Arizona is a petty good defensive team. But 43 points? And 25.4 percent shooting for Stanfoird for the game?
Stanford's 56-43 loss to Arizona on Saturday afternoon at Maples Pavilion was disappointing in itself, but the Cardinal is also starting to look like some other recent Stanford teams that provided early-season hope but faded into mediocrity as the season progressed.
Stanford (16-8, 6-5 in the Pac-11) has dropped back into the pack in the conference, three games out of first place and almost out of contention for a conference title that seemed very much within reach less than three weeks ago.
Stanford won five of its first six conference games and was the only Pac-12 team getting votes in the national top-25 polls. But since that 5-1 conference start, the Cardinal has lost four of five games -- the only win in that stretch coming at home against a feeble Arizona State team. An all four of those losses were by double-digit margins. If you add to that skid the offensive problems the Cardinal had on Saturday, it would seem unlikley Stanfiord could win its next game on Thursday on the road against UCLA, a team Stanford beat by just a point at home.
Stanford's defense seems to be OK. It needs to score some points, though. Not a single one of the 10 Stanford players who saw playing time on Saturday made at least half his shots. Josh Owens was the best of the bunch at 4-for-9. But then you look down the line: Chasson Randle 4-for-16, Josh Huestis 1-for-7, Aaron Bright 4-for-14, Dwight Powell 1-for-5, Anthony Brown 1-for-7. As a team, the Cardinal ended up 16-for-65, its worst shooting of the season. And such poor shooting is particuarly unusual at home,. Stanford had been 13-1 at home, including 5-0 in the conference, and teams typically shoot much better at home.
The Cardinal started the game hitting just 4 of its first 24 shots, and Stanfoird scored just six points over the final nine minutes of the game after leading 37-35 with 9:01 to play.
The fade is starting to resemble what the Cardinal has done in recent seasons. People got excited when the Cardinal entered conference play with a 10-0 record in 2008-2009. But the Cardinal sank to the second division of the conference pretty quickly. Then last season, the Cardinal started conference play 3-1, including a victory over then-No. 17 Washington, and people thought the Cardinal might have something. The Cardinal proceeded to lose four in a row to remove itself from the title conversation.
If Stanford loses to UCLA, the Cardinal might be able to kiss a conference title away again, even though no team has really taken control of the Pac-12.
Stanford finds itself in sixth place at the moment, and it is as close to 11th place as it is to first. When the Cardinal was 15-3, an NCAA Tournament berth seemed likely. Now it's a long shot.
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