Publication Date: Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Men's College Basketball
Healthy Hernandez lending a big hand to Stanford's success
Healthy Hernandez lending a big hand to Stanford's success
(January 19, 2005) by Rick Eymer
The importance of having a healthy Chris Hernandez in the Stanford men's basketball lineup was again demonstrated in Saturday's 74-58 Pac-10 victory over host California.
Hernandez scored 19 points, 14 in the first half, and the Cardinal (2-3, 8-7) beat Cal for the 14th time in 16 meetings.
Stanford finds itself on the verge of reentering the tight conference race entering Thursday's 7:30 p.m. game at UCLA. The Cardinal moved out of a ninth-place tie with the Bears and into a sixth-place tie with Oregon State and Arizona State.
Depending upon the outcome of this weekend's action, Stanford could find itself in third place by Saturday night. The Cardinal can help themselves with a victory over the Bruins.
"We're starting to realize we can play like this every night out," Hernandez said. "There's no excuse not to play with defensive intensity, because that's what we're going to have to do to win."
Stanford, which owns a winning record for the first time since before Christmas, began showing signs of becoming a consistently good team in losses to nationally-ranked Washington and Arizona State. Wins over nationally-ranked Arizona, and now Cal, makes it four straight competitive games for the Cardinal.
"When you start 0-3 in the Pac-10 you can't lose too many more games," Hernandez said. "Not if you want to get in the top three or make a run down the road."
Hernandez, one of five finalists for the Bob Cousy Award that honors the most outstanding point guard in the nation, has made all the difference.
Not only has Hernandez assumed an important leadership role, but its allowed backup point guard Jason Haas to assume a less stressful, more productive role in the offense.
When Hernandez and Haas are in the game at the same time, production seems to increase. The two guards combined for 27 points and 10 assists in the win over the Bears, and 27 points and nine assists in the win over Arizona.
They also help in breaking fullcourt pressure, as both are solid ballhandlers and both have shown the talent for creativity in transition.
Senior center Rob Little also benefits when both guards are available. He's recorded three double-doubles during the four-game stretch, and all three came when Hernandez was healthy. Little struggled in the loss to Arizona State, when Hernandez was unable to play due to a bad back.
Even Dan Grunfeld, who has been Stanford's most consistent player all season, has improved his stats over the past four games. He leads the Cardinal with an 18.1 scoring average, 21.5 over the past two weeks.
"This is great," Little said. "We're building momentum, people are coming off the bench, Chris and Dan are playing really well and the ball is going down for us right now. It's feeling really good out there."
Senior Nick Robinson, another of the team's steady players, has also shown an improvement over the past four games, scoring at a 10.2 clip and grabbing 5.2 boards. He's also the team leader with 27 steals, and among the leaders with 33 assists.
Stanford has owned the Bruins in recent years, winning the last four games against them. Even more impressive is that the Cardinal has won the last seven years they've visited Pauley Pavilion, a feat unmatched in UCLA history.
That's why Thursday's game will be even more meaningful for this year's team. The Bruins (4-2, 10-4) are enjoying a renaissance under second-year coach Ben Howland.
UCLA missed the NCAA tournament the past two seasons with a combined record of 21-36. The Bruins have finished seventh, sixth and sixth the previous three years. That's heresy in Westwood - UCLA never finished lower than fourth in conference play the previous 71 years.
A visitor to Pauley Pavilion has a choice of 11 NCAA championship banners and 27 conference title banners to peruse. UCLA had won 20 or more games in 36 of the 40 seasons prior to the fiasco of the past two years.
The Bruins haven't won a conference title since 1997, their longest drought since before winning their first conference championship in 1945.
Howland has UCLA playing like champions again, and three of the top six scorers are freshmen he recruited. Senior 6-foot-7 swing player Dijon Thompson (18.4 points, 8.8 rebounds) has all the qualities of a Josh Childress, and freshman point guard Jordan Farmar (13.8 points, 5.0 assists) can hold his own against any one.
Saturday's game against Cal was the first time in 12 years that the Bay Area rivals met with both teams owning losing conference records.
Little had 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Cardinal, who won for the fifth time in seven trips to Berkeley. Grunfeld had 18 points and eight rebounds.
The Cardinal will have played 12 of their 17 games away from Maples Pavilion by the time they come home to face Oregon State on Jan. 27.
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