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Stanford stumbles

Rommel Marentez, left, and UC Davis stunned Matt Haryasz and Stanford. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Josh Dubow Associated Press
Rommel Marentez, left, and UC Davis stunned Matt Haryasz and Stanford. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

DAVIS, Calif. – Chris Hernandez and his Stanford teammates trudged to the locker room, maneuvering around the onrushing UC Davis students and the Aggies players celebrating on the court.

It was the Cardinal’s third disappointing defeat to an unheralded team already this season. The optimism that came with a No. 13 preseason ranking and a senior-laden roster has quickly turned to self doubt.

“The bottom line is we’re not playing very good basketball,” coach Trent Johnson said following the 64-58 loss to UC Davis on Sunday. “We’re not a very confident group right now.”

And there’s little reason to be. The Cardinal were outhustled and outpoised by the Aggies, a team full of young players in a program still making the transition from Division II to Division I.

The defeat Sunday followed a season-opening loss at home to UC Irvine and another on Friday at Montana. That’s not exactly the competition expected to knock off a team picked to finish second in the Pac-10 and as one of the top squads in the nation before the season.

The Cardinal (2-3) have a losing record after five games for the second straight year under Johnson after not doing that since 1979-80.

But this slow start is much different than last year’s, which included losses to Louisville and Tennessee at the Maui Invitational before a setback at home to Santa Clara.

“You go into the year with the expectations and all the rankings and I don’t know how that plays into the young student-athletes’ heads,” Johnson said. “The bottom line is, it is what it is. We’re 2-3. We played some teams that played extremely well against us. But are they the caliber of the teams we played in the non-conference last year? I don’t think so.”

The Cardinal now get a needed break in their schedule for exams and an opportunity to work on their problems and regain the confidence that’s been shattered by these early season defeats.

Stanford has a nearly two-week stretch without a game before playing Virginia Tech on Dec. 17. Games against Denver and Princeton follow before the Cardinal begin the Pac-10 season Dec. 29 at UCLA.

“We’re all just trying to find a way to get out of this slump that we’re in,” said Hernandez, who was held to three points on 1-of-9 shooting against the Aggies.

With Hernandez, Dan Grunfeld and Matt Haryasz returning to a team that reached the NCAA Tournament last March, expectations were high on The Farm.