Wildcats Head West to Take on Stanford

Men's basketball team has Bayless on deck.

Arizona (11-5, 1-2 Pac-10) remains in the midst of a four-game road swing with a Pac-10 game Thursday at Stanford (13-3, 2-2 Pac-10).

Arizona’s Jerryd Bayless made his recent return from injury a dominating one, finishing with a career-high 33 points, five rebounds and nine assists in Arizona’s 85-71 win last Saturday at Houston. He set a UA single-game record with 18 free throws made and equaled another with 20 free throw attempts.

Bayless helped the Wildcats shoot 61 percent from the field and hold Houston to just 35.8 percent shooting. Chase Budinger posted his first double-double of the year with 17 points and 12 rebounds, while Jordan Hill added 17 points.

The Cardinal enter play Thursday coming off a 71-66 loss at Oregon. Through 16 games, Stanford averages 71.9 points per game, shoots 46.2 percent and posts a +10.4 rebound margin per game. Opponents shoot 38.9 percent from the floor and are outscored by an average of 14.9 points per game.

Individually, two Cardinal players average in double figures, led by Brook Lopez, who averages 16.7 points per game. He also leads Stanford with a 7.6 rebounds per game average.

The game marks the 74th meeting of the two schools with Arizona holding a 48-25 series advantage. Arizona has won six straight in the series, including an 85-80 overtime win at Stanford on March 3, 2007, in their last meeting. All-time, Arizona is 25-7 in series games played in Tucson, 19-16 in Palo Alto, Calif., and 4-2 in neutral site games.

Credit the Wildcat defense for a large part of Saturday’s win, as Arizona held Houston to a season-low .358 (24-of-67) field goal percentage. Entering the game Houston was averaging better than 10 made three-point goals per game and the UA held the Cougars to just five three-pointers and a season-low 22.7 percent figure (5-of-22) from behind the arc.

The Cats close this four-game road swing Saturday, Jan. 19, at California. Tip-off at Haas Pavilion is scheduled for 5 p.m. PST and can be seen on FSN Arizona.

Jerryd Bayless returned from injury on Saturday with a career-high 33 points against Houston.
1 of 1

Previous Next