Not this time. And more importantly, not this team.
Giant turned giant-killer UCLA, which has felled the
nation’s top-ranked team each of the last four years,
mustered neither the mind-set nor the manpower necessary to extend
its unlikely streak Saturday.
Demonstrating trademark toughness and tenacity, No. 1 Stanford
maintained its unblemished record, clinching its fourth conference
title in the last six years with a 73-60 victory over the Bruins at
Pauley Pavilion.
“Credit Stanford. They have all the attributes of a
top-ranked team,” UCLA coach Ben Howland said.
“We’re going to have to build this program in order to
compete with them.”
The discrepancy between UCLA and the West Coast’s top
teams has never been more obvious than it was after
Saturday’s game.
The Cardinal (23-0, 14-0 Pac-10) have the college basketball
world abuzz with their quest to become the first team to complete
the regular season undefeated since UNLV in 1991. Upstairs at the
UCLA press conference, Howland fielded questions about whether the
Bruins (11-12, 7-8) would even finish with a winning record.
Losing nine of its last 11 games, UCLA finds itself in a
precarious position.
Currently languishing in sixth place in the conference
standings, the Bruins are trying to avoid a second consecutive
losing season and will likely need to win one of their final three
Pac-10 games just to qualify for the conference tournament.
“That’s our goal,” guard Dijon Thompson said.
“To finish with a winning season, make a run in the Pac-10
Tournament, and try to get an NCAA bid.”
Toppling Stanford certainly would have provided UCLA with a
boost, but whatever slim chance the Bruins had to spring the upset
vanished by halftime right along with their offense.
Trailing 19-17, Stanford unveiled a 1-1-3 zone defense,
smothering the UCLA attack and sparking a methodical 25-4 run. The
Bruins failed to score in the final six minutes of the first half
and faced a 19-point deficit going into the break.
“We showed the nation in the first half we can really play
defense,” said Stanford center Rob Little, who tied a career
high with 18 points.
Said Howland: “It felt like forever (that we didn’t
score).”
To their credit, the Bruins did not quit.
UCLA pounced on a series of loose balls early in the second
half, forcing an uncharacteristic flurry of Stanford turnovers that
led to a 14-2 run. When Ryan Hollins buried a turnaround
eight-footer that cut the Cardinal edge to 44-37 with 14:32 to
play, the extra security guards on hand appeared a bit uneasy
envisioning the mob that might have spilled onto the Pauley
Pavilion floor following a UCLA victory.
They had nothing to worry about, however.
A mere half-hour later the fans did rush ““ right up the
aisles and through the rain to the parking lots.
Little stifled the initial Bruin run with a pair of buckets down
low. Then, after UCLA had pulled within 12, Cardinal guards Matt
Lottich and Chris Hernandez hit back-to-back three-pointers from
the top of the key.
Bang. Bang. 71-53, Stanford.
Howland and the Bruins were for the most part complimentary
after the game, lauding the Cardinal for both their poise and their
physicality.
“They’re really good,” said guard Jon Crispin,
who started in place of Trevor Ariza as a reward for his senior
leadership in his final home conference game.
“They play hard, and they’re not going to beat
themselves.”
Thompson, who led UCLA with 17 points, was more reluctant.
“They’re good this year, but they can be
beaten,” he said. “You’ve got to make shots,
Lottich has to miss and you have to contain Childress because you
aren’t going to stop him.”
UCLA essentially did none of that Saturday, paving the way for
Stanford’s seventh straight victory at Pauley.
The Bruins shot 2-for-14 from three-point range, Lottich hit all
four of his attempts from behind the arc, and Childress tallied 14
points of his own.
“I felt good about this game coming into it,”
Howland said.
And afterward?
“It’s a disappointing loss.”