Following a frantic finish on Thursday night which saw Stanford claw their
way back to stun the Washington State Cougars, the Cardinal were looking to get
another sweep at home during the conference season versus a team which had
thoroughly defeated them the last time they met in Seattle, the Washington
Huskies. With a chance to gain a measure of revenge against a team
predicted to be at the top of the Pac-10 this season, Stanford was unable to
overcome the Huskies depth, getting as close as two midway through the second
half before succumbing to a game-ending 24-9 run, losing by a final score of
78-61. Washington moves to 17-8 on the season, 7-6 in Pac-10 play, while
Stanford falls to 11-14, 5-8 in league action.
The Cardinal got off to a hot start, getting a three-point play by Jeremy Green and a long, right wing three-pointer from Drew Shiller, giving Stanford an
early 8-2 lead and causing Huskies head coach Lorenzo Romar to call a
timeout. Washington got back in it with an Isaiah Thomas baseline make and
a Matthew Bryan-Amaning offensive rebound and put-back to get within two before
the first media break of the contest. Washington continued on their run
after the timeout, getting another nine in a row, capped by a steal and layup by
Venoy Overton, giving UW a 15-8 advantage with 12:15 left in the half.
Emmanuel Igbinosa finally help Stanford snap a 5:45 scoreless stretch with a
baseline jumper over his defender, but the Huskies were able to turn a Cardinal
turnover into an easy three-point bucket by Thomas on the other end to keep them
up by eight heading to the benches for the next timeout on the floor.
Washington pushed the lead to as many as 12 after an Isaiah Thomas layup, but
Igbinosa suddenly caught fire, getting five in a row for Stanford, including a
left wing three-ball, to cut the lead to seven. A miss by Washington gave
the Cardinal a chance to shave the lead down a bit more, but Green missed two
three-pointers and Trotter was hard off the glass on his layup. Justin Holiday scored off a Quincy Pondexter miss to stop the run and Thomas drained
two freebies after the media timeout to get the lead back to double-digits,
28-17, with 7:15 left. The Huskies then used their athleticism to draw a
myriad of fouls inside the paint on Stanford, getting four consecutive free
throws to go in, bringing the advantage to 15. Landry Fields tried to cool
off UW, making a tough jumper in the lane (he was fouled, but missed the FT) and
a layup on a break to get Stanford back within 11, but both teams proceeded to
trade buckets, putting the Huskies up 13 with under four minutes to go in the
half. The trend continued over the remainder of the first half with the
lead see-sawing between 13 and 15 until Shiller was fouled by Overton while
trying to throw up a shot right before the halftime buzzer. The Burlingame
senior calmly netted all three free throws with 0.3 seconds left to get Stanford
within 11, 43-32, at the break.
For the half, Stanford shot 44% from the field, 25% (2-8 beyond the arc), and
a paltry 43% at the free throw line, making just six of 14 attempts.
Washington made 39% of their field goals, 22% (2-9) from the three-point line,
and 77% (13-17) at the charity stripe. The Huskies outrebounded the
Cardinal 26-19, including 9-4 on the offensive end. This directly resulted
in an 11-0 advantage in second chance points for UW. Stanford tallied five
assists and eight turnovers, while Washington passed around seven assists and
committed just three turnovers. UW held a 6-2 edge in scoring off those
miscues.
Stanford was led by Fields’ eight points on 3-6 shooting, followed by seven
from Igbinosa and six each from Shiller and Jack Trotter, the latter making his
buckets off of jump shots in the paint. Washington’s leading scorer at the
half was Thomas, who scored 14 on 4-12 shooting from the floor, but 4-4 at the
free throw line. Pondexter was next in line with 11 with Holiday following
him with six.
Both teams came out of the locker room, missing a couple of field goals each
until Holiday got a layup to drop almost 90 seconds into the second half.
A Trotter layup and a Green left corner three-pointer cut the lead to single
digits for the first time since 7:50 remained in the first half before a
Bryan-Amaning three-point play gave the Huskies a lead of an even dozen.
