Arizona Wildcats 68

Stanford Cardinal 75

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Bear Down looks good to Wildcats

By P.J.ERICKSON
Tucson Daily Citizen Sportswriter

December 5, 1972

PALO ALTO, Calif. - "The Fox" will be glad to be back in his den this week.

"This was a tough trip to start off with," said Arizona basketball coach Fred "The Fox" Snowden after his Wildcats dropped a 75-68 decision to Stanford University last night.

It was the second loss in a row for the Cats, now 1-2, with Southern Cal invading Bear Down Gym in Tucson Thursday night. The game is a sellout.

"We learned a lot in these two games," Snowden went on. "We learned about playing big, physical teams. This was no easy trip for a bunch of freshmen, but we didn't embarrass ourselves.

"Tonight we just couldn't shoot If we had been shooting as we are capable of shooting, we'd have beaten this team. There is no doubt about that in my mind."

Zone defense

"When Stanford went into the zone defense, I thought 'we're gonna kill them now,' but we didn't. We couldn't get the ball in the hole from outside. Coniel Norman was 7-for- 20, Jim Rappis was 4-for-13 and I know that's not gonna happen often.

"We're 1-2 now, but I'm not worried about these Mds. We're getting it together, and we're gonna beat a lot of teams before we're through. These kids are going to put it together one night and just blow somebody off the floor.

"Another thing," Snowden finished, "I'm glad we're going back to play a tough team like Southern Cal. If we went back to Bear Down to play a patsy, the Mds would.forget what they've learned up here. Playing a tough team now, the lessons will sink in."

Arizona started last night's game as if that would be the night things came together. The Cats blew out to a 10-4 lead and looked quick and; sharp. However, Stanford's size up front began dominating the backboards and when UA freshman forward Al Fleming picked up his fourth foul with only nine minutes gone, the Cats were suddenly in trouble.

Can't handle ball

Equally suddenly, the Cats were stricken with a severe case of butterfingers and Stanford converted a series of turnovers into a 37-34 halftime lead.

UA's Eric Money tied it at 39-all after both teams had stumbled through three minutes of almost comic ineptness starting the second half, but then^things collapsed for the Cats.

With 7-footer Rich Kelley and 6-9 Mike Mann doing the damage, the Cardinals raced off to a 51-39 edge and sent Snowden back to the drawing board. The UA coach juggled his line-up, trying combinations of size, then speed, then a little of both, but nothing caught fire. When freshman John Irving picked up Ms fifth foul as Fleming's replacement with 8:37 left, Stanford's front line had a free hand underneath.

Irving played beautifully otherwise, doing an outstanding job defensively and on the boards, but none of the other front couriers were able to stop either Mann or Kelley on the short inside stuff.

Four frosh on floor

Much of the time Snowden had four freshmen on the floor, without noticeable loss of effectiveness. However, all of the Cats were having difficulty handling the ball, as was Stanford, almost as though it were something in the air. UA turned it over 20 times — 11 by Money — and the Cardinals gave it up 24 times.

"I'm not discouraged," Snowden said. "They were out there scratchin'. They knew they didn't have it together, but they didn't quit. We got it down to six points there at the end, fouled the big fella (Kelley) and he makes three out of four, and the one he misses, the rebound bounces clear over everyone's head and back out to them. That guy goes 4- of-12 from the line, but he makes three of them in the last minute. That killed us.".

Despite his floor troubles, Money regained some of his scoring touch and led UA with 20 points. Norman had 14, but the Cats starting front line totalled only eight — two by Tom Lawson, six by Fleming and none from Lynard Harris.

Mann ripped the Cats- with 24 points and swept 14 rebounds, while Dave Frost and Kelley scored 14 each.