Don’t Be Surprised If Stanford Runs Table

Gadzooks.

If not UCLA at Pauley Pavilion, then who will stop Stanford?

The Bruins had an answer for the brawn of Stanford for a while Saturday.

His name is Dan Gadzuric.

It didn’t last.

Gadzuric’s bruising, dunking, ferocious second-half outburst ended when he fouled out with 6:45 to play, and UCLA’s chances of an upset walked to the bench and sat down alongside him.

Stanford Coach Mike Montgomery already had made a savvy decision and switched to a zone, daring UCLA to hit from outside and exposing one of the Bruins’ weaknesses, and the No. 4 Cardinal pulled away for a 72-59 victory over 10th-ranked UCLA.

It was a physical, foul-marred game that ended with the rather whistle-happy crew of officials making one of its most reasonable decisions of the night, calling the game before the final second ticked off after Bruin fans starting throwing things onto the floor.

But it was the sort of victory for Stanford that makes you wonder whether the Cardinal might go 18-0 in the Pacific 10 Conference.

Who can trip up Stanford now?

“To sweep the L.A. trip, definitely, that’s tough,” Cardinal point guard Art Lee said.

“This has got to help us,” Montgomery said. “I feel pretty good about this. I think teams could potentially play better than UCLA did, but I don’t know if there will be a tougher environment, with all the stuff that went on.

“Somebody might make more shots, but it’s tough to imagine one much tougher from a peripheral standpoint. They played hard. It was a tough, tough ballgame.”

That’s a change from recent history, with UCLA playing harder, more physical defense.

And the Bruins finally have the personnel to challenge Stanford inside.

Gadzuric--when he wasn’t limited by foul trouble--showed what a different world it is to send a bruiser instead of an out-of-position J.R. Henderson against 245-pound Tim Young, 235-pound Mark Madsen and 225-pound Pete Sauer.

“UCLA’s players were physical,” Madsen said. “I didn’t know their players were as physical as they are.

“[To have Gadzuric inside instead of Henderson] changes the entire complexion of the game. Gadzuric, the guy’s an animal. He’s a beast. His post moves maybe are a little raw, but he scored on me a few times.

“[Jerome] Moiso, he looks thin, but he’s physical too. They did get into foul trouble. That’s inexperience. You can’t fault them for aggressiveness though.”

Gadzuric and Moiso spent much of the first half on the bench with two fouls, and foul trouble limited Moiso to only 14 minutes, making him essentially a non-factor.

But Gadzuric, for a stretch in the second half, became an energized, confident monster of a post player, scoring 11 of his 15 points in a 13-minute stretch before he fouled out going over the back to tip in an offensive rebound.

“Gadzuric was really hurting us in isolation, and we decided to go to the zone,” Montgomery said. “We’ve seen them struggle against zones in other games and decided to give it a shot.”

Unfortunately for the Bruins, they had to give it a shot, and they finished the game one for 14 from three-point range, with Baron Davis adding three more misses to put his season mark at six for 36.

Stanford gutted this one out, despite 25 turnovers and making only 32 of 49 free throws and despite foul trouble for Young.

“UCLA was extremely aggressive on defense, and caused some turnovers,” Montgomery said. “We didn’t rattle and we didn’t fall apart. Much as I hate to say it, the zone kind of saved our bacon.”

Until this decade, Stanford had never beaten the Bruins in Pauley Pavilion.

The Cardinal wrapped up the 1990s on Saturday night with their fourth victory, and two in a row for the first time since 1990 and ’91.

“To come down to L.A. and get a sweep is a heck of a deal,” Montgomery said. “These two L.A. teams are tough to beat, and UCLA is going to get better and better as time goes on.”

Can UCLA make a game of it at Maples Pavilion? Perhaps, but the only teams to beat Stanford at Maples the last three seasons are Arizona and Arizona State last season.

Who might get Stanford on the road with L.A. out of the picture?

A game at California, which lost by only nine at Maples, is the best candidate. Arizona might not be good enough.

Outside the Pac-10, look to No. 1 Connecticut at Maples on Feb. 6, in a rematch of Stanford’s 76-56 loss last season on a cross-country trip.

Connecticut’s pressure and running game beat Stanford last season, but Stanford’s defense is better this season, and all those experienced players are that much more experienced.

Madsen, Pete Sauer, Young, Kris Weems and Lee started together for the 41st time Saturday. They’ve been to a Final Four together and suffered only five losses.

Chances are, there won’t be but a couple more.