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Robin Lopez emerged from the Stanford locker room holding his right hand in the air.

With the other, he reached and pointed to the tip of his middle finger.

"Just the top inch of, I think, my middle finger," he said.

That's all that kept the Arizona Wildcats from pulling out a last-second win Saturday, when Chase Budinger's running bank shot down the right side of the lane was grazed — just barely — by Lopez's finger.

"I was thinking, 'I'm the last line of defense,' " he said. "I've got to do something to stop the player without fouling."

The ball kicked around, with forward Taj Finger batting at it, before it rolled hauntingly down the floor as the clock expired.

"I'm so used to blocking shots I kinda take it for granted," said his twin brother, Brook. "But you've got to love him for something like that."

Robin Lopez said he could still feel the spot where he blocked the ball.

"It's still there a little bit after," he said, smiling.

Anything with Lopez DNA hurt the Wildcats. Brook, traditionally the better offensive player of the identical twin brothers, scored five points in the final 1:45, including a pair of free throws to take a 67-66 lead with 18 seconds left. He finished with 23 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks.

Robin totaled 14 points and eight rebounds to go with three blocks.

He scored maybe the biggest victory of the night by getting UA forward Jordan Hill to foul out with 5:27 left. Hill had just checked into the game when someone from the Stanford bench screamed to Robin Lopez about Hill's foul status.

"Somebody on the bench shouted, 'He has four, go at him,' " Robin Lopez said. "The first thing I did, I got the ball in the post, I went right at him."

Hill was whistled for the foul; the UA played the rest of the game with Kirk Walters and Fendi Onobun in the post.

"We just really wanted to get him out of the game," Brook Lopez said, "so we could just start banging in the low post."

That they did. After Hill was disqualified, Robin Lopez made two free throws. After Lawrence Hill scored a three-point play and Anthony Goods made two free throws, Lopez scored Stanford's final five points of the game.

The win was extra sweet for the Lopez twins, who were raised in Fresno, Calif.

"Growing up Stanford fans, we really saw Arizona as kinda our rival," Brook Lopez said.

Conversely, almost every team in the Pac-10 has a special place in its heart for the Lopez twins. Both dominate the key, and have turned Stanford into a top-10 team as sophomores.

"It's interesting how good they are and how they still have to learn," Lawrence Hill said. "We expect them to be so great at every little thing because of how good they are and how they carry the team.

"But from this game and the ASU game from last week, they made great improvements in scoring and defense."

Thursday, Brook Lopez missed 2 of 4 free throws in the final 1:49, allowing Arizona State to rally to tie the game, and eventually win in overtime.

Saturday, he made 9 of 12, including the game-winner — and took pride in Stanford's defense.

"I think the last possession sums it up, pretty much," he said. "We had to go out there, play good defense, make them force up a bad shot they didn't want to take, and just rebound the ball."

On both ends on the floor, the brothers pose a matchup problem for every team, not just Arizona.

"It's hard for us to guard them with our front-line guys," UA interim head coach Kevin O'Neill said. "They are big, agile and hard to guard. They're both going to be NBA players."

When that happens is anybody's guess.

"There's not a very good chance of us being on the same team then, is there?" Brook said, smiling. "It'd be cool, though."