No. 5 Arizona Gets a Swift Kick in 86-60 Loss

Stromile Swift, showing the type of game that made him Mr. Basketball in Louisiana three years ago, had 29 points and nine rebounds Saturday as Louisiana State trounced No. 5-ranked Arizona, 86-60, at Baton Rouge, La.

The victory, the Tigers’ second over a ranked team this season, sent the capacity crowd onto the court chanting, “LSU! LSU!” Tiger players jumped onto court-side reporters’ and officials’ desks, dancing and leading the cheers.

“I can’t explain how much fun this was,” said Swift, who sent the crowd into a frenzy with several spectacular dunks. “I can’t tell you what a thrill it was to see the fans get so worked up and watch the scoreboard.”

LSU, 16-3 overall, showed the fast-breaking style that helped it start the season with 13 consecutive victories, including an 81-55 win over then-No. 15 Oklahoma State. The Tigers opened the second half with a 16-6 run for a 53-27 lead and were never threatened.

The 26-point loss the worst for Coach Lute Olson in 17 seasons at Arizona, topping a 25-point loss to Utah in the NCAA tournament in 1998.

“They beat us every way you can,” Olson said. “They played harder collectively. Their inside people were just too much for our inside people. They got offensive rebounds and dunked them and we got offensive rebounds and got them blocked. Stromile was a totally dominant player on the court.”

Swift, who had 21 points against Arizona last season, made 13 of 18 shots and played aggressive defense with four blocks and three steals.

“We didn’t hit a shot and a good part of that was probably because of the job they did defensively,” Olson said. “We just could not deal with Swift.”

Swift, a 6-foot-9 sophomore forward, is the leading scorer (16.7 points a game) and rebounder (7.7) for LSU. He was capably supported against Arizona by 6-11 center Jabari Smith, who had 15 points, six rebounds and four assists.

“It was so much fun, I can’t even say,” Smith said. “Watching Stromile do the things he did and his emotions and how loud the arena got. Looking at all my teammates felt so good. We played hard, played good defense and responded to the challenge.”

Arizona (17-4) was coming off its best-shooting game (56%) in a 27-point victory over Arizona State Wednesday, but made only 34% against LSU, including seven for 26 in the first half.

Arizona’s freshman guards Gilbert Arenas and Jason Gardner, who combined for 15-for-21 shooting and 40 points against Arizona State, made only six of 20 shots and had 17 points.

Michael Wright led Arizona with 14 points, and Loren Woods had 12 points and 11 rebounds.

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No. 2 Stanford 63, Washington State 38--The Cardinal, 17-1 overall and 6-1 in the Pacific 10, held the Cougars (5-12, 0-8) scoreless for the first 6:12 of the game at Palo Alto.

Stanford, which defeated Washington State by 49 points at Maples Pavilion last season, had leads of 11-0 and 22-3 en route to a 36-16 halftime advantage. Senior forward Mark Madsen scored five points to become the 27th Stanford player to go over 1,000 in a career.

Washington State senior forward Chris Crosby had 16 points to move into 14th on the school’s career scoring list with 1,167.

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No. 21 North Carolina State 79, Arizona State 68--Damon Thornton, who had only two points in a 17-point loss to Clemson Thursday, scored 23 for the Wolfpack (14-4) at Raleigh, N.C.

The loss was the fourth in a row for Arizona State (11-8). Eddie House, the Pacific 10’s leading scorer at 22.8 points a game, made 11 of 24 shots and all six of his free throws for 31 points.

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Washington 54, California 52--Senque Carey made a three-point basket at the buzzer as the Huskies (7-13, 2-6) came back from a 14-point deficit in the second half at Berkeley.

Washington turned the ball over with 10 seconds left and California (11-8, 2-5) ahead, 52-51, but Donte Smith, after being fouled with eight seconds left, missed the front end of a one-and-one free-throw situation. Carey’s shot ended a Husky losing streak at six.