Arizona Ousts Stanford

Arizona came to the Pacific 10 Conference basketball tournament without suspended senior guard Hassan Adams, who was arrested last weekend on suspicion of driving under the influence.

The Wildcats, however, showed Thursday that they still have plenty of backcourt talent to make a run at their first tournament title since 2002, and possibly more.

Mustafa Shakur scored 18 points, took seven rebounds and handed out six assists, helping the fourth-seeded Wildcats advance to the semifinals with a 73-68 victory over fifth-seeded Stanford at Staples Center.

Chris Rodgers, who had been suspended this season for insubordination, had 12 points and five steals as the Wildcats forced the Cardinal into a season-high 23 turnovers.

“This is the best defensive team that we’ve had,” said Arizona Coach Lute Olson, whose team will play UCLA in a semifinal tonight. “That pressure on the ball forced a lot of those turnovers.”

Shakur said the Wildcats had suffered an emotional blow when Adams, the team’s leading scorer, was suspended for the conference tournament. But the junior from Philadelphia added that he had not tried to elevate his game in his teammate’s absence.

“I tried not to think about it at all; just play the same way I’ve been playing, not changing things,” said Shakur, who did not commit a turnover. “Because when you force things, that’s when you tend to make a lot of mistakes.”

Arizona (19-11) trailed, 32-31, at halftime but played virtually error-free, committing only two of its seven turnovers in the second half and making 17 of 22 free throws in the last nine minutes after Stanford had tied the score, 50-50.

Forward Ivan Radenovic scored a game-high 21 points and had three steals for the Wildcats and helped neutralize Stanford center Matt Haryasz, who finished with 14 points but scored only two in the second half.

Stanford (15-13) trailed by only two, 70-68, with 33 seconds left after a dunk by guard Tim Morris, but Arizona went ahead by five on two free throws by Rodgers and one by Radenovic.

Stanford’s last chance ended with a turnover by senior guard Chris Hernandez, who scored 20 points.

The Cardinal will miss the NCAA tournament for the first time in 12 seasons.

“It is really disappointing, especially for your senior year,” Haryasz said.