This week, the talk was about Stanford as the surprise team of the Pacific-10 Conference at the season’s midpoint.
Surprise.
Stanford is still young and still susceptible to the ebbs and flows of a season, the two reasons the Pac-10 media tabbed Stanford to finish seventh when the season began. Coming off two big wins against then-No. 1 Arizona and Arizona State in Arizona, the Cardinal came into McArthur Court and were too flustered to come back when they got in a hole against the Ducks.
“I’m sure there was some element of ‘now we’ve got it figured out,’” Stanford coach Mike Montgomery said, in reference to Stanford’s recent success. “We never did get back to where we were in control of this game.”
Stanford was led by a veteran and a young player — senior Julius Barnes and sophomore Josh Childress — who combined for 32 points. But young players like sophomores Nick Robinson and Rob Little looked lost in the sea of yellow at McArthur Court.
The Cardinal shot just 32.8 percent from the field in the game.
“In the first half we had a lot of point-blank looks that we didn’t make,” Montgomery said. “At some point we became frustrated and started taking bad shots.”
But the Ducks labeled their foes as “tough,” and said Stanford put up a fight underneath the basket. That fight may have illuminated more about the future of the Ducks’ season than the future for the Cardinal.
“Stanford is a hard-nosed team, and we had to go out there and be intense, and we were,” forward Robert Johnson said.
Oregon shut down Stanford’s big men. Rob Little and Nick Robinson — who combined for 22 points and 20 rebounds against the Ducks in Oregon’s loss in Palo Alto — had just six points and seven rebounds Thursday. Justin Davis, who was injured in the first game, had seven points and three rebounds.
Little, Robinson and Davis combined for more fouls, 12, than rebounds, 10.
“We knew we needed to step up,” Johnson said, speaking for his fellow big men. “Everybody just contributed.”
McArthur Court may have been the sixth man on the floor for Thursday’s game, as the Cardinal spoke of being flustered in the game.
“For our freshmen, McArthur Court may have had a little bit of an affect on them,” Montgomery said.
“When we went down there, (Stanford and California) have good environments and they were fired up to play us,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said. “We wanted to turn that around when they came up here. We play with high energy, high intensity when we’re on our home floor.”
Oregon guard Luke Ridnour, who scored all 23 of his points in the second half, said the reaction is only normal.
“Any time you play a team on their home court, they’re going to play a little better,” Ridnour said. “But Stanford kept battling. They’re a good team and it shows how tough this conference is.”
Stanford will find out just how hard the conference is in upcoming weeks. The Cardinal head to Corvallis to take on the hot Oregon State Beavers on Saturday, then face Washington on Thursday. The Huskies nearly knocked off Arizona in Seattle on Thursday night.
Stanford fell two games behind second-place California on Thursday night, as the Bears knocked off the Beavers in Corvallis. That Cal win also shut Oregon out of the conference’s top two spots for the week. But the Ducks could move into the third spot if Stanford falls to Oregon State.