Number one Arizona heads to Palo Alto on Wednesday for a date with the Cardinal and another chance to keep their unblemished record in tact. Arizona barely escaped at home against an ever improving Utah team this past Sunday, and that scare will likely get them refocused as they come into this game.
This biggest challenge for Johnny Dawkins’ club here will be on the offensive end. This team has been up and down in that area all year. They have been good enough to beat some weaker Pac-12 defenses in recent weeks, but the challenge will be much tougher in this game.
The Wildcats boast the nation’s best defense, ranking 16th in defending the three. Stanford has made a living off efficiently shooting from deep, but they will have to look to get Dwight Powell involved earlier and often. Powell has been a really good player in his senior season, but the Cardinal have neglected to give him a high volume of touches in most outings.
The UCLA and USC games saw him take over 10 FG’s in each. Powell is a tremendous athlete with the wingspan and lower body strength to attack this Arizona front line. If he can put pressure on the Arizona interior, it will go a long way in allowing the Cardinal to keep this tight.
Arizona has looked fad able on several occasions recently, but it’s tough to go against them here. Hitting the road essentially means discounted numbers to back the nation’s top group at. They open as five point favorites here and, while that number could decline prior to tip, this is a tough game to call.
Stanford has a solid defense predicated upon packing it in. They won’t give up too much on the glass in this game as they rank 26th in defensive rebounding efficiency.
But the bigger issue will be the way in which they defend the perimeter. Their guards lack ideal size and are not great defenders. They rank 238 in 3P defense and are going up against an Arizona team that is quite good at hoisting from deep as well. They do not connect at a clip similar to their counterpart, but their ability to grab offensive rebounds and get kick out opportunities from those chances is impressive.
This game will tell a lot about where Stanford is right now. Three of their next four after this one are on the road, and they need to make it a point to get their offense going if they want to beat teams like Arizona State, Cal and UCLA in the coming weeks.
