As he whooped and hollered on the bench in the final minutes of
Thursday night’s victory over California, T.J. Cummings heard
the roar.
“We want Stanford,” the shouts echoed from the
rafters as the final seconds ticked off the game clock.
“That’s where our minds were, too,” Cummings
admitted. “As the game started looking better and better, we
already started looking forward to the next one.”
Thursday night’s victory was quite a warm-up act for the
Bruins (11-11, 7-7 Pac-10), but the team admitted that the real
main attraction rolls into town Saturday afternoon.
No. 1 Stanford (22-0, 13-0) is making what once looked
impossible seem inevitable as it inches toward the first undefeated
regular season since UNLV went 31-0 in 1990-1991. The Cardinal
stormed back from an eight-point halftime deficit Thursday night
against USC, ensuring Saturday’s nationally televised matchup
would not lose any of its luster.
Though the Bruins will be decided underdogs, history is on their
side. UCLA has defeated the nation’s top-ranked team each of
the past four seasons, including a pair of victories over the
Cardinal in 2000 and 2001.
“We’ve done it a couple of times now, but it
won’t matter Saturday,” sophomore center Ryan Hollins
said. “We can’t worry about history, déjà vu,
and all that.”
Saturday’s matchup may be the most daunting the Bruins
have faced in the last five years. The Cardinal are loaded with
talent at each position and have shown a knack for rising to the
occasion all season when their backs are against the wall.
Injuries to forwards Josh Childress and Justin Davis have not
derailed Stanford, nor have double-digit second-half deficits
against USC and Oregon. And since stunning Arizona with Nick
Robinson’s last-second 35-footer earlier this month at Maples
Pavilion, the Cardinal have been the media’s darlings,
garnering front-page headlines wherever they travel.
“We know who they are,” Hollins said.
“We’ve definitely been paying attention.”
UCLA will have the benefit of playing Stanford without Davis,
the Cardinal’s third-leading scorer and second-leading
rebounder, who will be out of action for the remainder of the
regular season after sustaining a knee injury earlier this
month.
But Stanford has no shortage of physical, big men.
Rob Little, Matt Haryasz and Joe Kirchofer have picked up the
slack in Davis’s absence, enabling Stanford to maintain its
unblemished record.
“Without Justin, we’re not very big, and we’re
not very physical,” Stanford coach Mike Montgomery said.
“But we still can do some other things.”
The Cardinal destroyed UCLA in transition in the team’s
first meeting of the year last month as Davis, Little and Haryasz
each consistently beat the Bruin post players down the court.
UCLA, which utilized 7-footers Hollins and Michael Fey at the
same time against Cal on Thursday night, could employ a similar
strategy to combat the Cardinal interior advantage.
As he left the court Thursday night, Hollins, too, already was
pondering the chance to be the team that ends the streak.
“It’s a big game,” Hollins said.
“Probably the biggest of the season.”