Two days after blowing a comfortable lead in an overtime loss at Arizona State, the Stanford Cardinal watched Arizona erase an eight-point deficit in the final 4:23.
This time the Cardinal recovered. Brook Lopez scored 23 points, including the winning free throw with 18 seconds to play, as No. 7 Stanford held off the Wildcats 67-66 yesterday at Tucson.
“There was a sense of déjà vu, but we weren't going to let that happen,” said Brook Lopez's twin brother Robin, who added 14 points. “We didn't want to make the same mistake two games in a row.”
Stanford (21-4, 10-3) bounced back from a tough overtime loss at Arizona State that ended less than 39 hours before tipoff at McKale Center. In Tempe, the Cardinal led by seven with 1:49 to go before losing in overtime.
Yesterday, the Cardinal used their size advantage to take command of the game midway through the second half before the Wildcats rallied.
NO. 1 MEMPHIS 79, UAB 78: Chris Douglas-Roberts converted a three-point play with 6.5 seconds left, giving Memphis a win at Birmingham and keeping the Tigers perfect.
Notable: The Blazers' Robert Vaden then missed badly on a three-point attempt and Lawrence Kinnard grabbed the long rebound. He heaved up a shot in the paint that went in, and officials had to watch replays before ruling that Kinnard didn't get the shot off in time. The Tigers' (25-0, 11-0) 44-game regular-season and 34-game league winning streaks were intact.
NO. 3 KANSAS 69, COLO. 45: Mario Chalmers had 13 points and Kansas held Colorado's Richard Roby to just two points in the Jayhawks' 25th straight win at home over the Buffaloes.
NO. 4 TENNESSEE 74, GEORGIA 71: Chris Lofton scored 19 of his 22 points in the second half and Wayne Chism had 16 points for visiting Tennessee, which stretched its winning streak to seven games.
NO. 5 NORTH CAROLINA 92, VIRGINIA TECH 53: Tyler Hansbrough had 23 points and nine rebounds for the Tar Heels (24-2, 9-2), who dominated the entire way at home to avenge last season's sweep by the Hokies.
SYRACUSE 77,
NO. 8 GEORGETOWN 70: Paul Harris scored 22 points and freshman Donte Greene added 18 to lead Syracuse, which built a 21-point lead in the first half at home en route to the upset.
NO. 9 BUTLER 51,
CLEVELAND ST. 46: Matt Howard scored 17 points and host Butler avenged one of its two losses this season.
NO. 11 TEXAS 82,
BAYLOR 77: With Kevin Durant watching his former teammates, Damion James had 19 points and 10 rebounds to lead Texas at Waco.
NO. 13 INDIANA 80,
NO. 10 MICHIGAN ST. 61: Eric Gordon scored 28 points and broke Indiana's freshman scoring record as the home team won for the seventh straight time in the series between Big Ten rivals.
NO. 14 DRAKE 65,
NORTHERN IOWA 55: Adam Emmenecker scored 13 points and Drake won on the road to clinch its first Missouri Valley Conference title since 1971.
NO. 15 WISCONSIN 65,
MINNESOTA 56: Marcus Landry scored 12 points to lead five players in double figures for host Wisconsin.
OKLAHOMA ST. 59,
NO. 16 TEXAS A&M 54: Byron Eaton had 17 points, including two free throws with 9 seconds left, and Oklahoma State snapped a 19-game road losing streak.
NO. 17 CONNECTICUT 74,
SOUTH FLORIDA 73 (OT): Craig Austrie's 12-foot runner in the lane with less than a second left in overtime gave visiting Connecticut its ninth straight win.
NO. 18 KAN. ST. 100,
MISSOURI 63: Michael Beasley had 40 points and 17 rebounds for his 21st double-double to lead Kansas State in a rout at home.
NO. 19 PURDUE 71,
NORTHWESTERN 56: Freshman E'Twaun Moore scored a season-high 28 points for visiting Purdue, which won its 11th straight despite blowing a 10-point lead in the second half.
NO. 21 WASH. ST. 62,
OREGON 53: Taylor Rochestie scored 21 points and Washington State ended a 12-game losing streak at Eugene.
NO. 23 LOUISVILLE 80, PROVIDENCE 72: Earl Clark had 20 points and nine rebounds and made a key three-pointer with 2½ minutes left for visiting Louisville.
NO. 24 VANDERBILT 61, FLORIDA 58: Alex Gordon made four free throws over the final 24 seconds and Vanderbilt held off Florida to remain undefeated at home this season.
NO. 25 ST. MARY'S 80,
LOYOLA MARYMOUNT 49: Freshman Patrick Mills had 22 points, including four three-pointers, to lead St. Mary's at Los Angeles.
