Well, at least it should get easier from here.

Stanford faced perhaps its toughest opponent of the Pac-10 schedule right off the bat, starting its conference season against No. 5 UCLA, a team that has won the last two Pac-10 titles and been to two straight Final Fours.

With such a small margin of error, the Cardinal didn’t make it easy for themselves Thursday night. A handful of critical mistakes down the stretch cost Stanford the game, a 76-67 final in front of a sellout crowd at Maples Pavilion.

The No. 24 Cardinal (11-2, 0-1) hung tough in the first half, trailing 35-34 at intermission. But the Bruins (13-1, 1-0) were poised and cranked up the pressure in the second stanza, mounting a run while Stanford cracked and lost its composure.

“In a game like this, when you’re playing against a team this talented, this experienced, when you have opportunities to knock down the open shot and you have opportunities to make a hustle play and get the stop you have to do it,” Stanford head coach Trent Johnson said. “And we didn’t do it.”

Billed as a match up between bruising big men in UCLA freshman Kevin Love and Stanford sophomores Brook and Robin Lopez, backcourt play was instead the key for both teams.

UCLA’s trio of Darren Collison, Josh Shipp and Russell Westbrook proved too tough for Stanford to handle. Westbrook, coming off the bench for the first time all season, had 15 points and six assists, while Collison, the speedy junior, added nine points, four assists and three steals. Shipp buried the Cardinal from beyond the arc, making five-of-eight three-point attempts to finish with a game-high 21 points.

Eight of those points came during a crucial five-minute period in the second half. The two teams traded baskets for a long stretch following the intermission, but up 51-49 with nine minutes to go, UCLA went on a 13-4 run and never looked back.

“Down the stretch there were key, I want to say three or four key plays where we didn’t get a block out, didn’t get a stop, didn’t react to the ball,” Johnson said. “Then we had some shots that just didn’t go down for us in the post.”

Johnson's team missed three layups during that spell, and gave up four offensive rebounds - including two off missed free throws.

For the night, UCLA outshot Stanford 54 to 41 percent, and sunk nine of 16 three-point attempts. Stanford made only three of 11 attempts from beyond the arc, all at the hands of Anthony Goods, who led the team with 17 points.

“I thought we met their physicality at times,” Goods said afterwards, searching for a positive to take away from the game. “Obviously we’d like to do it for the full 40 minutes, but there were stretches where we were just as physical as they were and looked like we’d dominate on the boards.”

Stanford did win the battle of the boards 35-31, led by Robin Lopez’s 12 (eight offensive). But the Bruins kept the double teams coming and prevented the Lopez twins from dominating offensively. Robin finished with eight points, while Brook, after scoring just two points in the first half, finished with 13 points but shot just five-from-13.

Both were hampered by the referee’s whistle and each fouled out in the final two minutes.

While six of his 15 points came on free throws in the final minute, Love’s 270-pound frame gave the Cardinal fits on the perimeter as he set picks to free up guards for open jump shots. He kept the Lopez twins from getting too comfortable inside, and each of his seven rebounds seemed to come at a critical points in the game.

Stanford jumped to a 6-0 lead off a Goods jumper and a layup and jumper from guard Mitch Johnson. Johnson was able to get past Collison, recovering from a sprained knee, on several instances, but struggled with control on the way to committing five turnovers to his four assists.

The Cardinal got within six points with a minute remaining after Collison missed a free throw and Goods hit a three-pointer. But Love, known for his affinity for finding the open man, made a brilliant full-court pass to Westbrook for a breakaway dunk, and Stanford never got close again.

Stanford next faces No. 22 USC (9-4, 0-1), fresh off a 92-82 loss at Cal Thursday evening.

“It’s a quick turnaround and we need to get this [loss] behind us,” Trent Johnson said.

Tipoff is 5 p.m. Saturday at Maples Pavilion.