It wasn’t the scene Dijon Thompson expected as he walked
off the court Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion.
The senior forward had hoped for a decisive UCLA victory, proof
that the team’s quick start in conference play this year
meant more than last season’s five-game hoax of a winning
streak.
Yet instead of affirmation, Thompson, UCLA’s leading
scorer, left red-faced with humiliation. He committed six turnovers
and failed to score double-digit points for the first time this
season as Stanford continued its dominance in Westwood, grinding
out a 75-64 victory.
“Bottom line today, I didn’t step up,” said
Thompson, who finished with a season-low six points. “The
senior didn’t step up. I came out flat. I tried to pick it
up, and it wasn’t really there.”
To place all the blame on Thompson for UCLA’s eighth
consecutive loss at home to Stanford is inaccurate. His teammates
were plenty inept as well.
Freshman Jordan Farmar committed silly fouls, senior Brian
Morrison made foolish decisions with the basketball, and freshman
Arron Afflalo could not contain Stanford’s Dan Grunfeld, who
poured in a game-high 25 points.
All those miscues added up to a surprisingly convincing Stanford
victory in which UCLA (10-5, 4-3 Pac-10) never managed to cut the
Cardinal lead to less than five in the game’s final 15
minutes.
“Every time we made a run we got a little anxious,”
UCLA coach Ben Howland said. “They were very patient, and we
forced some shots.”
Pauley Pavilion, overflowing with emotion only two hours earlier
at the prospect of the Bruins ending their run of futility against
Stanford at home, was silent throughout the second half on
Thursday. Many of the fans who arrived convinced that this was
UCLA’s best chance in years to defeat the Cardinal walked up
the aisles, out the door, and to their cars without even seeing the
final moments of the loss.
What made the defeat even more frustrating for the Bruins than
any of the previous seven was that this was a game they were
expected to win convincingly. Stanford, an NCAA Tournament team
each of the past 10 years and the West Coast’s most
consistent program during that time, has fallen on hard times.
The Cardinal (9-7, 3-3) lost three starters and coach Mike
Montgomery after last season, and have already dropped more Pac-10
games this year than four of the past six seasons.
In its trip to Westwood this season, however, it was just like
old times.
“What’s the surprise?” Stanford’s Rob
Little said. “It was seven straight wins. I haven’t
lost at UCLA in my whole career, and I take pride in that.
We’re very comfortable here.”
Stanford had reason to be comfortable because the Bruins were
very generous hosts. UCLA committed 20 turnovers, each more
baffling than the one before.
Down six points with 14 minutes to play, Thompson travelled.
Down nine points with seven minutes to play, Farmar threw the ball
away. By the time Michael Fey, who led UCLA with 17 points and 11
rebounds, committed the team’s final turnover with 2:34 to
play, the Bruins’ fate was sealed.
“We’re not going to win too many games if we turn
the ball over like that,” Howland said.
Thompson, third in the Pac-10 in scoring at 18.8 points per
game, never did get on track, forcing a series of second-half shots
and converting only three of his 11 attempts. He made it clear
after the game that both he and his teammates will have to perform
better for UCLA to avoid unravelling any further Saturday against
Cal.
“We just have to challenge ourselves, test our pride and
manhood on Saturday,” Thompson said. “We have to step
up, I have to step up, and we have to get a win.”