Just days after a promising road victory at Arizona State, the Stanford men’s basketball team fell Sunday to Arizona, 67-57, despite a last-ditch comeback attempt. The Cardinal (9-5, 2-1 Pac-10) suffered its first conference loss of the season while Arizona (14-3, 3-1) remains undefeated on its home court and improves to second in the conference standings.
Sunday’s game, which was originally scheduled for Saturday afternoon, was postponed after the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and others during a public appearance in Tucson on Saturday. Following a statement from University of Arizona president Robert Shelton, players, coaches and fans observed a moment of silence for the shooting victims-who are being treated at nearby University Medical Center-before the game commenced.
“We wanted to make sure we respected a tragic situation and a loss of life and injuries-it was an easy decision,” said head coach Johnny Dawkins on the game’s rescheduling. “We could have postponed to the next day or whenever they wanted to reschedule it. You have to respect the process of what happened and the people involved.”
Sporting sleek black uniforms, Stanford opened with an impressive 12-6 start aided by crisp passes from junior guard Jarrett Mann and redshirt junior forward Josh Owens’ low-post presence. Freshman forward Dwight Powell, who made his second consecutive start, contributed five early points but quickly picked up two fouls and exited the game for the remainder of the half.
With Powell on the bench, the Wildcats opened a gap midway through the first half, when efficient ball movement along the perimeter was met by slow defensive rotations by Stanford. Numerous traveling violations by the Wildcats allowed the Cardinal to stay in the game, but an 8-0 run late in the first period gave Arizona a 29-22 lead. A resounding tip-slam at the buzzer from Arizona senior forward Jamelle Horne ended the half 39-28 in the home team’s favor.
“[Horne] played like a senior tonight,” Dawkins said. “He was real active and made plays and knocked down his open looks.”
The Card held the Wildcats scoreless for the first three and a half minutes of the second half, but Stanford’s tepid long-range shooting and inability to rebound proved detrimental, with Horne and sophomore forwards Derrick Williams and Solomon Hill leading the Wildcats to a 15-point lead, their largest of the night.
“They just outfought us out there,” said junior guard Jeremy Green. “[Playing zone] we really don’t have to box out the opponent and we just have to fight for the rebounds. Arizona crashed really hard and we gave up a lot of second chance points because of that.”
The Card refused to roll over-with four minutes remaining in the game, Stanford rallied to bring the score within five. However, turnovers and missed opportunities in the final stretch-on one possession, Mann stepped out of bounds on an attempted pass to Green, only to be answered by a three-pointer from Horne-enabled Arizona to hold on for the win. A layup by Arizona sophomore guard Lamont Jones, who hit a game-winner for the Wildcats in Maples Pavilion last season, sealed the game, 67-57.
Owens’ 18 points on 9-for-17 shooting and three rebounds led the way for the Card. Green was 5-for-14 from the floor and 1-for-5 from behind the arc, though eight of his 15 points came in the game’s final nine minutes.
Horne posted season-high numbers with 16 points (6-for-7 from the field, 4-for-4 from three-point range) and 12 rebounds, while Williams added 14 points and nine rebounds. The Wildcats outrebounded the Cardinal by a 41-26 margin and shot 58.8 percent from behind the arc to Stanford’s 16.7 percent.
“We’re always going to work and compete to the very end,” Green sad. “Today, we just weren’t able to pull it out.”
Next up for the Card is Washington, which stands alone atop the conference as the only undefeated team in Pac-10 play. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. on Thursday at Maples Pavilion.