TUCSON, Ariz. - T.J. McConnell totaled 10 points and 11 assists in his final home game, helping No. 5/6 Arizona close out the regular season with a 91-69 victory over Stanford on Saturday.
Playing short-handed for the second straight game with starter Michael Humphrey sidelined, Stanford (18-12, 9-9 Pac-12) had four players score in double figures but not enough weapons to keep pace with Arizona (28-3, 16-2 Pac-12), which extended the nation’s longest home winning streak to 38 games.
Chasson Randle led the Cardinal with 16 points while Anthony Brown and Stefan Nastic added 14 apiece. Nastic knocked down all 10 of his free throws, pacing Stanford’s 24-31 effort from the foul line.
Brandon Ashley had 15 points and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson added 14 for the Wildcats, the No. 1 seed in next week's Pac-12 Tournament after ending the season with an eight-game winning streak.
Stanford, which has lost seven of its last 10 games after a 6-2 conference start, will be the No. 6 seed and face No. 11 seed Washington in the opening round of the Pac-12 Tournament.
The Cardinal managed to hang with the Wildcats well into the first half, overcoming a slow start to pull within 27-25.
Arizona took over after that, forcing the Cardinal into one tough shot after another during a 13-0 run that made it 42-27.
The Wildcats made 16 of 29 shots -- 5 of 9 from 3-point range -- and led 47-31 at halftime after York hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer. And they did it without much help from McConnell, who played 8 minutes after picking up two fouls.
The game got physical to open the second half, with players pushing, shoving and falling to the court as the crowd grew animated. It did nothing to change the outcome.
Stanford managed to pull within 12, but Arizona stretched the lead again behind a three-point play on a two-handed dunk by Hollis-Jefferson and another two-hander by Kaleb Tarczewski over Nastic.
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NOTES: Stanford has dropped 11 in a row to Arizona. The Cardinal’s most recent victory was a 76-60 triumph on Jan. 4, 2009 at Maples Pavilion … Stanford is now 11-19 overall against top-25 teams under head coach Johnny Dawkins. The Cardinal is 2-4 against ranked foes this season … The Cardinal was making its first regular-season appearance on CBS since Jan. 22, 2011 at UCLA … Stanford has failed to shoot better than 39.3 percent in the first half since connecting at 45.2 percent at Washington State on Jan. 31. The Cardinal has also trailed at intermission in nine of its last 10 contests … Chasson Randle (2,225 career points) is now 112 away from becoming Stanford’s all-time scoring leader … Rosco Allen scored 10 points, reaching double figures for the 11th time this season and first since Feb. 8 against USC … Arizona held a 37-27 rebounding edge … Stanford, which leads the Pac-12 averaging only 10.7 turnovers per game, committed 32 combined during the two-game road trip … Chasson Randle and Anthony Brown have now appeared in a school-record 137 career games … Stefan Nastic made all 10 of his free throws and is 42-49 (85.7 percent) from the foul line over his last six games. His clip from the foul line ranks second this season behind Chasson Randle’s 12-12 performance against South Dakota on Nov. 16 … Stanford was also the No. 6 seed in last season’s Pac-12 Tournament, as the Cardinal defeated Washington State and Arizona State before falling to UCLA in the semifinals.
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Stanford Head Coach Johnny Dawkins
“Arizona is very good basketball team; they’re going to go on runs. We have to be able to sustain it when we can. The run at the end of the half just happened because we got into foul trouble. They had points off turnovers and points in the paint. They do a great job in those two areas and they did it again tonight. Anthony Brown picks up his second (foul), Stefan Nastic picks up his second (foul) and Marcus Allen picked up his second (foul). Three of our five starters are out of the game. That means we had a lot of young players coming in the game trying to make plays and it was tough. Those kids gave us what they had, but in this type of environment and under these circumstances, it’s a little bit difficult.”
“We are going to keep fighting. We have to find ways to get ourselves out of the situations we’re in. Now we are only guaranteed one more game. We have to make sure we focus and prepare properly to give ourselves a chance to keep playing.”
“I think foul trouble has been a problem in our recent games. Both games down here (in Arizona) were close games, then we got in foul trouble and the margin ballooned to double figures before we could get to half. We need to be more disciplined defensively with our guys that are playing extended minutes. We need to make sure they can stay on the court. We need to shore up and be better defensively. That’s something we take pride in and I don’t think we have defended to the level we were at earlier in the season.”
Stanford Senior Stefan Nastic
“They definitely took advantage of some momentum plays. Turnovers and foul trouble were a problem for us tonight too, including myself, which does not help.”
“We kept fighting and must keep on fighting. It has been very frustrating but it is just tough times, we have to keep pushing through, and fight till the end. I am confident we will get it going because that’s the kind of team we are.”