Mon, Jul 06, 2009
 Arizona's Chase Budinger tries to pass over a trio of Stanford defenders in the first half at Maples Pavilion. The Cats were swept in the Bay Area for the first time since 2003-04. DAVID SANDERS / arizona daily star
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No victories in NoCalPac-10 opening week ends with loss to Stanford
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 01.05.2009
PALO ALTO, Calif. — The Arizona Wildcats' razor-thin margin of error lasted only about six minutes this time.
In a 76-60 loss at Stanford, an early four-point Wildcat lead was quickly washed away by a flurry of turnovers, foul trouble and continued shooting woes from Chase Budinger.
Arizona trailed 35-26 at halftime, already stinging from foul trouble, and by the time interim head coach Russ Pennell and company finally walked out of Maples Pavilion, the Wildcats had suffered their worst loss at Stanford since the short-lived Ben Lindsey era.
Combined with their 69-55 loss at Cal on Friday, it was also the first time Arizona had been swept in the two-game Bay Area trip since 2003-04, when the Wildcats went 11-7 in the Pac-10. Arizona (9-5, 0-2) will try to recover while hosting Oregon on Thursday and Oregon State on Saturday at McKale Center.
"We need to get home," Pennell said. "We need to get in some good practices and get back to the basics, and we will."
The Wildcats were led by Jordan Hill, who had 17 points and 16 rebounds while Nic Wise added 17 points but had just one assist and three turnovers. Budinger scored 12 points but scored only on dunks and layups from the field — he is 2 for 17 from three-point range over the past four games.
Landry Fields had 19 points and 12 rebounds to lead Stanford (11-1, 1-1), which rebounded from a 90-60 loss to ASU on Friday.
Not only was it the Wildcats' worst loss in Palo Alto since Feb. 7, 1983, when they lost 86-69, there were also some other noteworthy extremes Sunday.
The Wildcats also shot only eight three-pointers and missed all of them. It was only the third time since the advent of the three-pointer in 1986-87 that the UA had failed to hit a three-pointer and it was the first since Dec. 10, 2005, when the UA went 0 for 10 from long range against St. Mary's.
In addition, Arizona had only five assists, the lowest total it has had since dishing only four against Kansas in the 2005 Maui Invitational — a game the UA managed to win 61-49.
But what appeared to bother Pennell most was that Arizona did have 20 turnovers, its second-worst total of the season behind only its 84-57 win over Loyola Marymount, when the Cats had 21.
"Our game plan was to attack the rim, get in there and we did," said Pennell, referring to the early 10-6 lead. "We were scoring at will. Then we just started shooting ourselves in the foot. You turn the ball over 20 times, I don't care where you're playing — you're going to lose that game."
Shortly after the UA built the early four-point lead, when it made 5 of 8 field goals including a dunk from Budinger and six inside points from Hill, the Wildcats' coughing fits began.
They had 11 turnovers in the first half, then another nine after halftime, all while allowing the Cardinal to shoot 45 percent from the field.
"That's what our pressure does," Stanford guard Anthony Goods said. "Guys throw the ball away."
Pennell said some of the pain was self-inflicted, too.
"The first half we beat ourselves," Pennell said. "We turned the ball over a couple of times that had nothing to do with Stanford. No disrespect to Stanford but they were just unforced turnovers. That kind of got us behind the eight ball."
Foul problems didn't help the Wildcats late in the first half, either.
Rolling along with 13 points and seven rebounds in the first half, Hill picked up his second foul with 2:27 left and sat out the rest of the half, along with fellow foul-plagued starters Jamelle Horne and Wise.
Wise also sat the final four minutes after he collected two fouls and Horne sat out five after he picked up his third and was replaced by Brendon Lavender.
That prompted Pennell to go with a lineup of Zane Johnson, Budinger, Fendi Onobun, Garland Judkins and Kyle Fogg for most of the last two minutes. Alex Jacobson also substituted for Onobun in the final seconds.
The Wildcats were outscored 8-1 with that group on the floor.
"One of the things we've been trying to do since Day 1 is develop our bench," Pennell said. "We had three freshmen and a sophomore who hadn't played much last year. That's always a danger zone for us."
Then, in the second half, Stanford had more success doubling Hill and denying him the ball. Hill scored only four points after halftime.
"I got a little frustrated," Hill said. "It was killing us."
Stanford began the second half with three-pointers from Goods and Fields, and though the UA sandwiched those shots with scores from Wise, it was the beginning of Stanford's acceleration to take over the game.
Stanford led 55-40 with 12 minutes left, after Jeremy Green sank two free throws resulting from an intentional foul against Johnson and Will Paul sank an unguarded 10-footer off an inbounds pass.
From there, Arizona never recovered.
While Budinger threw down a fierce one-handed slam with eight minutes left, he never found his jump shot.
He went 4 of 11 from the field, with three dunks and a layup. He has shot 12 of 50 from the field in the past four games.
Still, while also expressing frustration, Budinger said he was not worried about the Wildcats or his own game.
"It's just confidence," Budinger said. "Everybody's confidence is down."
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