Arizona Wildcats Escape With 60-57 Win Over Stanford
January 29, 2014; Stanford, CA, USA; Arizona Wildcats guard Nick Johnson (13) celebrates after making a three-point basket against Stanford Cardinal guard/forward Anthony Brown (21) during the second half at Maples Pavilion. The Wildcats defeated the Cardinal 60-57. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
STANFORD — It wasn’t what the Arizona Wildcats had in mind, but they’ll take it. Nick Johnson hit a big 3-pointer with under a minute left then iced the game with free-throws as the Wildcats escaped Stanford to remain undefeated and will assuredly keep their No. 1 ranking.
Johnson finished the game with 16 points, five rebounds, four assists, one steal and a block and even though he made just 5-of-9 from the free-throw line, he made them when they counted. T.J. McConnell added 11 points, eight rebounds and four assists to help overcome a substandard game from Aaron Gordon.
Gordon scored just five points on 2-for-10 from the field and 1-for-3 from the free-throw line. Gordon would secure nine boards with a block, but offensively Stanford rendered him as a non-factor.
For the last 12:22 of the game, the spread was never more than four points. Arizona (21-0, 8-0) tied the game at 53-53 with 5:30 remaining on a jumper by Brandon Ashley and would never trail again. Ashley finished with 10 points, three rebounds, one block and a steal.
Stanford (13-7, 4-4) doesn’t have the high hopes that Arizona does, but a win like this goes a long way when the tournament selection committee decides who’s in and who’s out. Dwight Powell led the Cardinal with 13 points and six rebounds, while Josh Huestis sccored 13 with 11 rebounds, but shot just 5-for-16 from the field. Chasson Randle scored 12 but also shot poorly (3-for-15), as Stanford shot just 37.5 percent as a team.
HE WAS WILD
Kudos to T.J. McConnell for his solid performance. He was effective and efficient, shooting 5-for-8 from the field. Perhaps just as importantly, he took care of the ball, not turning it over once. Undefeated teams need other players to step up when their star has a bad game and McConnell did his part.
HE WAS MILD
It’s not too often Aaron Gordon has a bad game, so we can cut him a little bit of slack. He’s averaging 12.3 points, 7.8 rebounds and a block so at the very least, his nine rebounds put him above his season average. The game did end a stretch of six consecutive games with double-digit scoring.
COMING UP
The Wildcats will travel to California to take on the Golden Bears on Saturday, February 1st from Haas Pavillion.
Michael Dunlap is an NBA credentialed writer who is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief for the Sports Illustrated/Fansided NBA site HoopsHabit.com and the Arizona Sports site HeatWaved.com. He also covers high school sports for The Arizona Republic. Follow me on Twitter @DunlapNBA.