PALO ALTO, Calif. – Thanks to more late Nick Johnson heroics, the Arizona Wildcats hung on to extend their record winning streak in a 60-57 win at Stanford tonight.
Johnson, who made a number of key plays late and led the Wildcats with 16 points, hit two free throws with 5.8 seconds left to put UA up by three and a last-gasp three-point attempt from Stanford’s Chasson Randle failed on the other end.
The win moved Arizona to 21-0, the third-longest streak at the beginning of a season for any team in the Pac-10 or Pac-12. The Wildcats are 8-0 in conference play entering a Saturday night game at Cal.
Stanford dropped to 13-7 and 4-4.
Stanford was down three with the ball and 25 seconds left but Josh Huestis missed a three-pointer and Aaron Gordon picked up the rebound, and was fouled.
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Gordon, who was 2 for 10 from the field and 1-2 from the line at that point, then hit the back of the rim to miss the front end of his one-and-one.
But the Wildcats didn’t let Stanford take a three-point shot. Johnson fouled Randle as soon as he crossed the midcourt line and, while Randle made both free throws to cut UA's lead to 58-57, the Cardinal was forced to foul Johnson immediately afterward.
The game entered the final five minutes in a 53-53 tie, and nobody was able to do a thing offensively for four minutes with a flurry of missed shots, free throws and blocks.
Finally, Johnson hit a floater to give UA a 55-53 lead and then, with 1:21 left, Stanford’s Dwight Powell made a reverse layup to tie it again at 55.
Then, after Brandon Ashley missed a jumper and UA grabbed the rebound, Kaleb Tarczewski kicked it out to Johnson for a three-pointer that put UA up 58-55.
Johnson then rebounded a missed layup by Randle, giving UA the ball and a three-point lead with 33.7 seconds left. However, Johnson missed the front end of a one-and-one after he was fouled on UA’s ensuing possession to set up Stanford’s last attempts.
Stanford took a 53-49 lead midway through the second half but Aaron Gordon drove hard on the baseline for a dunk and then blocked a shot by Stanford’s Anthony Brown on the other end with 6:44 left. Then Brandon Ashley hit a jumper to tie the game at 53 with 6:32 left
The Wildcats were outrebounded 9-1 in the early minutes of the second half, helping Stanford build a 49-42 lead with 15:40 to go.
At the end of the first half, Stanford guard Anthony Brown banked in a shot with two seconds left to give Stanford a 31-30 halftime lead.
The Wildcats shot just 36 percent from the field, collected only one offensive rebound and made only 12 of 21 free throws during the first half.
McConnell led UA in scoring with nine points and also in rebounding, with six.
Arizona was never able to take more than a five-point lead in the first half thanks to its troubles at the free-throw line. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson hit just 3 of 8, while Nick Johnson was 1 of 4 and Aaron Gordon 1 of 2; as a result, Stanford was able to take a 23-22 lead when Marcus Allen stole the ball and Chasson Randle went in for a layup with 4:51 left.
With UA up 26-25, Johnson missed another two free throws with 3:34 left in the half and the game stayed close the rest of the half. After Hollis-Jefferson hit two free throws just as fans began chanting "1 for 6" in reference to his first trips to the line, Randle put in his shot just before the halftime buzzer.
The Wildcats shot poorly to open the game while Stanford opened up an initial 9-2 lead in the first four minutes. Arizona was 1 for 7 from the field at that point, including a missed shot and airballed three-pointer from Aaron Gordon.
But Arizona came back to go ahead with 10:54 left, when T.J. McConnell hit a jumper and the Wildcats actually went up 21-16 with 8:09 left when Kaleb Tarczewski converted a three-point play.
