No. 23 Stanford Pays A Visit To Oregon State Thursday

Cardinal hopes to take advantage of matchup with worst team in conference

Jan. 9, 2008

Following a tough start to its Pac-10 schedule, No. 23 Stanford hopes to take advantage of a matchup with the worst team in the conference when it visits Oregon State on Thursday.

The Cardinal (12-2, 1-1 Pac-10) opened Pac-10 play with a 76-67 loss to fifth-ranked UCLA last Thursday, and two days later, they escaped with an ugly 52-46 victory over then-No. 22 Southern California.

Stanford hit 27.0 percent from the field Saturday, its worst shooting performance in more than eight years, and committed a season-high 19 turnovers.

"It wasn't pretty but we found a way," said coach Trent Johnson, whose team outrebounded USC 48-31 and forced 23 turnovers.

"I guess that's all that matters. I thought our guys were really, really resilient. It was a very physical game from start to finish."

Anthony Goods was the only Stanford player to score in double figures with 11 points, dropping his team-leading average to 13.0 per game.

Lawrence Hill had seven points and a career-high 13 rebounds off the bench for the Cardinal, who had only eight assists in their worst shooting game since making 26 percent in a win over UC Santa Barbara on Nov. 20, 1999.

Stanford, though, may benefit from a matchup against Oregon State (6-8, 0-2), the only team in the conference which is below .500 overall. The Beavers, who have lost four in a row, join USC and Washington as the only Pac-10 squads without a conference victory.

Cardinal forward Brook Lopez is looking to put a frustrating start to Pac-10 play behind him. The 7-footer got into foul trouble in the games against UCLA and USC, combining for just 21 points on 8-of-24 shooting. He had averaged 19.3 points in three non-conference games after completing his suspension for being academically ineligible.

Lopez, who averaged 12.6 points last season and tied for the team lead with 6.0 rebounds per game, did grab eight boards for the second straight game Saturday but foul problems limited him to 22 minutes. The sophomore fouled out against UCLA.

He averaged 16.0 points and 8.0 rebounds in two meetings with Oregon State last season to help the Cardinal run their winning streak over the Beavers to four games. Stanford has won 15 of 16 in the series.

Oregon State opened its conference schedule with two road losses, 76-63 to then-No. 21 Arizona on Thursday and 72-53 to Arizona State on Saturday.

The Beavers have been held below 43 percent from the field in six consecutive games, including 33.3 percent on Saturday. Beavers leading scorer Seth Tarver (13.4 ppg) was held to one point, going 0-for-5 from the floor in 25 minutes.

Oregon State is last in the conference in scoring (62.9 ppg) and field-goal percentage (39.8). The Beavers have lost 16 straight against ranked opponents since beating then-No. 24 Arizona in 2006.

Thursday marks Oregon State's conference home opener. The Beavers went 3-3 at Gill Coliseum during non-conference play. They lost their first six Pac-10 home games in 2006-07 before finishing 2-7.

Oregon State leads the all-time series against Stanford 66-56, including a 34-22 advantage in Corvallis, Ore.