Curtis on his rebounds. It also seemed like
Anderson clearly knocked the ball out after one of the
possessions, but what can you do? Arizona also didn’t score
a basket for the final 3:49, but two Teyo Johnson fouls
contributed to the five free throws Arizona made to tie the score
at 75. Jacobsen then got called for an offensive foul with 29
seconds left, and Gardner missed a runner at the buzzer. The game
was headed to overtime.
The overtime was then completely dominated
by Arizona. Stanford shot 1-12 and often looked lost on offense.
On the few good looks they had, a few layups were missed. These
were opportunities that would have really helped in the closing
moments of the game. The game continued to stay close, but
Arizona was in control and held on for an 88-82 win.
Many players had great statistical games, as
the starters on both teams logged heavy minutes. Arizona
essentially was six-deep and the 6th, Will Bynum, only
played 12 minutes. Jason Gardner, the leader of the team, had
another great game. He had 20 points and only two turnovers, once
again showing his incredible quickness and great leadership. The
key player in the game for Arizona though had to be Channing
Frye. He is now shooting 76% in his last eight games. He had a
huge game Saturday going for 22 points on 10-13 shooting. He hit
open jumpers repeatedly and grabbed 10 rebounds, six of them
being offensive. Then there was Luke Walton; I don’t know
how he does it but he is extremely effective. There is not a
player in the conference who is more improved than Walton this
season. He finished with 20 points, as well, but also had seven
rebounds and six assists. He along with Gardner has assumed a
leadership role on an incredibly young team. Salim Stoudamire and
Rick Anderson also went for 11 and 10 points, respectively, but
were big time problems with their defensive skill. Anderson has
good mobility for a 6-10 guy, and Stoudamire has great defensive
instincts - he just locks down on a defender.
Stanford also had some great individual
performances. Curtis Borchardt had an amazing game, and
definitely showed he is over his strained abdominal muscle (hip
pointer) that occurred in Los Angeles. He had 25 points on the
day to go with 21 rebounds, ten of them being on the offensive
glass. A truly remarkable performance considering the athletic
ability of Channing Frye and Arizona’s post players. Casey
Jacobsen also had a great game, going for 24 points and six
assists and four rebounds. He and Borchardt once again kept
Stanford going offensively and preserved the lead they had for
most of the game. Teyo Johnson in his second start stayed out of
foul trouble (relatively speaking) and proved to be a threat. He
had 12 points and was six for six from the free throw line.
Julius Barnes never got things going as he shot 3-11 from the
field and ended up with only seven points. It was another day in
which Stanford just couldn’t find a legit third scorer, and
it proved costly in the end. This has been a problem for most of
the year for Stanford, but it has seemed in Maples Pavilion
someone always steps up. Not this day.
This has to be one of the toughest games to
take as a Stanford fan. Arizona seemed very beatable this year
and looked very vulnerable on the road. I really don’t know
where this team will go now after this tough game. There are
usually two ways teams go after losses like this, and they are
both drastic. Maryland last year lost a 10-point lead at home to
Duke in one of the most unbelievable comebacks in recent memory.
This inspired Maryland through the remainder of their season, and
their play showed it. Their best basketball of the season came
after this game and it vaulted them into the Final Four. It also
can be demoralizing to a fragile team like Stanford and could
send them in the wrong direction. I am not saying Stanford will
either end up in the Final Four or NIT, but I think that now we
will see the true mental makeup of the team.
Overall this just is not a nice feeling to
have. For the past couple of years all of us have been on the
other side of games like this and never really have experienced
them like this. I think that this will be a really good
experience for all the players on the team. They are too talented
and too well coached to have something like this dog them for the
rest of the season. The Pac-10 climb is much tougher now, but
with the Oregon’s coming in next weekend, ground can quickly
be gained. I hope I was able to look at this game from both
angles; if it sounds like I am bitter it is because I am. It was
really a great game to watch, but I just wish the outcome would
have been different!!!!