It’s over. Arizona wins 78-69. Arizona proves to be the tougher team down the stretch. It wasn’t always pretty — don’t we say that after every UA game? — but a Pac-10 road win is a Pac-10 road win.
The Wildcats improve to 19-4 overall and 8-2 in the Pac-10.
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Looks like Washington is going to fall at Oregon State. Your first-place Wildcats?
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Arizona keeping Stanford at bay, and its 72 points with a minute to play is a season-high against Stanford for a Pac-10 opponent. Game’s not over yet, though. The Cardinal gets an and-one basket with 54.5 seconds left as Derrick Williams fouls out with 21 points.
Arizona is up 72-66 (but Stanford misses the free throw).
Just judging by TV, this is one of the worst Maples Pavilion crowds I’ve heard. Certainly, Stanford hasn’t been pushed on by the fans.
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MoMo Jones likes playing at Stanford late in games. He gives Arizona a 66-62 with a tough jumper from the baseline … and then Stanford misses a three. That was a huge sequence. Arizona has been tough down the stretch. And Derrick Williams scores down low for a 68-62 lead with 1:36 to play.
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Can’t like that. Looks like Derrick Williams tweaks his injured hand (pinky) with 3:36 to go. Arizona is up 62-60, and Williams has four fouls. Lots of action close to the basket in the second half.
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Time to start over. It’s 58-58 with 5:02 to go. This is the time when Sean Miller says toughness will usually win out.
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Alex Jacobson’s stay in the game doesn’t last long, called for an offensive foul.
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Derrick Williams takes the dive on the charge call. Sometimes, that call will go his way, sometimes not. Arizona up 56-54 with 6:14 to go.
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MoMo Jones looks like he is feeling some aches and pains with under 10 minutes to play. He’s been a bit banged up, but Sean Miller earlier this week chalked that up earlier this week to the normal state of things in early February. Of course, Miller always downplays any injuries (or potential injuries).
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Around the Pac-10: Oregon is destroying Washington State 56-30 about midway through the second half. Perhaps Arizona’s win in Eugene is looking pretty good now.
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Stanford’s Jeremy Green has four fouls with 11:03 left. That will keep the Cardinal’s best scorer out for a while.
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Arizona responds with a 9-0 run, doing it with defense. The Cardinal has four turnovers in a row, and the Cats lead 49-40 with 11:46. Not a basketball clinic … but welcome to the Pac-10.
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More sloppy offense for Arizona leads to points on the other end for Stanford. The Cardinal exerting some of the good defense that UA coach Sean Miller was worried about.
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Arizona’s drought ends. Lasts 5:15 to start the second half, but Kevin Parrom hits a free throw to get UA on the board. Stanford leads 41-40. For such a good comeback from Stanford, crowd there seems to have time getting into it.
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Game still tied at 39 at the first media timeout of the second half, 15:55 to go. Three turnovers in the half for the Cats, who seem to hit a stretch like this — where they just drop focus — in every game.
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Jeremy Green ties it for Stanford at 39. Arizona looking to find a way to get the ball in the hoop.
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Hey, Arizona … feel free to stop the guy dribbling, fairly slowly, down the middle of the court, going all the way to the rim for a dunk. That was reason for coach Sean Miller to call time out, as Stanford cuts the lead to 39-37 with 17:55 left.
Derrick Williams has missed a couple of shots in the half, and the Cats just haven’t been able to pull away when they’ve had a couple of chances.
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A tweet from Javier Morales reminds us that Arizona is 16-0 at halftime this season.
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MoMo Jones has cut down on the turnovers in the past few games, but it seems like he’s still good for an unforced error or two every game.
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Arizona shoots 54 percent in the first half, is on pace to score the most points against Stanford of any Pac-10 team this season.The Cardinal hasn’t given up more than 68 points in a conference game this season.
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Cats hold for last shot of half … Jesse Perry drains a 3-pointer from the corner in the final seconds. Arizona leads 39-33 at half. The pace of the game picked up in the last 10 minutes of the half. Arizona is 5 of 7 from 3-point range, continuing its hot shooting of late.
(And, by the way, the shaved prime rib burger at the bar was excellent.)
