PALO ALTO “”mdash; Going into Sunday’s contest against
Stanford, UCLA had a chance to seize third place in the Pac-10 and
the inside track to an NCAA Tournament bid.
Chris Hernandez wouldn’t let either happen.
Stricken with the flu in his team’s first matchup with
UCLA last month, Stanford’s point guard made sure it was the
Bruins who felt sick leaving Maples Pavilion.
Hernandez torched the Bruins for a career-high 37 points,
lifting the third-place Cardinal to a 78-65 victory that left UCLA
squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble.
“We had no answer for Hernandez,” UCLA coach Ben
Howland said. “He outplayed us.”
The loss leaves the fourth-place Bruins (14-9, 8-7 Pac-10) with
almost no margin for error if they hope to reach the NCAA
Tournament. Only four regular season games remain on UCLA’s
schedule before the Pac-10 Tournament.
“If we don’t win out, then we’re going to have
to win some in the Pac-10 tournament,” UCLA senior guard
Brian Morrison said. “I think that’s just
realistic.”
The Bruins are in that position because of Hernandez.
In the January meeting between the two teams, foul trouble and a
bout with the flu limited Hernandez to four points in just 21
minutes.
On Sunday, he eclipsed that point total three minutes into the
first half.
“Health had a lot to do with it,” said Hernandez,
who admitted to looking for his own shot more now that
Stanford’s leading scorer, Dan Grunfeld, is out for the
season with a knee injury.
“I wasn’t getting tired. I had energy throughout the
entire game.”
It showed from the outset.
Hernandez hit a 3-pointer just seven seconds into the game, then
blew by UCLA point guard Jordan Farmar multiple times early in the
first half. By halftime, the redshirt junior had already tallied 22
points, helping Stanford (15-9, 9-5) jump out to a 41-31 halftime
lead.
“UCLA gave him a lot of open shots, and Chris is going to
knock them down,” Stanford’s Matt Haryasz said.
“I don’t think UCLA adjusted very well to
that.”
Even when the Bruins did get a hand in Hernandez’s face,
he was able to make the contested shots. A steady rotation of
Farmar, Morrison and Arron Afflalo to stop Hernandez proved to no
avail, as not a single one of them was able to take the Stanford
guard out of his rhythm.
“We gave him a couple open looks early,” Morrison
said. “Once he starts getting it going, it’s hard to
stop, especially since he knows he needs to take shots.”
Listless and lackadaisical early in the second half, the Bruins
showed signs of emerging from the doldrums, going on a 15-3 run to
climb within 10 points with under five minutes remaining. Yet when
it needed to most, UCLA could not contain Hernandez.
Squandering three opportunities to cut the deficit to single
digits after an errant Dijon Thompson pass and a pair of rushed
shots by Farmar, Hernandez made UCLA pay. He beat Farmar for a
layup, extending the Cardinal lead to 12, then iced
Stanford’s sixth straight victory over the Bruins one minute
later with a pair of free throws.
“If Hernandez doesn’t have 40, it’s a real
close game,” Farmar said. “If he has his regular 20,
it’s a one-point game.”
Thompson led UCLA with 19 points and 11 rebounds, but much of
his production came after the game was already out of reach.
Stanford succeeded at outmuscling the Bruins in the paint and
outhustling them on the perimeter, stifling UCLA with a balanced
defensive and offensive effort.
“You could see it in their eyes, the way they hustled and
got every loose ball (and) offensive rebound,” Farmar said.
“They really played for each other.”