![\"Stanford](\"http:\/\/www.stanforddaily.com\/cgi-bin\/wp-content\/uploads\/spo012810mbb.jpg\" "\\"spo012810mbb\\"")
<\/p>\nStanford Daily File Photo<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
So, as Stanford hits the road for the longest stretch of its season – four games – the team looks to accomplish something. Victory, that is. The Cardinal (10-9, 4-3 Pac-10) will spend the weekend in Arizona, meeting the Wildcats (10-9, 4-3) today and Arizona State (14-6, 4-3) on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Stanford and both opponents are part of a five-way tie for second in the conference, so the significance of these games won\u2019t go unnoticed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe opportunity is there, and if we go out and compete every game like we do at home, we\u2019ll have a pretty good chance to win,\u201d Shiller said. \u201cWith four road games coming up here, and Arizona is obviously tied with us right now, it\u2019s a huge game, we just have to put our best foot forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just have to start playing better on the road,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Head coach Johnny Dawkins agreed with his co-captain, but emphasized that opportunity comes one game at a time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI look at it as an opportunity,\u201d Dawkins said. \u201cIf we want to do anything special, we have to go out and prove that we can win on the road. So, [it\u2019s important] for our kids to understand the importance of each one of these games, take them one at a time, just give our best effort. We\u2019re starting to grow up, we\u2019re starting to mature in a lot of ways, and I think we\u2019ll really see it [in] the way we compete on the road, so we\u2019re excited about this trip and the opportunity we have.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a season riddled with injury, growing up has already been important for the young Stanford team. Most recently, sophomore Jack Trotter slid into a role in the post left wide-open by the loss of junior Josh Owens and injured sophomore Andrew Zimmermann.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think you have to give [Trotter] a lot of credit,\u201d Dawkins said. \u201cWe needed guys to contribute more than they thought their roles would probably be, and he\u2019s one of the guys that had to do that especially\u2026 I\u2019m very proud of him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arizona, though, has experienced a similar growth spurt to get to 4-3. The Wildcats have only one senior in guard Nic Wise and one junior in forward Jamelle Horne, making the roster among the youngest in the country. Wise uses his experience well, averaging 15.3 points per game, 1.84 steals and nearly 4 assists per game, and Horne consistently adds another 11.2 points and 6.5 rebounds to Arizona outings.<\/p>\n
But, the Wildcats are led by one of their youngest talents: freshman forward Derrick Williams heads the team in scoring (15.6) and boards (7.1), and boasts the conference\u2019s second-best shooting percentage at 58.9 percent.<\/p>\n
Dawkins knows that Williams, and the whole Arizona roster, will be a challenging opponent for the Cardinal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Arizona is playing well\u2026and Derrick\u2019s a terrific player,\u201d he noted. \u201cBoth teams are young, but I think both teams at this stage in the game are a little older than their age. We\u2019re almost halfway through the Pac-10 season and more than halfway through the season, and I\u2019ve told some of our kids, \u2018You\u2019re no longer freshmen and sophomores anymore, you\u2019re more like sophomores and juniors. You\u2019ve gained a lot of experience this year, and it\u2019s time to play like you\u2019ve gained that experience.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
With Williams in the paint, Trotter will need to continue to fill the big shoes that have been left for him. But, the sophomore says his confidence is \u201con the upswing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you play against a senior like Schaftenaar [of Oregon State] or such a highly touted recruit like Dunigan [of Oregon], and you can hold your own, it\u2019s definitely a confidence booster,\u201d Trotter said.<\/p>\n
Trotter should be confident with the conference\u2019s second-best scorer and rebounder in Landry Fields (21.8 points, 8.7 boards) and standout shooter Jeremy Green (17.5 points) on the court to boost the Cardinal, even when the sophomore can\u2019t.<\/p>\n
But, Tucson contains the Pac-10\u2019s biggest arena, with an average attendance of nearly 10,000, which may take Stanford\u2019s struggles on the road to a whole new level.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a terrific environment,\u201d Dawkins said. \u201cIt\u2019s a great place, the crowd has a lot of energy, and we expect that. We\u2019ve been in a few venues that have been that way, where it has been that crowds and unbelievable support, and [that\u2019s] something that we have to continue to face.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you go on the road, you have to be consistent with your effort and with your execution for 40 minutes,\u201d he continued. \u201cGoing anywhere on the road is tough, so you have to approach it that way. You have to be poised, you have to value the ball and, probably above all else, you have to really defend well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shiller agreed, and said the Cardinal was focused on the little things in order to improve its record on the road.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest thing is communication, especially on the defensive end,\u201d Shiller said. \u201cBeing on the road, it is tough to play in other environments, especially at Arizona, so we\u2019re looking forward to the challenge. If we can do well on this road trip [it] can definitely spring us forward. So, it\u2019s definitely important.\u201d<\/p>\n
The trip is indeed important for Stanford, potentially making or breaking its success in conference play. \u2018The challenge\u2019 tips off at 5 p.m. on Thursday, and all eyes are on the Cardinal to see how it fares.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Senior guard Drew Shiller might have put it best when he said, \u201cWe haven\u2019t won on the road, and a good team goes out and wins on the road. We haven\u2019t accomplished anything yet when all we\u2019ve done is win at home.\u201d Stanford Daily File Photo So, as Stanford hits the road for the longest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":152,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-240279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/152"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240279\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}