Arizona presents a tall task
Just before Christmas, Stanford ran into a 7-footer it couldn’t handle. Kansas sophomore Udoka Azubuike had 24 points and seven dunks in a 75-54 trouncing of the Cardinal in Sacramento.
Now they play an even better big man. Arizona’s 7-1 freshman, Deandre Ayton, may be the best player in the country, although two other freshmen, Duke forward Marvin Bagley III and Oklahoma point guard Trae Young, are also in the conversation.
Ayton leads the Pac-12 in scoring (20.2 points per game) and rebounding (11.3 per game), which led Stanford head coach Jerod Haase to say there hasn’t been a player like
him in decades.
“He’s a one-of-a-kind kind of player,” he said. “His skill set, size, quickness and physicality — he has so much going for him.”
Ayton had 20 points and 11 rebounds in a 79-58 pasting of Cal on Wednesday. The No. 14 Wildcats (15-4, 5-1 Pac-12) have a lot of talent around him to challenge Stanford (11-8, 5-1) in Saturday’s 1 p.m. duel for sole possession of first place in the conference.
That’s not the only incentive for Stanford. The Cardinal have lost 15 straight to Arizona, so they’re eager to finally win one — especially Phoenixborn Dorian Pickens and Michael Humphrey. Stanford hasn’t won in the series since Landry Fields led a 76-60 win at Maples Pavilion in January 2009.
“Playing for first place, playing our hometown team, it’s important,” Humphrey said. “I’m looking forward to it.”
When Stanford played Kansas, Humphrey and backup center Josh Sharma were frequently left on an island to contend with Azubuike. It’s highly doubtful that Haase will try that against Ayton. Like most Arizona opponents, Stanford will probably have to employ a zone.
The problem there is that the Wildcats can hit their threes, as they showed with a 11-for-19 performance from deep against Cal.
“I don’t know that you stop a player that is that big and that good and that skilled,” Haase said of Ayton. “We know it’s going to be a monster challenge.”
Haase said his team will also have to protect the ball better than it has for much of the season, especially because the Wildcats are so good in transition. On defense, he said, “It’s not rocket science — we have to control dribble penetration.”
Of course, Arizona will have to contend with a hot Stanford team that has won five conference games in a row for the first time in a decade. Reid Travis is the second leading scorer in the conference (20 ppg). Pickens, who missed 11 games with an injury, is averaging 14.5 points and Humphrey 11.2. Meanwhile, three freshmen — point guard Daejon Davis, forward KZ Okpala and forward Oscar da Silva — are playing like veterans.
In the 86-77 win over Arizona State on Wednesday, Haase used just seven players. Pickens and Davis played the full 40 minutes, Travis 36 and Okpala 34.
“Ideally we’d get eight or nine guys,” Haase said. “The distribution (of minutes) will always be a little bit of an ebb and flow, depending on matchups and fouls in each game. I usually anticipate playing more than seven.” Briefly: Stanford has improved 140 spots in 16 days in the NCAA’s RPI, jumping from No. 214 on Jan. 2 to No. 74 on Jan. 18 . ... It wasn’t known if Arizona sophomore guard Rawle Alkins will play. He missed the Cal game with a sore foot.