HARTFORD, Conn. – Stanford arrived at the XL Center Wednesday night as a great unknown this season in college basketball.The Pac-12 Conference, led by No. 1 Arizona, has been praised but the Cardinal really wasn’t part of that conversation, entering the game against No. 10 UConn with losses to BYU and Pittsburgh, in addition to wins over Bucknell, Denver, Texas Southern, South Dakota State and UC Davis.
After holding on for a 53-51 victory over the Huskies, Stanford will cast a bigger blip on the radar screen entering a game Saturday against Michigan in Brooklyn, N.Y. And the Cardinal accomplished that through patience on offense, a commitment to zone defense, and a second-half meltdown by UConn’s talented group of shooters.
Here are three quick observations from this late-night contest:
1. Lid on the basket: I’ve been covering UConn basketball since 1985 and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything like it. Jim Calhoun didn’t devise the greatest offensive sets in the world but the Huskies always found a way to score. Wednesday night, after grabbing a 38-28 halftime lead, the Huskies simply couldn’t make a basket.
UConn made 14 of 29 shots (48.3 percent) in the first half against Stanford. The Huskies were 6 of 10 from three-point range. Something snapped in the second half. UConn shot 16 percent (5 of 31) overall in the second half and 0-for-12 from three-point territory. That’s beyond bad.
“We missed shots,” coach Kevin Ollie said. “We had open shots and then we took some ill-advised threes. It was a simple zone. They did a good job with their length, closing up gaps and closing up areas. We never got it in the four-hole – the middle by the free throw line. We never exposed that. It was all settling for jump shots.”
And as Ollie said, once you start missing, there is widespread panic.
UConn entered the game 36th in the nation in field goal percentage (49.1 percent) and first in the nation in three-point shooting (46.5 percent). The Huskies shot 16.1 percent in the second half and were 0-for-12 on threes.
“What we wanted to do was slow them down,” Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins said. “They’re a terrific team in transition, so we tried to make them a halfcourt team. One of the ways to do that is valuing the basketball.”
2. Pac-12 is a damn good conference: There has been a lot of criticism of the conference in recent years. But this season the Pac-12 is flexing its muscles. With Arizona at No. 1, Oregon at No. 13 and Colorado ranked No. 20 in this week’s Associated Press poll, it is obvious the Pac-12 is one of the premier conferences this season.
“i think it’s an important win for our conference,” Dawkins said. “A number of teams have had some real signature wins. I’m just happy we were able to have one as well.”
3, UConn can’t let this first loss of the season result in a losing streak: That’s not going to be easy. The Huskies have a long trip to Seattle before Christmas. UConn plays at Washington on Sunday. That’s more Pac-12 action again. The Huskies from the Left Coast are 6-4 overall.
“We didn’t have the toughness that it takes to win this game,” Ollie said. “I hate saying that because I pride myself on toughness and togetherness. We just didn’t have it in the second half – mentally and physically.”
Ollie said regaining that toughness will be the goal of Friday’s practice in Seattle.
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