Arizona's Zeke Nnaji (22) falls onto Stanford's James Keefe during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Saturday, Feb. 15, 2020, in Stanford, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

 Ben Margot

STANFORD, Calif. – Their 3-point shot was still largely broken, their point guard was in foul trouble, and they couldn’t keep guys from scoring in the paint.

But Arizona was playing Stanford, so maybe there was nothing really to worry about.

The Wildcats beat the Cardinal for the 20th straight time Saturday, 69-60 at Maples Pavilion on Saturday, thanks in part to 21 points and 11 rebounds from freshman center Zeke Nnaji. Their streak dates back to 2008-09 and remains the Pac-12's longest between conference teams.

Josh Green added 15 points and four rebounds for the Wildcats, while Dylan Smith had 11 points, hitting 2 of 8 3-pointers.

They helped Arizona survived despite getting getting seven points, two assists and three turnovers from point guard Nico Mannion, who played just 24 minutes because of foul trouble, and the fact that the Wildcats shot just 37% overall, hitting only 3 of 21 3-pointers.

“It’s really precisely what we’ve talked about a lot this year,” UA coach Sean Miller said. “We have to be able to win different ways. We have to be able to overcome a poor shooting night. Foul trouble, injuries, illness. I think the definition of a really good season has a lot of those moments in it but yet you still find a way and tonight was our defense and rebounding that allowed us to win a tough game.”

Free throws helped, too. UA hit 26 of 31 from the line, taking six more trips than Stanford and getting seven more points from free throws. Nnaji led the way there, hitting 9 of 12.

Nnaji’s 11 rebounds also led a spirited UA effort on the glass. The Wildcats outrebounded Stanford 39-25 overall, while scoring 10 second-chance points off 13 offensive rebounds.

In the backcourt, Jemarl Baker helped overcome Mannion’s foul trouble, playing 28 minutes while scoring four points and dishing one assist to his two uncharacteristic turnovers.

It was a noticable difference than the Wildcats showed at ASU on Jan. 25, when Mannion's absence because of foul trouble hastened UA's meltdown from a 22-point lead into a loss.

"Jemarl Baker is a really important part of our team," Miller said. "A lot of times when a starting point guard goes out with four fouls, the game changes. Jemarl was a steadying force."

Mannion picked up his fourth foul with 11:42 left in the half and sat out for the next seven minutes. But without him, UA's lead grew from six to 11 points and by the time he made a layup with 1:30 left to give UA a 67-55 lead, with the 1,000 or so UA fans were chanting wildly in the half-full, 7,233-seat Maples Pavilion.

As a team, UA held Stanford to 41.9% shooting, despite struggling to contain the Cardinal's use of ball screens early and seeing Stanford's Bryce Wills exploit mismatches late.

“They have a lot of tricky stuff that they run but we just did a good job defending them,” Baker said. “We had a good week of practice. We’ve been focused and locked in.”

The biggest trick was Stanford's use of the 6-6 Wills at power forward. Wills made life tough for Stone Gettings and UA's other defenders inside, scoring 20 of his game-high 25 points in the second half.

Arizona's Stone Gettings, right, looks to pass the ball away from Stanford's Jaiden Delaire (11) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Saturday, Feb. 15, 2020, in Stanford, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

Oscar da Silva added 13 points and four rebounds for Stanford in his first game back after suffering a head injury on Feb. 8 at Colorado.

The win moved Arizona to 18-7 overall and 8-4 in the Pac-12, where the Wildcats remain in a loss-column tie for first place. Stanford dropped to 16-9 and 5-7, having lost seven of its past eight games.

“Everything is still on the table, but the reality is we still need something to flip,” Stanford coach Jerod Haase said. “Don’t be surprised if things flip at some point.”

After Arizona was up by 10 at halftime, Wills scored 15 points over the first 12 minutes after halftime, cutting UA’s lead to just 46-42 with 10:28 remaining when he drove in for a layup.

But Josh Green stole a pass from Stanford’s Oscar da Silva and raced in for a dunk that made it 56-48 while Dylan Smith hit a 3 from the right wing to give UA a 59-50 lead with 5:30 left.

In the first half, Nnaji had 14 points and eight rebounds in the first half alone to lead Arizona to a 30-23 halftime lead.

The Wildcats shot just 27.3% before halftime, making just 1 of 13 3-pointers, but made all 11 free throws they took while holding Stanford to 31.8% shooting and crushing the Cardinal on the glass, 15-13.

Leading 7-2 early after getting a 3-pointer from Green, the Wildcats missed their next 12 3-point attempts while Stanford initially kept it close by going inside often.

Through the first 16 minutes of the half, Stanford scored 10 points in the paint but also couldn’t hit from outside, hitting just 1 of 8 from 3-point range in the half.

Arizona took a 22-15 lead after a stretch in which Max Hazzard was fouled beyond the 3-point line and hit all three ensuing free throws, while Nico Mannion and Nnaji also scored.

Stanford pulled within 24-20 but missed nine straight field goals while UA took a 30-20 lead into the final two minutes of the half after Nnaji hit both ends of a one-and-one with 2:08 left.

Stanford’s da Silva was cleared to play Saturday after suffering a head injury last Saturday at Colorado, collecting six points and a rebound in the first half, even though he had not practiced fully all week.

Download PDF UAStanford

Check out photos of Arizona's win over Stanford:

Become a #ThisIsTucson member! Your contribution helps our team bring you stories that keep you connected to the community. Become a member today.

Contact sports reporter Bruce Pascoe at 573-4146 or bpascoe@tucson.com. On Twitter @brucepascoe