A Cardinal cannot win in Arizona.

The University of Arizona won their second Pac-10 game and their 11th straight game defeating Stanford 89-75. The game was much closer than the UA-Cal game. Lute was forced to only play the bench 12 minutes of playing time, even with Marcus Williams in foul trouble. Jordan Hill continued to improve grabbing three crucial rebounds in limited minutes. Mustafa Shakur, Ivan Radenovic and Williams all had their usual solid game to lead the Wildcats over the Cardinal.

• 19:45 Chase Budinger begins the game by stroking a 3 from the corner
• 17:10 Former Deer Valley H.S. (Glendale, Ariz.) stand-out Lawrence Hill has seven of the Cardinal's first nine points.
• 14:03 Marcus Williams has ridiculous footwork in the paint for a true 6'7'' sophomore. He earns himself an and-1 and makes it look easy.
• 12:04 Ivan Radenovic leads a fast break off a steal and handles the ball extremely well for a 6'10'' forward. Until Mustafa Shakur's recent play I was sure Radenovic would be drafted ahead of 'Staf in the draft. Radenovic can work big men inside and spot up for an easy three, while up until recently Shakur was an inconsistent, turnover-prone point point guard.
  
• 11:22 Daniel Dillon checks in for Budinger who looks confused on the defensive end.
• 11:00 Stanford's Hill hits another 3-pointer to give him 12 points in the first nine minutes.
• 8:51 Lute does not fuck around in the huddle, the Cats chase every time-out with a viscous trap, suffacating defense, or a play to hit an open three from the corner.
• 8:22 Nic Wise gives Shakur his only breather of the night until the 19-second mark in the second half.
• 5:51 Wise hits the most awkward three of all time. He catches the ball while running parallel to the top of the arch, then moves his leg like he's running in a three-manned race. His whole body does "The worm" while standing up and the ball somehow finds it way in the hoop.
• 3:31 The crowd -once again consisting of only a handful of students - gets pumped while Radenovic gets an and-1, 41-31, Cats.
• 3:00 Shakur crosses up his defender (lucky I don't know his name) real badly, kicks it out to an open Marcus Williams, who buries a trey. Shakur runs up the court shaking his head, like he just heard about a death. Since that analogy might not have made much sense, he basically had the "I can't believe that dude even tried to d me up" type of look on his face.
• 1:53 Radenovic finds a back-door cutting Williams who completes the alley-oop lay-up. Had Williams been able to jump from outside the key and complete the two-handed slam, it would have hands-down been the best moment of my life. I dream that maybe in a year or two Jordan Hill will be able to land silly oops like that, just like Amaré Stoudemire did in his sophomore campaign.
• Arizona leads 50-43 at the half.
• Zona is shooting 65% from the field including 7-8 from beyond the arc
• Stanford FG%: 50%
• Marcus Williams has 17 points and six boards.
• 15:30 Robin Lopez brings Stanford within two of Arizona 54-52.
• 14:00 Stanford takes their first lead since the beginning of the game 56-57
• 13:04 Jordan Hill checks in to help keep Arizona from being further murdered on the boards and also keep Williams from picking up a fifth foul.
  
• 11:47 Shakur hits a 3-pointer to tie up it at 61. On the ensuing possession Shakur gets a quick steal then cuts throw the floor displaying some sick handles before getting fouled on a lay-up. He puts the Cats up two at the line.
• The radio broadcaster next to me has a NCAA NIT gold watch. I don't even know where to go with that one.
• 5:10 The my earlier praise jinxes the Cats who come out of a time-out and are victims of a shot-clock violation.
• 3:58 The Cats lead 72-69, Radenovic grabs a defensive board and throws bows in every direction shaking up a Stanford big man pretty badly.
• 3:19 Williams hits a needed jumper to put the Cats up 76-69, he walks up court a la Robert Horry when he crushed the Kings.
  
• 2:20 Radenovic hits a huge two to put he Cats ahead 78-71.
• :32 Skipping out the "horror show" that was the reserve-heavy line-up that played at the end of the Cal game, Lute kept in secure line-up to finish the game off. It paid off when Shakur got two steals the first leading to a Shakur dunk. The second steal went from the Shakur's hands to McClellen to the backboard to Williams for an off-the-backboard alley-oop. It's awesome that this happens in the final 17 seconds of the game. It's a shame McClellen's extra pass messed up Shakur's double-double.
  
• The No. 7 Cats win their 11th straight, 89-75.
• Williams: 23 points, 8 boards.
• Radenovic: 22 points, 6 boards, 4 steals.
• Shakur: 18 points, 9 dimes, 2 steals, 3 turnovers.
• Lawrence Hill: 20 points, 7 boards.
• Brook Lopez 17 points, 9 boards
• FG% UA 61% Stan 45%
• 3-Pt FG % UA 80% Stan 29%
• Ft-FTA UA 21-26 Stan 4-7

Nic Wise Moment of the Game: I could give this moment to his crazy shot that was mentioned above, but Nic is better than that. This is the same man who came out in McKale Madness and jumped on the scorers table while throwing up the ROC. If Nic doesn't come out next game with at least a tear-drop tattoo or do a back-flip dunk I will devastated with the drought of gangsta moments. For the record, Nic wore the same taped-up socks that he wore against Cal on Thursday.

Sneaker Watch: Again disappointing, although I failed to mention earlier in the history of my blog that Radenovic wears black/blue Nike Basketball Air Max 180's...UNC better come with some heat when they play in McKale or else I am going to seriously have to re-evaluate my post-game categories.