by Craig Wentz
Three weeks ago, the Stanford men's basketball team was alone in second place in the Pacific-10 Conference. That position, however, has been drastically altered. Heading into the final two games of the regular season, the Cardinal is perched precariously in fourth at 10-6 (17-8 overall).
"It's time to reload and do what we have to do in Arizona," said Stanford guard Brevin Knight, who was held to eight points in Sunday's 85-69 whipping at the hands of Cal in Berkeley.
The Cardinal had better be on target this week as it travels to second-place Arizona (12-4) on Thursday and then visits Arizona State (5-11) Saturday. For all intents and purposes, Stanford needs no worse than a split if it hopes to receive an invitational to the NCAA tournament.
"I don't know what the NCAA selection committee is thinking," said Stanford senior Andy Poppink, whose 19 points and eight rebounds made the final score as respectable as it was. "Nobody knows."
Said Cardinal coach Mike Montgomery: "It's a 27-game schedule and we're going to continue to push through like we have all season. The pressure is always on you."
That was definitely the case Sunday as Cal swarmed over the Cardinal from the outset, displaying a defense Stanford hadn't seen in its 97-69 victory over the Bears a month ago in Maples Pavilion.
This time definitely was different.
"They really got up into us," Montgomery said of Cal's defense. "We couldn't move, we couldn't get penetration. They got their hands on a lot of balls."
In what was arguably the most important basketball game ever between the two schools in 227 meetings, Cal used its raw athletic talent and power down low to subdue the Cardinal.
Sunday's game was critical for both schools because not only was sole possession of third place and the inside track for an NCAA bid at stake, but it also marked the first time where both schools needed a win to keep its tournament hopes alive. Stanford and Cal have never been in the NCAA tournament field together since the tournament started in 1939.
It's no secret in the Pac-10 that the key to stopping Stanford is to contain Cardinal guard Brevin Knight. The Bears (17-8, 11-5) did that from the outset and held Knight to just two points (1 of 2 from the field) in the first half and only eight points (2 of 9) for the game, by stopping his drives down the lane and keeping him in sight at all times.
Knight did have 10 assists, making him the school's all-time assist leader, but his totals waned in comparison to the 29 points and 13 assists he had in the teams' first meeting.
Stanford (17-7, 10-6), which plays with three guards the majority of the time, couldn't keep pace down low with the athletic Bears as freshman center sensation Shareef Abdur-Rahim toyed with the Cardinal and scored a game high 31 points (9 of 11 shooting) and grabbed nine rebounds. Stanford held Abdur-Rahim to just 13 points in the team's earlier meeting at Maples Pavilion.
Turnovers and lack of execution cost the Cardinal as Stanford turned the ball over 20 times in the game, which directly led to 24 Cal points. Stanford committed 12 turnovers alone in the first half to dig itself a 42-29 deficit at half.
Stanford also couldn't get its offense into sync from the opening tap as the Cardinal's guard trio of Knight, David Harbour and Dion Cross managed to hit on just six of 22 shots from the field and one of seven from three-point range.
Things have to get better this week even though the outlook is gloomy: Stanford has lost 11 straight at Arizona and six in a row at Arizona State.
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