Prior to this season the last time Stanford beat Arizona was back in early 2009. The last time the Wildcats were swept in the season series against the Cardinal was the season before that. UA went on a tear against Stanford over the last decade racking up 20 wins during that span.
Thursday night Arizona didn't look like a team out for revenge after a three-point loss to Stanford in December that ended the UA winning streak. Instead, the Cardinal was the aggressor despite missing three starters. Stanford's defense suffocated the Wildcats at times resulting in long stretches when Sean Miller's team simply couldn't put the ball in the basket.
It all added up to a 73-64 loss for the home team thanks in large part to 18 turnovers and struggles around the basket on both ends of the floor. Stanford outscored the Wildcats 34-14 in the paint as its unique lineup took advantage of its size and the Arizona front court.
"We were sloppy," Miller said about his team after the loss. "We looked like a team that was hoping we could win, but we weren't ready, locked in, prepared. Where 'hey, if we're gonna lose they're gonna beat us.' We certainly cooperated down the stretch. I feared it because the last couple of days we just did the best that we could to go from the ASU game to getting ready for this game.
"We just didn't have that energy, we just didn't. Not tonight."
Stanford (10-5, 6-3 Pac-12) controlled big portions of the game, but the Wildcats had their opportunities.
Terrell Brown Jr. gave the team a five-point lead on a 3-pointer with 7:35 to play, but from that point on the Cardinal started chipping away and again gained control down the stretch finishing the game by outscoring the Wildcats 21-7 to complete its season sweep.
"We knew going into this game that it was going to be a hard fought game," Brown said. "We know Stanford's a really good team in our conference and in the country, and they just went on a run that we couldn't withhold. We got some turnovers and missed some shots. They made easy shots. They made the extra play.
"So, it wasn't anything we didn't prepare for, they were just executing their stuff."
While execution was part of the problem for Arizona (12-4, 6-4), the issues are not new. In fact, the ending of Thursday's game felt similar to UA's other losses this season especially its defeat at the hands of USC when the Wildcats simply ran out of gas and struggled to close out the game.
One of the biggest problems in that loss to the Trojans was the Wildcats' inability to defend around the basket. Stanford has been forced to use a bigger lineup across the board because of the various issues with its perimeter players including Daejon Davis, Bryce Wills and Ziaire Williams who all were out for Thursday's matchup.
Arizona's front court players had issues defending the length inside and that is not a new problem for Miller's team.
"I think all of our losses this year really share in that," he said. "All you gotta do is look at our team's analytics. We're a better overall offensive team than on defense. We're working hard at it, but one of the problems with the situation that we have right now is we're beaten up. And, we're playing three games in a week. Playing four games in 10 days.
"You don't have a lot of time in between games to recuperate, to practice, to get those repetitions in. In my mind we looked like a team that wasn't as ready as we needed to be."
Arizona was somewhat shorthanded itself in Thursday's game as freshman wing Bennedict Mathurin was not completely prepared to play after missing practice this week. Mathurin injured his ankle Monday night against Arizona State and he was questionable for the contest against Stanford.
He ended up playing 26 minutes off the bench and scoring 10 points in the loss though Miller believes not practicing impacted his performance against the Cardinal. The Wildcats used Dalen Terry in the starting lineup in place of Mathurin, and he was glad to see his teammate do what he was able to do even though he missed time this week.
"I respect Benn a lot for playing tonight, because of his ankle," Terry said. "He still wanted to play and show us how much he loves the game. Show us how much he loves the team. I'm doing whatever coach asks me to do. Coach wanted me to start instead of Benn, I'm gonna do that and play to the best of my abilities."
Arizona will have a quick turnaround with Cal coming to McKale Center this Saturday for an afternoon tip against the Wildcats.
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