Fields, though, began to get aggressive, netting two buckets in a row to get
Stanford within eight, 49-41, heading to the benches for the first TV timeout of
the second stanza. After a free throw by Pondexter, Stanford went on a hot
streak, capping an 8-0 burst with a steal and layup by Green, putting Stanford
behind by just two, 50-48, with 13:35. The layup brought the crowd to
their feet and forced coach Romar to call a timeout to calm his troops.
The timeout by Washington seemed to initially give them the kick in the rear
they needed as Bryan-Amaning dunked home a loose ball off a Stanford block and
Holiday ran the break well to get himself a jam and give UW back a six-point
advantage with 12:32 remaining in the game. While Stanford didn’t score on
their next two possessions, they were able to draw the fourth fouls of the
evening on Bryan-Amaning and Holiday, forcing the Huskies to go to their bench
with more than 11 minutes remaining in the game. Stanford got a tough
jumper from Fields and then a zipped pass from Fields to Andrew Zimmerman
brought the home team to within two. The Cardinal had a golden opportunity
to tie the game up after grabbing a Pondexter missed three-pointer, but Fields
missed two layins and the subsequent rebound was fumbled out of bounds, giving
UW the ball back. Pondexter drew a foul and made both free throws to
double the lead and a bad pass by Green intended for Dildy kept the lead at
four, 56-52, with 7:47 remaining in the game.
Out of the timeout, UW found Pondexter for a tough deuce inside, but Fields
founds Green going to the bucket to keep the lead at four. Washington then
seemed to find another gear as Thomas hit a three-pointer over a lunging
Shiller, Elston Turner hit a long one after Green made one of two freebies, and
Darnell Gant went up high to put another offensive rebound back in, suddenly
making a close game not so tight anymore with the Huskies up 11, 66-55, with
5:37 to go in the game. Shiller made two free throws and Zimmerman had a
slam off a pass from Mann, but Thomas put a dagger into Stanford’s hearts with a
right wing three over Fields to place UW up 71-59 with 3:17 to go. The
Cardinal would get no closer than that the rest of the way, giving the Cardinal
their first loss at home in conference play.
For the contest, Stanford shot 42% from the field, 22% (4-18) at the
three-point line, and just 46% on 11 of 24 attempts from the free throw
line. Washington also made 42% of their field goal attempts, 35% (6-17)
from beyond the arc, and 77% (20-26) at the charity stripe. UW
outrebounded the Cardinal 43-38, including 12-10 on the offensive side of the
ledger. Washington was more efficient in turning their opportunities into
buckets, outscoring Stanford 17-6 in second chance points. The Huskies
passed out 16 assists and had just five turnovers, while the Card has 13 assists
and 11 turnovers, turning around their initial woes in the first half.
However, the visitors outscored Stanford 12-6 off those mistakes.
Stanford was led by Fields and Green who both scored 17 points on the
night. Fields was 7-14 from the field, but just 2-7 at the free throw
line, while Green was 6-17 from the field, but just 1-9 from beyond the
three-point line. Fields also had seven rebounds and four assists for the
night. Trotter was next in line for Stanford, almost getting a
double-double as he finished with 10 points and nine rebounds on 5-7 shooting
from the floor. Shiller finished with eight points, six boards, and four
assists, tying Fields for the team lead in the final category. Washington
had four players in double-digits, led by Thomas’ 20 on 6-18 shooting.
Pondexter scored 18 on 5-12 shooting, but also had nine rebounds, three assists,
and made 8 of his 11 free throw tries. Bryan-Amaning scored 11 points and
snared five rebounds in just 13 minutes of play as he was hampered with foul
trouble throughout the game.
After the game, a visibly disappointed and angry duo of Dawkins and Fields
addressed the media afterwards, noting that not finishing plays and missing free
throws (the early woes labeled as “contagious”) helped contribute to the
loss. When asked about the two missed layups that would have tied the game
midway through the second half, Fields flatly said “I just missed them.”
If this loss was any more frustrating than others due to it being at home, the
senior remarked “every loss is frustrating.”
The Cardinal will head out on the road for their final trip of the regular
season, taking on the Oregon Ducks at 7:00pm in Eugene. Stay tuned to The
Bootleg for another insightful breakdown of the proceedings from Maples Pavilion
from Kevin “Kevo” Danna!
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