As near misses reach pandemic status for the Cardinal men’s basketball program, it is worth noting just how close Stanford is to relative success.
Consider: in Saturday’s 54-49 loss to USC (14-9, 6-5 Pac-10) at the Galen Center, the Cardinal (10-13, 4-7) had no post presence on either side of the court, suffered through an awful game from sophomore sharpshooter Jeremy Green, and had few meaningful offensive contributions outside of senior forward Landry Fields, who had 27 points.
And while no one will mistake the Trojans for titans of eras past, the above does show that, even with a depleted roster made up largely of walk-ons, Stanford can compete in a down Pac-10. Unfortunately for the Cardinal, there is a large gap between winning and doing just enough to lose. Although general expectations were low for this season, after a team shows signs of life, moral victories begin to fade. Yet it is still surprising that Stanford can compete with a conference opponent, even when Fields accounts for 55 percent of the team’s production, no other player has more than six points to his name and the Cardinal is severely lacking in entire parts of the sport.
Take Stanford’s interior game, for instance. With sophomore Andrew Zimmermann still recovering from injury, the Cardinal’s lack of ability in the paint has been startling, with no better example than Saturday’s contest. Nikola Vucevic had 18 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Trojans. He established himself at will — even sophomore Matei Daian, Stanford’s best post defender, could do little to slow him down.
And when the Cardinal had the ball, the physical duo of Marcus Johnson and Leonard Washington prevented the visitors from gaining any traction down low. Sophomore forward Jack Trotter’s six points came on three-pointers, classmates Daian and Elliot Bullock were held scoreless and both Trotter and Bullock blew routine lay-ups. The end result? USC had 10 blocks; Stanford had two. USC had 32 points in the paint; Stanford had 12.
No sequence was more telling than the one resulting in a Vucevic putback with 21 seconds remaining. The Cardinal led 49-48, and seemed to be in position to get the ball back after senior guard Drew Shiller blocked Johnson’s drive. But Johnson got his own rebound and, after he missed again, Vucevic was there for the third chance opportunity, putting the Trojans up for good. It was a visually stunning sequence: a wall of white shirts preventing any Stanford players from a shot at a rebound.
“Offensive rebounding down the stretch was big for them,” said head coach Johnny Dawkins. “They had a chance to get a couple of putbacks that were big.”
The game played out in USC’s favor from there. Green missed a jumper — he was 1-10 on the night — and Johnson, who was 0-3 from the line until that point, made two foul shots to push the lead to 52-49. With seven seconds left, the Trojans immediately fouled to prevent a three-point attempt, and, after Fields shanked his first attempt, the game was over.
That said, it is to the Cardinal’s credit that it was in a position to win to begin with. Stanford trailed 21-7 in the first half with Green on the bench because of foul trouble, and sophomore point guard Jarrett Mann also sitting for an extended period of time. But the Cardinal proceeded to go on a 16-0 tear to take a two-point lead. Trotter’s two threes, the second giving Stanford the advantage, were his first attempts and makes from beyond the arc this year. The furious comeback went almost until halftime, and USC’s early chances at pulling away were shot — the Trojans led by just one at the half.
And yet, straight out of the locker room, USC went on another streak, opening up an eight-point lead on the back of Washington’s defensive and offensive prowess. But once again, the Cardinal fought back to eventually open up a four-point advantage with under eight minutes to play.
“We had them on the ropes twice and they never quit,” said USC head coach Kevin O’Neill. “We tried to blow it.”
The teams traded blows until Vucevic’s fatal basket, which kept the Cardinal winless on the road in conference play and ensured that Stanford would suffer just its second four-game losing streak in the past 17 years.
Dawkins saw a silver lining.
“I thought our team played well in both [Saturday’s game and Thursday’s 77-73 loss to UCLA],” he said. “We were competitive. We didn’t win either game, but we were right in there. Under two minutes, we were in one-possession games.”
And so it is with the Stanford Cardinal: given the conditions, losses cannot be viewed entirely negatively, but the same problems continue to persist. And yet, at least in the immediate future, they may be alleviated. Zimmermann could return this week, providing the team with a post threat, and the Cardinal returns to Maples, where all of the team’s success has occurred this season.
Stanford sits in last place in the Pac-10, but just three games out of first. The Cardinal has shown it can compete, and now, with conference play winding down, it is time to finish.