Publication Date: Wednesday, December 21, 2005
MEN'S BASKETBALL
A very timely victory
A very timely victory
(December 21, 2005) Stanford ends 3-game loss streak, looks ahead to Pete Newell Classic
by Rick Eymer
Until beating visiting Denver, 71-49, on Monday night, the Stanford men's basketball team had to be wondering if it was headed in the right direction. With the Pete Newell Challenge coming up Wednesday night at the Oakland Arena, the Cardinal can look the immediate future square in the face and meet it head on.
Stanford (3-4) snapped a three-game skid with Monday's victory, and managed to avoid a free fall into disaster at the same time. A loss would have meant the worst start since the 1979-80 team opened 2-9 en route to a 7-19 season. A loss would also have meant Stanford's first four-game losing streak since the 1992-93 team lost its last six to finish 7-23.
Instead the Cardinal is looking at the same record after seven games as they had last year, when they finished 18-13 and got an invitation to the Big Dance.
Not all the news was good Monday. It was learned just prior to the contest that Stanford will be without junior forward Fred Washington for at least this week due to tendinitis in his left knee.
Even without Washington, Stanford was able to celebrate for the first time in December and has a chance to gain some momentum heading into Pac-10 play. Stanford opens the conference season on the road at UCLA on Dec. 29 and at USC on Dec. 31.
"It's good to get a win," Stanford senior center Matt Haryasz said. "We saw signs of improvement against Virginia Tech (a 59-52 loss on Saturday in the Las Vegas Showdown) but we didn't finish the job. I thought we played pretty well against Virginia Tech and we built off that today."
Haryasz matched his career high with 24 points and had a season-high 13 rebounds in the victory over the Pioneers. He had 17 points and 10 rebounds in the loss to the Hokies, and now has six double-doubles on the season and 17 for his career.
"Good offense is getting good shots and getting the right guys taking the right shots at the right time," Haryasz said.
Stanford meets Princeton on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. in the first game of a doubleheader. Coming off a victory, the Cardinal is hoping to continue to turn down the right path.
"We're starting to put things together," senior forward Dan Grunfeld said. "We're finding out how to be successful."
Grunfeld shared the scoring load with Haryasz, adding 19 points. He also had six rebounds to help give Stanford a 40-34 advantage on the boards.
Against Virginia Tech, the Cardinal folded in the final eight minutes, letting a lead slip away by not producing down the stretch. Chris Hernandez, for example, missed two crucial front ends of a one-and-one free throw situation that would have slowed the Hokies' advance.
Denver also crept back into contention, pulling within 56-47 with 7:53 left to play after trailing by as many as 20 points. This time Stanford had a response; a defensive response. The Pioneers went scoreless the next six minutes and Stanford was able to rebuild its comfortable lead.
"It's going to get tough for us but we had to stick together," Grunfeld said. "We have to make big plays in critical situations. We had a good presence defensively and we rebounded the ball. This is an improvement, but at the same time we still have a lot to do."
Last year's win in Denver sparked a four-game winning streak and later a streak of eight wins in 10 games in the conference. For that to happen again, the Cardinal will need to develop the toughness that Rob Little and Nick Robinson took with them following last season.
"We're not a dominating team on either end of the court," Stanford coach Trent Johnson said. "We're going to have to withstand an opponent's run and keep our composure."
It worked Monday, and Johnson hopes it's there again on Wednesday.
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