Jan. 9, 2011
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP)- The Arizona basketball team hoped its 67-57 victory over Stanford served a larger purpose than a win in the Pac-10 standings.
"We came here to play hard today," coach Sean Miller said, "and in a sense play for Tucson."
Jamelle Horne, who lost his starting job one game before the Pac-10 season began, scored 16 points and grabbed 12 rebounds and Arizona completed a home sweep of the Bay Area schools in a contest pushed back a day because of Saturday's mass shooting in suburban Tucson that left six people dead and critically wounded U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.
She and others hurt in the attack were being treated at University Medical Center, just a few blocks from McKale Center, where Arizona's largest home crowd of the season -- 14,374 -- showed up for the game on a brilliantly sunny Sunday.
Horne, 6-of-7 shooting overall, made all four of his 3-point attempts, two to lift the Wildcats (14-3, 3-1) out of trouble down the stretch. Derrick Williams, coming off a career-high 31 points in Arizona's 73-71 victory over California on Thursday night, made all five of his shots, two of them 3-pointers, to finish with 14.
Josh Owens scored 18 and Jeremy Green 15 for Stanford (9-5, 2-1).
There was an increased police presence at the game and fans noted a more thorough search of their belongings than usual.
Before the tipoff, university president Robert Shelton spoke to the crowd from center court, thanking Stanford for its cooperation and praising doctors at nearby University Medical Center "without whose efforts we'd have a lot of dead people right now in Tucson."
Miller held a meeting with the players on Saturday to "paint the picture of the reality of what happened, knowing that basketball was on the back burner."
Stanford head coach Johnny Dawkins said rescheduling the game was "an easy decision."
"We wanted to make sure we respected a tragic situation and a loss of life and injuries," he said.
The Cardinal, down 54-39 with 9½ minutes to play, outscored Arizona 15-5 to cut it to 59-54 on Green's 15-footer with 4 minutes to play.
Horne's much-needed 3-pointer from the corner boosted the lead to 62-54 with 3:35 remaining. Owens scored inside, drawing Williams' fourth foul in the process, but missed the free throw and Arizona led 62-56 with 3:21 to go. Horne's last 3 put the Wildcats in control for good at 65-56 with 2:26 remaining.
Arizona dominated the boards 41-26 and made 10-of-17 3s to Stanford's 2-of-12. Green, normally the Cardinal's leading scorer, was 5-of-14 shooting, 1 of 5 from 3-point range.
The Wildcats scored the final 10 points of the first half, capped by Horne's rebound dunk at the buzzer, to take a 39-28 lead.
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Stanford head coach Johnny Dawkins:
Opening Statement:
"I thought it was a hard-fought game. Both teams played very well defensively. Both teams competed and tonight we just came up on the short end of the stick. Arizona rebounded well and got many second chance points. We have been doing a good job on the boards but today we did not. Give them credit for that."
On the play of Jamelle Horne:
"He played like a senior tonight. He was real active and made plays and knocked down his open looks."
On the rescheduling of game after yesterday's tragedy:
"We wanted to make sure we respected a tragic situation that included loss of life and injuries. It was an easy decision. We could have postponed to the next day or whenever they wanted to reschedule it. You have to respect the process of what happened and the people involved."
Stanford junior Jeremy Green:
Thoughts on the game:
"It was a tough loss. They just outfought us out there. Arizona crashed the boards really hard and we gave up a lot of second chance points because of that. We are always going to work and compete to the very end. Today, we just weren't able to pull it out in the end."
On the rescheduling of game after yesterday's tragedy:
"If anything, I think it made both teams want to get out there and play even harder, given the tragedy. There are other things more important and bigger than basketball and you've got to handle that first."
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NOTES: Stanford had won seven consecutive Sunday games dating back to a 75-68 home loss to Washington back on Feb. 8, 2009 ... Arizona became the first opponent to register at least 40 rebounds since Washington grabbed 43 boards in last year's final game at the Pac-10 Tournament semifinals ... After making 20 consecutive free throws to begin his college career, Aaron Bright misfired on his first free throw attempt during the second half of Sunday's game. He finished 2-4 from the charity stripe and is now 22-24 ... Arizona held an 18-4 edge in second-half points and a 29-9 advantage in bench scoring ... Stanford forced at least 15 turnovers for the 10th time in 14 games ... After connecting on a combined 17-31 (54.8 percent) attempts from three-point territory in two wins at home last week, Stanford finished a combined 4-22 (18.1 percent) from long distance in two road games this week ... Josh Owens scored in double-figures for the 10th time this year, finishing with 18 points on nine buckets despite taking a career-high 17 attempts ... Jarrett Mann continues to enjoy success against Arizona. In four career meetings, the junior guard is 10-13 from the field and averaging 6.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game ... Arizona leading scorer Derrick Williams entered the game averaging 19.4 points and 7.0 rebounds per game but finished with 14 points on 5-5 shooting and nine boards.