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Crowd at BullsEye Bar gives biggest ovation of the night for Kyle Fogg’s shot clock-beating 3-pointer.
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Stanford battling back. After trailing by nine, the Cardinal ties the game at 33 with about two minutes to play. And now it looks the officials are letting the guys play after calling it close early.
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Gotta keep MoMo Jones aggressive. He slides into the lane and makes an improbable bank shot. Arizona leads 32-25.
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Recorded here for posterity: Corey Williams on the Fox Sports Arizona telecast says, “Derrick Williams attacks the bucket like a fat man at KFC.”
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A second 3-pointer in a row brings Stanford within 26-25. Overheard in bar, “Oh, crap, is this a one-point story.”
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Stanford drops an open 3-pointer to pull within 26-22.
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Derrick Williams just bulls him way to the hoop, fighting through contact for the basket and the foul. Really … how do you stop him. Coach Sean Miller talked again this week about how Williams is so adept with both hands, especially with the dribble. He said that’s a skill usually seen in 6-foot guards; he has never really seen it in a 6-8 power forward.
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Arizona up 21-15 with 7:11 to play in the half. Seems like the Cats should be up more. Stanford can’t hit a shot, but I’m not sure if Arizona is really explosive enough to pull away from any Pac-10 team. This will probably end up being a grind, especially with all the fouls so far.
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When you’re Derrick Williams, you get the kind bounces off the rim after a running left-hand shot.
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Stanford has scored 60-plus points only twice in nine Pac-10 games. At the 10-minute mark, the Cardinal has only 12 points, so, yeah, it looks like another sub-60 night if you extrapolate the number. Arizona’s defense, especially on the perimeter, has been superb lately.
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Was that really Jamelle Horne flying for that defensive rebound? Seems like he can do that all that time, but it happens only once in while. Some of the crowd here thinks we’re being a little too hard on Horne. …
Arizona leads 14-12 at the under-12 minute timeout.
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Stanford misses a long 3-pointer. John Schuster of 1290-AM says, “If Stanford takes that shot, it has NO shot.”
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Derrick Williams can dunk just fine with his right hand still wrapped because of an injured pinky. Crowd at the bar heartily approves.
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Stanford’s Josh Owens takes advantage of a matchup down low with Jamelle Horne, gets fouled. Owens is a good-looking post player; will the Cats go with Kyryl Natyazhko as the first big man off the bench?
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Arizona aggressive early in the game; you wonder if the Cats can shoot as well from distance on the road as they do at home. Tied at 6 at the first TV timeout.
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Hmmm… trying to blog the game while eating a shaved prime rib burger at the BullsEye bar. This could get messy.
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John Schuster in his sartorial splendor
We’ll be doing our usual in-game blog for Arizona basketball, offering commentary and analysis for tonight’s 7 p.m. game against Stanford … this time with a twist.
The pregame crew at KCUB 1290-AM is live at the new BullsEye Bar in the Black Angus at River and Oracle, and right now, a couple of hours before the game, Rob Lantz, John Schuster and Brad Allis (also a blogger with the TucsonCitizen.com Sports Network) is prattling on about Arizona basketball. And a little UA football recruiting.
I have joined them and will be piggybacking the wi-fi in the bar to blog from the 1290-AM viewing party from here. The station has prizes to give out during the game … although my prize was seeing Schuster’s jacket, circa 1986 Chess King.
As always, have your say about the game in the comments section.
As for that game, our Javier Morales has his usual game preview, breaking down all the matchups and offering a prediction. Who is Morales picking? Well, I’m going to make you click the link.
Arizona enters the game ranked No. 21 in the AP poll, its first appearance in that poll since Dec. 31, 2007.
Said coach Sean Miller about being ranked:
“It’s always good for our team, for any team. Everyone is working so hard and there is a lot at stake when you play games, especially in February, and you’ve been at it now for a long time. I think players, coaches, you feel good about the fact that you’ve had success and it’s being recognized. It’s not necessarily the end-all or our goal, but it does make anybody who is part of what we’re doing feel good.”
Keep checking back before and during the game for updates.
Also on TucsonCitizen.com:
Secret to Derrick Williams’ success: ‘Just play like you’re underrated