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Senior guard Chris Hernandez hit three consecutive three-pointers to open the men's basketball game versus Arizona on Sunday afternoon. But for Stanford, it was all downhill from there.
A 15-3 Wildcat run to start the second half, poor defense and a paucity of scoring threats did the Cardinal in, 76-72.
Arizona guard Hassan Adams (10-of-21 shooting) and forward Ivan Radenovic (8-of-10, eight rebounds) led the Wildcats with 23 apiece. While Hernandez led all scorers with 28, senior center Matt Haryasz could muster only 15--four shy of his season average. The only other Card (13-10, 9-5 Pac-10) to crack double figures was sophomore forward Taj Finger with 11.
I think we might have gotten a bit too unselfish and started passing too much to start the second half," Haryasz said. "They went on their run and the wheels started falling off."
Arizona's run--and Stanford's collapse -- came at the most inopportune of times. Stanford had clawed to a narrow 38-36 halftime lead but emerged from the locker room to watch the contest turn into a near-rout in mere minutes.
In the first 6:34 of the second half, Stanford committed five turnovers, hit none of its first six field goal attempts and missed two free throws, including a Hernandez misfire that snapped his streak of 34 straight.
"They did a good job of being aggressive, making us pick our dribble up and making us make turnovers," Hernandez said.
All told, Stanford scored just three points during that meltdown--a pace that would have produced just nine second-half points--while the Wildcats (16-10, 9-6) scored 16 to pull ahead 52-41.
"I thought that at the start of the second half we lost our poise," head coach Trent Johnson said. "We kind of got into a hurry and we panicked. I thought the defensive pressure really got us off-rhythm offensively, and that was the game there."
Two Hernandez threes did key a 16-5 Card run which cut the lead to 71-68 with 49 seconds to play. But the officials then whistled Finger for hacking Radenovic 30 feet from the hoop, and Stanford never closed to within one possession again.
Wildcat coach Lute Olson called the win "one of [Arizona's] best games of the season." His team finished the game with 52.6 percent overall shooting, and the Wildcats made more than they missed in each half.
"They just hit shots when we had good defense--contesting a shot, making a guy not shoot his favorite shot," Haryasz said. "But our transition defense was horrible tonight. Horrible. That cost us a lot of buckets."
Johnson saw fewer positives in his squad's defensive performance.
"Every time we made a run or a semi-run, they managed to come down, get a good look or get to the free-throw line," he said. "Anytime you're at home and the opposing team shoots 21 free throws, that says something about your defense or lack thereof."
While Stanford's last three losses have been hard-fought (losing to probable NCAA Tournament teams by a total of just 11 points) the Card's NCAA chances are nonetheless in need of resuscitation. To qualify, Hernandez said the team will likely need to sweep its remaining regular-season contests or claim the Pac-10's automatic berth by winning the conference tournament in Los Angeles.