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| Will Somebody Please Move this Tree... (Kyle Terada / US Presswire) |
This team is not yet ready for prime time. Tim Floyd has done some good things with this team but they are still coming together. They have had some impressive wins and some great games in general but last nights 65-50 loss to Stanford shows that we still have a long way to go. This was not some buzzer beater or heart breaker loss no this was an absolute thrashing. In order for this team to be taken seriously they need to at least keep these games close and put themselves in a position to win. Last night they were out of this game within the first five minutes of the first half as it was never close.
Never mind about what will be SC's brief appearance in the Top 25, it's nice to get your foot in the door but at some point you need to keep yourself there. SC clearly didn't earn any style points with this performance as it shows that we are still young and inexperienced. The twin towers otherwise known, as the Lopez brothers were a two man wrecking crew that did some major damage to SC's ability to make shots. I mean 19 blocked shots, 12 by Brook Lopez alone, are you kidding me! That's insane. Brook Lopez also finished with a triple double. Lopez even blocked Taj Gibson's shots twice in one trip. But it wasn't just the Twin towers it was the Stanford team as a whole that seemed to have an answer for SC at every turn. They were the better team and they out hustled SC in every aspect of the game.
When you shoot only 28% from the field you know it's going to be a long night. The intimidation factor that the Lopez brothers had on the Trojans was pretty evident. You could see that SC was forced into shots that they normally would not have made in other games. Stanford's defense and out rebounding the Trojans was the perfect storm for SC's demise. When you miss your first eight shots of the game and the closest you get to scoring is hitting the rim on a pass early in the game by Loderic Stewart you know you are in for a long night.
There were times when SC got it close, at one time going on a 9-0 run early in the second half but it almost seemed like they, Stanford, were toying with them. I mean it's easy to get demoralized when every time you drive to the hoop your shot gets batted away. That's kind of how it looked last night. Heck, even Coach Floyd was seen shaking his head in disbelief.
From the LA Times:
Stanford set a school record with 19 blocked shots and Brook Lopez had 12 of them, also a school record, as the Cardinal outclassed the Trojans on a court where they have not won since 2002. The 18-year-old twins continually energized a crowd of 7,145 to lead Stanford to an easier-than-expected victory.
"They looked like first-round draft picks," USC junior swingman Nick Young said. "The way they played tonight was similar to the Florida guys. It was real tough playing against them."
Brook Lopez finished with a triple-double, including 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Stanford controlled the game at both ends of the court, shooting 48.1% to USC's 28.4%. It was the most blocks ever by an individual and a team against the Trojans.
So it's back to the drawing board as we take on Cal on Saturday. The Bears were manhandled by UCLA so both teams will be looking to prove that their respective losses were out of the norm. I'm not too upset about this loss, as Stanford has shown that they should be taken seriously but also that with all the national hype SC has getting we are far from where we need to be in those sorts of discussions.
We will have a Q&A with Tightwad Hill for the game against Cal Later on today.