Stanford happy to return to Pac-10 action after humbling loss to UConn

by Keith Peters

There are two ways to look at Stanford's discouraging 76-56 nonconference loss to No. 7 Connecticut last weekend on national television. On the negative side, the setback showed once again how big, tall and slow doesn't always make for success on the basketball court.

On the positive side, Stanford won't play a team like UConn again this season--unless the Cardinal faces the Huskies in the NCAA tournament. Perish the thought.

"They clearly got us out of our offense," said Stanford coach Mike Montgomery. "We were shooting too quickly. We shot out of rhythm. We got few points off offensive rebounds. Et cetera, et cetera. It sort of snowballed on us."

UConn was too quick and too aggressive for Stanford, which was forced into 18 turnovers. Twelve were created by steals, which led to 19 easy points and a 52.5 percent shooting by the Huskies.

"It's a style of play that gives us problems that may not give somebody else problems," Montgomery said. "We've not seen a team as intelligent in trapping as they are."

Fortunately for the Cardinal, no team in the Pacific-10 Conference has displayed that kind of aggressiveness and tenacity. That's why the Cardinal is 8-2 in the conference (19-3 overall) and still has an outside shot at a title.

Of course, with Arizona (11-0) still on a roll, that outside shot appears as good as the one the Cardinal displayed against UConn. Stanford was six of 23 from three-point range, made only 19 of 61 field-goal attempts and shot just .311 from the field while tallying a season-low 56 points.

"It's definitely humiliating," said Stanford center Tim Young, who scored just six points--missing numerous close shots and passing up on just as many dunks. "What we do with it, we'll see."

That opportunity comes this week. Stanford, after spending last week traveling 3,000 miles to be handed a thrashing and 3,000 more to get home, takes a much shorter trip to Los Angeles to face UCLA on Thursday and USC on Saturday.

The UCLA game looms large in perhaps determining second place in the Pac-10. The Bruins are 8-3 (18-4) and can take over sole possession of second place with a victory. A win by Stanford will give the Cardinal a 9-2 conference mark and a 1 1/2-game bulge over the Bruins.

Stanford likely won't face the same kind of pressure it ran up against in UConn, which pressed fullcourt while contesting every pass and shot.

"We didn't make them pay the price for pressing us," said power forward Mark Madsen, who's still rounding into shape after recovering from a stress fracture. "We've never been in that situation, as post players, where we were the last line to break the press. I guarantee you that the next time we see this, the post players will make them pay."

Actually, Stanford doesn't want to see a team like UConn again. The Huskies posed difficult matchups for the Cardinal.

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