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Uploaded: Sunday, February 8, 2009, 7:13 PM
Dawkins: "We have to protect our home court"
Stanford loses its third conference game at Maples, the most in 16 years
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by Rick Eymer
Palo Alto Online Staff
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| Anthony Goods mumbled a few words after a long pause. He was asked about how he felt the season was going so far.
"I said it's frustrating," he said after a request to speak up. "It's no fun losing."
The Stanford men's basketball team won its first 10 games of the season but are 4-7 since, all in Pac-10 play following Sunday's 75-68 setback to visiting Washington.
Stanford gets another chance for a victory Tuesday night when Cal State Bakersfield visits for a nonconference contest at 7:30 p.m. A win over the Roadrunners would, at least, guarantee at least a .500 season.
The Cardinal is suffering through its worst season since former coach Mike Montgomery completed his only losing season at the college level in 1992-93. This year's team won't come close to its predecessors, but it doesn't exactly want the comparison either.
At 4-7 in the Pac-10, Stanford is staring at the possibility of its first losing conference record since 1993. That's also the last year Washington won a game at Maples Pavilion.
Montgomery was in his seventh year at Stanford, had won the NIT title and been to the NCAA tournament before his team finished 7-23 overall, 2-16 in the Pac-10.
The Cardinal lost 16 of its final 17 games that season. The worst it could do this year is finish 1-13.
Still, it's no fun to be associated with losing teams and Stanford could do a lot for its self-image by finishing strong.
"The race isn't over yet," Cardinal coach Johnny Dawkins said. "But we have to keep fighting and we have to win more than we lose."
Stanford has lost three conference home games, the most since, well, you get the idea. Since its 7-9 home mark in that forgettable season, no Cardinal has lost more than five games at home overall. Stanford has three games remaining to play in Maples Pavilion and two of them are against USC and UCLA.
Every men's basketball coach since Andy Kerr resigned in 1926 (to become a football coach at another college) following four consecutive winning seasons has struggled at Stanford.
Trent Johnson produced four winning records in as many years here, but his 2005-06 edition nearly didn't make it into the NIT tournament. Even then, Montgomery had already established a higher level.
Washington players knew about the 15-game losing streak that began when freshman guard Brevin Knight hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to give Stanford a 67-65 victory over the Huskies on Jan. 6, 1994.
It took Washington 174 months to end the streak, and it took another freshman guard to help lead the way in Isaiah Thomas. He was wearing purple when he hit a late shot that deflated a Stanford rally.
"We weren't worried about it. Coach wasn't worried about it," Thomas said. "He said the streak was nothing. He made a little joke about it, and that was it. It's good that it came to an end and we got a win."
Junior Landry Fields did his best to keep the streak going, scoring a career-high 22 points to go with 10 rebounds. Goods added 12 points and Jeremy Green had 11 but it wasn't enough to prevent Stanford form losing for the fourth time in five games.
"We were getting decent shots," Goods said. "But we were just missing them. We didn't take care of the ball."
Stanford closed within 66-63 on Fields' jumper with 2:18 left. Thomas followed with a leaner and the Cardinal never got any closer.
"Isaiah drove to the basket and made an incredible shot," Huskies coach Lorenzo Romar said. "That was a big, big shot because it kind of broke the drought a little bit. Our guys got energized by that one. It wasn't the most spectacular shot he's made, but at that point in the game, it was probably the biggest shot he's made."
Washington maintained its lead throughout the second half, though Stanford made a run to close within 64-60 on a breakaway dunk by Josh Owens with 4:01 left.
"We had 11 turnovers in the first half and we average 11 turnovers a game," Fields said. "We have to be stronger. They came in and imposed their will on us."
Fields was 10-of-15 from the field and recorded his third double-double. The junior also had two blocks.
A 12-0 run gave Stanford a 25-15 advantage with 8:48 remaining in the first half. The Cardinal made two of nine shots and committed six turnovers the remainder of the half, allowing Washington to go into the locker room with a slight edge.
Pac-10 Conference standings
UCLA 8-2 (19-4)
Washington 8-3 (17-6)
Arizona State 7-4 (18-5)
California 7-4 (18-6)
USC 6-4 (15-7)
Arizona 6-5 (16-8)
Stanford 4-7 (14-7)
Washington St. 4-7 (12-11)
Oregon State 4-7 (10-12)
Oregon 0-11 (6-17)
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