March 5, 2005
By JANIE McCAULEY
AP Sports Writer
STANFORD, Calif. (AP) - In a span of two hours, Nate Robinson went from his hyper, high-energy self to slumped over and stone-faced.
Washington missed one huge opportunity, and he partially blamed himself.
Matt Haryasz had a career-high 24 points and 10 rebounds, and an inspired Stanford team shocked No. 10 Washington 77-67 on Saturday, dashing the Huskies' hopes of at least a share of their first Pac-10 title in two decades.
"We blew our chance. That was it," said Robinson, frustrated with his 4-for-16, 11-point performance. "I'm just speechless right now. I don't know what to say. We couldn't get it done."
Washington had to wait to see if Arizona State could upset first-place Arizona and throw the conference championship into a tie. The Huskies (24-5, 14-4 Pac-10) haven't won a league title since tying with Southern California in 1985.
Strangely enough, it was Washington that kept Stanford from an undefeated regular-season last year by ending the Cardinal's 26-game winning streak with a 77-66 victory in Seattle during the final Pac-10 weekend - almost an identical score from Saturday's game.
"That hurt," Haryasz recalled of last season's meeting.
Brandon Roy had 16 points and eight rebounds, but the cold-shooting Huskies never found any rhythm only two days after making a school-record 16 3-pointers in a 106-73 victory at California.
Washington has lost 12 straight games at Maples Pavilion, where a sellout crowd of 7,233 made things hard for the Huskies all day. Hundreds of students dressed in red ran onto the floor to celebrate when the final buzzer sounded.
The Huskies had won four straight and eight of nine, and their frustration was evident when Roy hammered Fred Washington under the basket with 26.6 seconds left for an intentional foul.
"If you're standing around like we were, it's hard to get ball movement," Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said. "That was maybe the biggest culprit."
For Stanford (17-11, 11-7), the win was huge on the heels of an embarrassing 59-48 loss to Washington State on Thursday. The Cardinal, who have reached the NCAA tournament's second round each of the past 10 seasons, did a lot to boost their postseason chances with the victory.
"We were embarrassed two nights ago, and we didn't want any part of that feeling again," Stanford coach Trent Johnson said.
Haryasz practically did it all on the day Stanford held a pregame ceremony to honor seniors Rob Little and Nick Robinson, who played crucial roles in the team's 30-2 season a year ago when the Cardinal were ranked No. 1.
In the first half, the 6-foot-11 Haryasz dribbled the ball upcourt against Washington's full-court press, then swished a baseline jumper moments later.
"I was really inspired," Haryasz said. "I was pretty bummed about the Washington State game."
Jason Haas scored a career-high 18 points and Chris Hernandez and Robinson each added 12 for the Cardinal, who kept the Huskies from reaching their most victories since the 1953 Washington team finished 28-3 and went on to the program's only Final Four.
Washington hasn't won at Maples since a 68-67 victory Jan. 30, 1993, and hasn't swept its annual Bay Area trip since the '84-85 season.
This Huskies team is accomplishing things the traditionally football-frenzied school hasn't done since the days Detlef Schrempf and Christian Welp wore purple and gold. But now Washington will have to regroup in a hurry to prepare for next weekend's conference tournament in Los Angeles.
"We learn from our mistakes," Nate Robinson said. "And we've got to learn from this game."
Before the game, the Washington star was loose, dancing to the music of the Stanford band during warmups and thoroughly testing both baskets in renovated Maples Pavilion, which received a $30 million facelift since the Huskies' last visit.
"We knew we were ready and focused," he said. "We wanted to win so bad. We couldn't knock down a shot. I know I took some terrible shots."
Washington went 8:34 without a field goal - missing 19 straight shots - spanning halftime and faced a Stanford team that answered every Huskies' threat.
"We got impatient for whatever reason," Romar said. "It wasn't a selfish thing."
Washington and Arizona split their season series, so if they share the conference title, the tiebreaker will go the team with a better record against the third-place team.
The Huskies fell behind 9-4, but responded with an 11-1 run to go ahead as Stanford missed 11 of its first 14 shots. But Washington was held scoreless over the final 5:22 of the half and trailed 31-29 at the break after Stanford closed on a 10-0 run.