Stanford falls to Arizona in McKale

It was a wild day for Arizona basketball. Their head coach, Sean Miller, had his position reinstated after a press conference where he denied any wrongdoing related to the ongoing FBI scandal. Just hours later, Allonzo Trier won his appeal with the NCAA and suited up. It was a raucous crowd in McKale, and they were able to will their Wildcats to a 75-67 victory of Stanford.

The Cardinal powered through the hostile environment and got off to an early 20-19 start. After a Sean Miller timeout, the Wildcats made defense adjustments that proved stifling. Stanford scored just three points over the next eight minutes, despite drawing two early fouls on DeAndre Ayton. By the half, the Arizona lead had swelled to nine.

Throughout much of the second half, the lead hovered between seven and eleven points. Kezie Okpala picked up an early third foul, and his fourth was not far behind. Moments later, Daejon Davis knocked knees with an Arizona player and was writhing on the floor. Reid Travis made just enough buckets to keep the Cardinal afloat during this stretch.

In the game’s final minutes, Stanford was able to trim the lead to five points, but failed to quite get over the hump. Late free throws by Allonzo Trier and just enough empty possessions by the Cardinal allowed Arizona to close out the game and clinch yet another PAC-12 regular season title.

Arizona was powered by Dusan Ristic, who scored 21 points on hot shooting. Stanford forced him to take deep twos, but he made them with consistency. Trier added 18 in his return to the lineup, and Ayton had a double double with 12 and 10.

Stanford was led by Reid Travis’ 23 and 10. Daejon Davis had 10 points and 5 assists, and the Arizonan Dorian Pickens added 11.

The Cardinal are still in the running for a top four conference finish. They will play their regular season finale at Arizona State on Saturday afternoon. Stanford won the first matchup between the two schools.