Arizona Wildcats avenge loss at Stanford with 82-71 win over Cardinal on Sunday at McKale Center

Arizona gripped sole possession of first place in the Pac-12 on Sunday in the same vengeful manner it ran through the conference last season.

Having come back to beat all six teams who beat them in the regular season a year ago, the Wildcats this time made up for their most lopsided loss of this season by locking down defensively and beating Stanford 82-71 before a sellout crowd at McKale Center.

While the Cardinal was playing without leading scorer Kanaan Carlyle, who suffered an undisclosed upper-body injury on Thursday at ASU, Stanford was otherwise the same bunch that hit 16 of 25 3-pointers in its 100-82 win over Arizona on Dec. 31 at Maples Pavilion.

For much of the time Sunday, Stanford still looked like that team, too. Especially early, when the Cardinal hit six of its first seven 3-pointers to take a seven-point lead after eight minutes and, after missing 13 of 14 shots to briefly fall behind the Wildcats, jumped ahead again to lead by 11 at halftime.

“Not necessarily the start we really love,” UA coach Tommy Lloyd said.

Lloyd said he warned his guys that Stanford would shoot 3s in transition, which it did, and spoke at length about how difficult it is to play against the intricate Cardinal offense.

“They’re a hard team to prepare for,” Lloyd said. “They have packages of offensive sets that have little counters to them and they know how to call the counter for the right moment. They watch you do one thing on defense, and they’re gonna run a counter to it right away -- and our guys were struggling with some defensive decision-making in the first half, even in the second half a little bit.”

Over the first half, Stanford made 9 of 19 3-pointers and shot 47.2% overall, while converting six Arizona turnovers into eight points. But after the Cardinal hit their first six of its first seven 3-pointers to take a 26-19 lead eight minutes into the game, the Wildcats’ defense started showing signs of life.

After a timeout when Stanford took the 26-19 lead, Arizona ran Stanford to the end of the shot clock and the Cardinal went on to miss 13 of 14 shots after that point. UA even took a brief 32-30 lead with five minutes to go in the first half after center Oumar Ballo, who led the Wildcats with 18 points and 13 rebounds, scored twice inside.

But the Cardinal went on a 12-0 run from there to take a 42-32 lead with two minutes left, getting 3s from guard Michael Jones and center Maxime Raynaud, who led all scorers with 29 points and hit 5 of 6 3-pointers. Stanford led 45-34 at halftime after Jones hit yet another 3, his fourth in six tries to that point.

Saying he keeps reminding himself that he needs to coach “calm and confident” Lloyd apparently took that tone into the locker room… only to have it elevated a little by assistant coach Riccardo Fois.

Fois, who has served as the principal scout for Arizona’s games with Stanford, wasn’t wild about 16 for 25 3s on Dec. 31 and, it appears, not too happy about 9 of 19 Cardinal 3s in the first half Sunday, either.

“There's sometimes a challenge with my staff, especially some of the Italian guys on my staff,” Lloyd said with a grin, “But (Fois) brings great spirit and great energy. He means well and his fire helps us as well. My job is to stay calm and confident.”

That was the vibe Lewis indicated he took with him before swiping two steals and defending Stanford deep into shot clocks routinely throughout the second half.

“Going into halftime, I think we were all calm, but we all knew what the mentality was in the second half,” Lewis said. “Just to really lock in and not give up easy transition buckets and guard the 3-point line.”

Eventually, the Wildcats solved the Cardinal well enough with better decision-making and better intensity, while getting defensive sparks off the bench from Lewis and sophomore Jaden Bradley, plus the usual all-over-the-place defense from wing Pelle Larsson.

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“He gives you everything he’s got,” Lloyd said of Larsson. “You guys see him at the end of the game and he’s beaten to a pulp.”

Stanford wound up shooting onluy 38.2% for the game. While it hit 9 of 19 3-pointers and shot 47.2% overall for the first half, the Cardinal hit only 5 of 14 3s and shot 28.1% after halftime.

“We guarded a little better. We didn't get beat individually,” Lloyd said. “They do a good job and it's sneaky -- they beat you individually and they have the space just right to make the next pass which leads to the next pass…”

Lewis played so tenaciously on defense that he wound up staying on the floor for 15 minutes in the second half. Without offering specifics, Lloyd confirmed that power forward Keshad Johnson suffered some sort of a shoulder or arm injury but that Johnson’s minutes (just five after halftime) weren’t because of the injury but because of how Lewis and the UA’s defensive unit was playing.

“I told Key after the game — in a lot of ways he’s been our MVP, he’s just such a great guy, great leader behind the scenes — that the way they were defending I just didn’t think it fit his strengths,” Lloyd said. "We put KJ out there and he started playing well and Keyshad was the first guy to say `Guys, that’s awesome. I’m so happy we won and I’m so happy you guys balled out.' ”

Trailing by 11 at halftime, Arizona went on an 8-0 run to start the second half and cut Stanford’s lead to just 45-42 with 17:37 left. The Cardinal had two turnovers and missed both shots it took over its first four possessions but built its lead back to 50-44 after a 3-pointer from Michael Jones, who had made 5 of 9 long-range shots at that point.

But after Stanford went ahead 52-46 on a hook from Raynaud, the Wildcats went on a 13-0 run in which the Cardinal had three turnovers and Arizona’s more aggressive offense also earned it more free throws. Arizona took just two free throws in the first half but had seven more over the first 10 minutes of the second half.

UA’s 13-0 run gave it a 59-52 lead with 9:39 left, and though Stanford crept back within four points with 4:17 to go, the Wildcats went on a late 8-1 run and hit their final four field goals to finish with a double-digit lead.

The win kept Arizona in sole possession of first place in the Pac-12 at 8-3, though the Wildcats (17-5 overall) are now heading into a potentially treacherous road trip to Utah and Colorado next week. The Cardinal dropped to 11-10 and 6-5.

“It’s where we want to be,” Lloyd said. “It's where we feel like we belong and we don't take it for granted. We know there's a lot of games to play, and we know we’ve got an incredibly tough road trip coming up. …

“Being in the running for the regular season conference championship means a lot. So I'm proud that's where we're at. But I know there’s a lot of a lot of work to be done.

Photos: No. 11 Arizona Wildcats beat Stanford Cardinal at home, 82-71