Cardinal look for more Maples magic against Arizona State

It's the most anticipated visit by the Arizona schools in several years on The Farm, because the Cardinal have rallied to win four straight conference games.

It's the longest such win streak in 10 seasons at Stanford and arrives just in time to welcome No. 16 Arizona State to Maples Pavilion Wednesday at 8 p.m. Only a couple weeks ago Stanford suffered one of its worst losses in recent memory -- blowing a 17 point lead at home to cross-bay rival Cal -- but the Cardinal picked themselves off the matt.

"Everyone is healthy now and we’re getting that togetherness back, that confidence back, that swagger," said senior captain Dorian Pickens. "All along we knew we were a good team. We weren’t able to pull out some of those wins earlier in the season. Now … we feel good about our chances."

Stanford traveled to the Evergreen State last week and defeated the Cougars and Huskies. It was the first conference road sweep for the Cardinal in eight seasons. Not even Stanford’s best teams fared well in Seattle, where the Huskies are tough to beat in front of a rabid fan base.

“The environment was fantastic,” said Stanford head coach Jerod Haase. “It was a great, great crowd and it was one of those things where your ears are ringing after the game. I love the way our guys responded to the environment, especially in the first half. We had some reserves in and kind of weathered the storm.”

Resilience is becoming a calling card of this Stanford team. It was a rough non-conference for the Cardinal, but it was the loss to Cal Dec. 30 that was the low point of the season.

Senior captain Michael Humphrey said it was especially frustrating because the team had recently welcomed back Pickens and star freshman KZ Okpala to the lineup.

“That loss to Cal got everyone extra motivated and I think we’ve been having some great practices. We just want to keep it going,” he said.

“We had a serious conversation about roles and knowing your role. That’s helped out with things.”

That loss could have just as easily turned the team into a deeper nose dive. But Haase saw the team embrace a belief they could beat UCLA.

“I love the way the staff and the team responded,” he said. “There was an attitude of attack the adversity … and not feel sorry for ourselves. I’d rather learn from wins, but I think we learned some things from that Cal loss.”

The tough lessons didn’t end with the dramatic wins over the Bruins (double overtime) and USC (half-court buzzer beater). Stanford didn’t have an impressive start to the Jan. 11 game against the hot-shooting Cougars.

Haase called a timeout and proceeded to make the crankiest drill instructors look tame.

“I didn’t think we were playing with a passion for the game and a flair for the game,” he said. “I’m a passionate guy. I rarely swear (during timeouts) and I don’t know if I’ve ever made a personal attack on a player, but I am passionate about us playing with passion and getting after it. I have no qualms with letting the guys know that.”

Humphrey wouldn’t offer details about what was said, but smiled: “He said some inspiring words in that timeout. It’s (about) not even putting ourselves in that position. It’s starting strong and finishing strong as well.”

Stanford finished well in both road wins and will need to the press pedal to the metal from opening tip-off against the Sun Devils. Arizona State shoots threes with the confidence level most people have going up for layups. And they seem to make them just as easily from 28 feet as at the rim.

“They are a big, big time three-point shooting team with unlimited range,” Haase said. “Everybody on the perimeter is very, very capable and very, very good. The hard part is they’re not just three-point shooters. They’re all very good at getting into the paint and drawing fouls.

“Arizona State is going to do a variety of things with ball screens, and weaves, and different scenarios to get looks, but Arizona State for the most part can get a three any time they want. They have guys who can create their own shots. Many of their threes don’t come from a set play or a ball screen, they come from someone making a move, stepping back and shooting.”

Perimeter defense was a nightmare for Stanford during the non-conference schedule. Not even the absence of Pickens and Okpala could explain all the problems away, but Stanford has steadily improved and it has shown in the past four games.

Humphrey credits a great stretch of practices and Haase concurred, saying the past month has been tremendous.

“That is a big emphasis that we’ve had is if you get stops on the defensive end of the court it leads to good offense,” Humphrey said. “I think our transition offense has increased the past couple games as well. That is built off of us buying in as a team that the more stops we get on defense, the more transition opportunities we’ll have.”

"There has been a great deal of consistency with his effort," Haase said. "He can have a lower stat game and still be really effective in what we’re doing. His leadership skills have been off the charts. I have been really pleased with his attitude and his effort."

It also helps Humphrey that are enough other scoring options that there can be ebbs and flows to his game and there's no rush to work through them. Just play hard, Haase said. Humphrey averages 11.6 PPG and 8.1 Reb.

"I have to bring it every game not only because it’s my senior year, but it’s for everyone else on the team that they have someone they can look to and I’m going to leave everything out on the court. It helps me to go get every rebound I possibly can and help other guys to play motivated as well.