As the old adage goes, there are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.

But No. 25 Stanford’s recent defensive surge isn’t just showing up on paper; it’s making a difference on the court.

The Cardinal enters this weekend’s road swing through the Washington schools as an elite defensive team in the Pacific-10 Conference. Stanford leads the conference in rebounding and blocks (averaging 39.4 and 7.7 per game, respectively), and is third in field-goal defense, holding opponents to 40.7 percent from the field.

Head coach Trent Johnson attributes the Cardinal’s success in stopping opponents to a balanced, team-oriented approach.

“This is a team that’s becoming more and more complete,” Johnson said after Stanford’s 90-71 win over California on Saturday. “We need all our parts to compete against anyone.”

Having two seven-footers — freshmen twins Brook and Robin Lopez — on the court at the same time doesn’t hurt either. The Cardinal is 7-1 since moving Brook Lopez into the starting lineup on Jan. 7 in the win at Virginia. Since then, the Cardinal has been on a defensive tear — and opponents are taking notice.

“They’re just a strong, dominant force down low,” Cal forward Ryan Anderson said after being held to 11 points on 4-for-11 shooting against the Lopez twins. “They just play really well together.”

But Johnson does not simply rely on his squad’s size on the defensive end. He’s quick to employ a more traditional lineup, with 6-foot-8 junior forward Taj Finger or 6-foot-8 sophomore Lawrence Hill at the power forward position against smaller, more perimeter-oriented teams.

“They’ve got to match up defensively,” Johnson said of keeping both Lopez twins on the floor together.

This weekend, the Cardinal takes on two very different teams with opposite defensive philosophies. Tonight’s game against Washington State will likely be a low scoring, grind-it-out affair, as the Cougars give up a meager 59.7 points per game. Washington, which Stanford will face on Sunday, instead prefers a run-and-gun approach, allowing a league-high 77.9 points per game.

The Cardinal’s 39-37 win in Pullman, Wash. last season was the team’s lowest score in a victory since the 1946-47 season, and Stanford’s fewest points in any game since 1981-82. The teams’ combined total of 76 points was also a conference-low in the shot-clock era.

In last month’s home series against the Washington schools, the Cardinal’s defensive prowess was on full display, with the Lopez twins once again leading the charge. The pair combined for 10 of Stanford’s 13 blocks in the two games, teaming up to hold heralded Huskies freshman Spencer Hawes to six points on 3-of-12 shooting.

Individually, the two are among the best interior defenders in the conference and are tied for second in the Pac-10 with a 2.6 blocks per game average. Robin Lopez’s 54 blocks on the year already ranks second for a single season in Stanford history.

“They’re big guys,” Anderson said. “That’s going to be a struggle for a lot of undersized teams like us.”

For their part, the twins humbly defer much of the Cardinal’s success to the team as a whole

“We just come out and go to work,” Brook Lopez said, adding that the team continues to get “better by the day.”

And while the majority of the attention has focused on the freshman twins, senior guard/forward Fred Washington has been quietly shutting down opponents on the perimeter. His offensive explosion at Cal — a season-high 21 points and career-high eight rebounds — largely overshadowed a remarkable performance from the Golden Bears’ Ayinde Ubaka at the other end of the court.

Ubaka torched Stanford for 26 points in Cal’s 67-63 victory on Jan 3. But last weekend, Washington and sophomore guard Anthony Goods teamed up to hold the Cal guard to two points in the first half. Ubaka ultimately labored up 15 points in the second period — much of it after the game was already out of reach for the Bears — and finished with 17 points.

Washington, who contributed equally impressive performances guarding UCLA’s Aaron Afflalo and Gonzaga’s Derek Raiviol last month, said the Cardinal’s defensive strength came as no surprise.

“I always thought we had the potential to be a good defensive team,” Washington said. “We just had to do it.”