UCLA 76, Stanford 67

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.

A handful of critical mistakes down the stretch cost No. 23 Stanford (12-2, 1-1 Pac-10) the game, a 76-67 final in front of a sellout crowd at Maples Pavilion last Thursday night.

In its conference opener, the No. 23 Cardinal hung tough in the first half against the Bruins, trailing 35-34 at intermission. But UCLA (14-1, 2-0) cranked up the pressure in the second stanza, 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,” 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 stretch in the second half. Up 51-49 with nine minutes to go, the Bruins went on a 13-4 run and never looked back. Stanford 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 junior Anthony Goods, who led the team with 17 points.

“I thought we met their physicality at times,” Goods said after 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’ double teams 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, shooting just five-for-13.

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

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 ability to find the open man, made a brilliant full-court pass to Westbrook for a breakaway dunk, and Stanford never got close again.

Stanford 52, USC 46

In a game that Coach Johnson called a “gut check,” the Cardinal on Saturday faced a USC team fresh off a disappointing 10-point loss to Cal two days earlier. Stanford had its own defeat to rectify, having bowed to No. 5 UCLA 76-67 the same night.

It wasn’t pretty, but the Cardinal came out on top of the Trojans, 52-46, Saturday evening in a game marred by dreadful shooting and myriad turnovers. Stanford won despite shooting only 27 percent from the field, employing a stalwart defense that forced 23 USC turnovers.

“We found a way, and I guess that’s all that matters,” Johnson said. “We didn’t have a lot of shots go down, but guys kept grinding.”

On Saturday, senior Fred Washington — starting for the first time in five games after suffering a knee injury — was charged with defending USC’s heralded freshman O.J. Mayo. Mayo, who was averaging 20 points per game, led the then-No. 22 Trojans (9-5, 0-2) with 14 points, but shot just five-for-19 from the field and committed five turnovers.

“What you’ve got to do is bother him,” Washington said. “He can shoot or take it off the dribble. You just have to try to make him work.”

Taj Gibson added 11 points, nine rebounds and four blocks for the Trojans, who were held to their lowest point total of the season.

“As coach said, this is a testament to our defense,” Washington said. “We should do that every game here on out. Offense is going to come and go, but the defense should be there the entire time.”

Saturday, the offense wasn’t there for either team. Stanford’s shooting performance was its worst in nearly eight years. The Trojans shot slightly better at 35.7 percent from the field, but made only two of 12 three-point attempts.

Goods led Stanford with 11 points on three-for-11 shooting from the field, while junior forward Lawrence Hill chipped in seven points and 13 rebounds off the bench.

“I definitely had to go out and make up for having zero [rebounds] on Thursday,” Hill said afterwards.

Stanford led 28-26 at halftime thanks largely to its defense, which forced 13 turnovers in the first half. The Cardinal seized momentum on the final play of the half, in which Robin Lopez blocked a Mayo layup, leading to a buzzer-beating, fast-break layup by junior Kenny Brown on the other end.

Brook Lopez kept the energy in the Cardinal’s corner to start the second half with a put-back dunk for his first points of the game. He finished with eight points and eight rebounds, struggling inside on three-of-10 shooting in the face of swarming double-teams.

Goods, whose missed free throws allowed the Trojans to sneak away with a victory in last spring’s Pac-10 tournament, made one of two from the line with 28 seconds left and the Cardinal held on for the ugly win.

For Stanford, following Thursday’s breakdowns against UCLA, any victory was welcome. It was especially sweet for senior forward Taj Finger, whose one-for-one mark from the field gave him the best shooting performance of the night.

“I like my wins like I like my women — pretty,” Finger said. “But I’ll take an ugly one or two.”