Monday, Jan. 05, 2009

Cardinal rebounds, tops 'Zona

STANFORD -- Maybe all Stanford needed was a little bedtime story to overcome the nightmare of a lopsided conference-opening loss just two nights ago.

Landry Fields matched his career best with 19 points and grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds as Stanford beat Arizona 76-60 on Sunday night, two nights after dropping a 30-point decision to Arizona State.

"It was very important we come back last night, with the lights off at Maples and just talk about how you respond to those situations," Cardinal coach Johnny Dawkins said. "We responded by defending well and rebounding well."

Dawkins talked about his own experience suffering through a 43-point loss as a freshman at Duke.

"I learned from that," he said. "The tough lessons are sometimes the ones you learn the best."

Lawrence Hill added 14 points as the Cardinal (11-1, 1-1 in Pac-10) recorded its fourth consecutive win over the Wildcats.

Anthony Goods had 13 points.

"Friday was the worst performance of the season," Goods said. "I think we all came here with a chip on our shoulders. It's all about mentality and bringing it as a team. We lost sight of that on Friday."

Jordan Hill scored 17 and had 16 rebounds for his fourth consecutive double-double for Arizona (9-5, 0-2), which lost its second in a row for the first time this season.

"They were just blowing by us in the second half," Hill said. "They seemed to be in the right place at the right time on every play."

The Wildcats were coming off their worst offensive performance of the season in a 69-55 loss to Cal on Friday night and followed that with their second-worst scoring night. It was also their worst loss at Stanford since an 86-69 setback in 1983.