Stanford guard Michael O'Connell (5), left, and forward Lukas Kisunas (32) team up to block a shot from Arizona guard James Akinjo (13) in the second half of their Pac 12 game at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., January 28, 2021.

 Kelly Presnell / Arizona Daily Star

Maybe it was the emotional toll of playing, and beating, their instate rival twice over the previous seven days.

Maybe it was a lack of rhythm with and around standout freshman Bennedict Mathurin, who was returning quickly from an ankle sprain suffered three days earlier.

Or maybe Arizona’s 73-64 loss to Stanford on Thursday was just another bad matchup for the Wildcats, whose interior defense fell apart again late as it did in losing efforts against USC, UCLA and, during the first time around, Stanford.

The Wildcats trailed by four at halftime and took leads of up to five points in the second half but were doomed by Stanford’s 15-2 run toward the end of the game.

“The last eight minutes, it was just drive, drive, drive, foul, foul – and I’ve kind of seen that movie before,” UA coach Sean Miller said. “When we’ve lost games this year, our defense just abandons us. That’s what happened in the last eight minutes. We just had no ability to get a stop.”

Especially when the Cardinal drove inside. Without its three perimeter starters – Daejon Davis, Bryce Wills and Ziaire Williams – Stanford turned to a mostly bigger lineup that had its way inside, especially late in the game.

Stanford forward Oscar da Silva (13), right, stuffs Arizona guard James Akinjo (13) on a drive into the paint in the first half of their Pac 12 game at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., January 28, 2021.

Jaiden Delaire led the shorthanded Cardinal with 21 points while Stanford outscored UA 34-14 in the paint and took six more free throws than the Wildcats, who entered the game second nationally in free throws attempted.

Stanford forward Oscar da Silva, the Pac-12 Player of the Year candidate who drew an extended congratulations from Miller on the floor after the game and more postgame praise in Miller’s postgame interview, added 17 points and four rebounds. Freshman Michael O’Connell had 14 points and four assists while having been thrown into heavy action again after the loss of Davis (knee) and Wills (ankle).

“I know Stanford is missing a couple of players but I’m looking at them and the emergence of Jaiden Delaire and (having) Oscar da Silva – and with he cohesiveness on the defense and offense – they may be playing their best basketball,” Miller said.”I don’t know if a team has faced more obstacles and adversity than Stanford. They live in a hotel. They haven’t practiced in Santa Clara County and you just watch how they handle it. They’re a team on both ends.”

But while Miller said he gave Stanford “all the credit in the world,” after completing what was the Cardinal’s first season sweep of UA since 2007-08, he said the Wildcats may have also lagged somewhat after edging ASU in Tempe a week earlier and then beating the Sun Devils again on Monday at McKale.

Freshman Dalen Terry appeared to agree.

“It was just one of those nights,” Terry said. “We just didn’t have it.”

In that second ASU game, Mathurin went down with a sprained ankle and did not practice until the pregame shootaround on Thursday when it became apparent he would be able to give it a shot.

While Terry started at small forward in Mathurin’s place, Mathurin still logged 26 minutes while scoring 10 points and grabbing four rebounds. James Akinjo led UA in scoring with 17 points while Terrell Brown had 13 points, five rebounds and four assists.

But while Mathurin chipped in one of Arizona’s five 3-pointers during a six minute stretch midway through the second half, Arizona shot just 39.3% in the second half despite hitting 5 of 10 3-pointers. Stanford shot 54.2% after halftime and took 17 free throws.

“It is very, very challenging to play three Pac-12 games in a week and when you layer in Benn’s injury… “ Miller said. “I give Benn a lot of credit. There aren’t too many players who played the way he played (despite not practicing). He did the best he could and I think our chances of winning were better having him. But we just made so many errors and there are a couple that he may have made simply because he didn’t get the reps the last couple of days.”

Another otherwise improving UA freshman, Azuolas Tubelis, had an even rougher night, shooting just 1 for 9 while scoring four points and collecting four rebounds. Miller said Stanford’s low-post trapping made it difficult on him but that he also just “didn’t play well.”

Then there were the turnovers. The Wildcats gave the ball away 18 times, with Akinjo matching his six assists with six turnovers. UA’s nine first-half turnovers led to nine Stanford points, helping the Cardinal take a 33-29 halftime lead, while Stanford drove the ball and made 17 trips to the free throw line in the second half to make the difference toward the end.

The loss dropped Arizona to 12-4 overall and 6-4 in the Pac-12, dealing a significant blow to the Wildcats’ hopes of winning the Pac-12 regular-season title while also snapping a three-game winning streak.

Stanford improved to 10-5 and 6-3, having swept Arizona for the first time since the 2007-08 season. The Cardinal had lost 20 straight to Arizona before beating the Wildcats 78-75 on Dec. 19 in Santa Cruz, Calif., and had never beaten a Sean Miller-coached team before then.

Arizona guard James Akinjo (13) almost breaks up the hand off between Stanford forward James Keefe (22), left, and guard Michael O'Connell (5) in the second half of their Pac 12 game at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., January 28, 2021.

Down 33-29 at halftime, Arizona tied it at 35 after Terrell Brown scored twice in a row within 45 seconds early the second half. Mathurin hit a 17-footer from the right corner to later cut Stanford’s lead to 39-37 before adding one of what were five UA 3-pointers over less than six minutes.

The last of the five threes, by Terrell Brown in the left corner, put Arizona ahead 57-52 with 7:35 left.

At that point, UA was shooting 56.3% overall in the second half and had made 5 of 8 3s.

But it went downhill quickly from there for the Wildcats. Stanford went on a 15-2 run over the next six minutes to take a 67-59 lead, scoring inside on layups or picking up fouls, while Spencer Jones threw in a 3-pointer.

The Wildcats never recovered from that point. Arizona wound up shooting just 39.3% in the second half while Stanford shot 54.2% after halftime.

“I just never had a good feeling in the game,” Miller said. “Sometimes as a coach you can be down, but you see your guys are really locked in, staying with it. This was kind of like begging to get to the finish line, you know, `c’mon.’ …

"If you’re banged up or not on it, you can really start to deteriorate and wear down. That’s a credit to Stanford and certainly not a credit to us.”

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