A couple of pity claps were all that could be heard in Welsh-Ryan Arena after Northwestern’s disappointing 71-60 loss to Stanford on Thursday night. The applause that came from the lingering crowd and echoed into the rafters was heard because an upset opportunity had been spoiled by the center on the 20th best team in the country.
Robin Lopez – who scored 16 points, grabbed seven rebounds and blocked five shots – dominated the game physically on defense and ruled the offensive end as king of the paint.
“Lopez is a pretty athletic kid,” coach Bill Carmody said. “He covers the floor pretty quickly and he can block almost anything.”
Although NU won the opening tip and scored the game’s first two points, the Cardinal were in control during the early stages Thursday. After Stanford guard Mitch Williams made a 3 at the 16:14 mark of the first half, the Cardinal looked almost unstoppable as they seized all momentum with a demoralizing 11-0 run.
But with guard Craig Moore’s 3-pointer at 13:16, the Cats began a run of their own. Following a flurry of turnovers, Moore stole the ball from Stanford forward Landry Fields and found guard Sterling Williams on a backdoor cut to trim the lead to four. Two buckets later, NU had not only ignited their offense but the crowd as well, as NU tied the contest at 14.
“We started slow and had some droughts at times,” Williams said. “But there were times where we came alive.”
Soon, the game became a sloppy version of tug-of-war, with points being exchanged in between long internvals filled with turnovers and steals from both teams. But in such a game, it is usually the team that has the strongest and tallest athletes who have the bigger muscles and better foresight to find the hole as well as other open men that usually succeeds.
This is when a player of the stature and aggressiveness of Lopez takes over.
With four minutes remaining in the first half, Lopez emphatically blocked a shot from forward Nikola Baran – his third on Baran – sprinted to the other end of the court and soared for a thunderous alley-oop.
“After the first time (Baran was blocked), I told him to shrug it off,” Carmody said. “But after the third time, I told him, ‘Here, have a seat.”’
The dunk caused another shift in momentum and forced Carmody to call a timeout. Yet, the damaged was done. Stanford finished the half on a 10-3 run to push the score to 31-25.
In the second half, the Cardinal came out gunning for the upset-minded Cats. With an 11-4 run, Lopez once again worked from the inside and punished NU.
Without a bucket for the first 26 minutes of the game, freshman Michael “Juice” Thompson broke loose for scores on two successive backdoor cuts. After a quick steal by senior guard Jason Okrzesik, Thompson – not seeing Carmody’s slow-down signals – drove to hoop, drew a foul and sunk both free-throws.
“I took advantage of opportunities and tried to find my teammates during other moments,” Thompson said.
The momentum swung back to the Cats, if only temporarily, as NU knotted up the game at 44 at the 9:44 mark.
From there, Lopez and the rest of coach Trent Johnson’s team became the relentless bully of a Pac-10 squad.
“It might have been a game for 37 minutes,” Carmody said, “but it’s got to be a game for longer.”
Reach Matthew Murray at
