STANFORD, Calif. (AP) – Dorian Pickens learned from the seniors last year and that helped get him ready to fill a bigger role this season. He's applying those lessons.
Pickens scored a career-high 20 points, Michael Humphrey had his second double-double in as many games and Stanford beat Charleston Southern 93-59 in a preliminary game of the NIT Season Tip-Off Sunday evening at Maples Pavilion.
"We're all capable of scoring," said Pickens, who added eight assists. "I'm feeling comfortable this season. We played under great seniors and I paid attention to Anthony Brown, who played my position. I worked at it during the offseason."
Rosco Allen added a career-high 19 points and Reid Travis added 13 for the Cardinal (2-0), who have won seven straight dating to last year's run through the Postseason NIT. Humphrey added 13 points and 12 rebounds.
"Guys have the mentality of the next pass, looking for a great shot instead of a good one," Humphrey said. "We look at it like we can have four or five guys in double figures every game."
Patrick Wallace scored 13 points to lead the Buccaneers (0-2), who start the season with two losses for the first time in three years. Aaron Wheeler added 10.
"It's just a great opportunity for our team to participate in the preseason NIT, and it's something we wanted to do," Bucs coach Barclay Radebaugh said. "We want to compete against the best. We want our program to be known nationwide, and I think it helps our recruiting to play such a competitive schedule."
The Cardinal, who committed 21 turnovers in their overtime victory against Wisconsin-Green Bay on Friday, had eight against the Buccaneers.
"It was a lot better tonight," Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins said. "Especially against pressure. Our offense is about moving the ball and getting guys moving."
Stanford held a 48-14 advantage in points in the paint, 20-3 in points off turnovers and 16-5 edge in second-chance points.
Charleston Southern's bench outscored the Cardinal's bench, 33-22.
Stanford never trailed in the contest and held a double-digit advantage over the final 30 minutes.
The Buccaneers, with one returning starter from last year's Big South Conference title team, never could put any kind of run together, falling to 0-5 against teams from the Pac-12.
Charleston Southern has three seniors on its roster, and one is a transfer.
The Cardinal led at halftime, 46-21.
Stanford returns to action Thursday (Nov. 19) as the Cardinal hosts SMU at 8:30 p.m. PT at Maples Pavilion.
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Johnny Dawkins:
"It was a very good win for us tonight. Our guys got off to a great start and then we were able to sustain that effort throughout the game. They did a great job of coming in and they're very active. They play undersized so they have a lot of quickness. And I thought our guys really made some adjustments as the game progressed to make sure that we were able to defend both in our man and zone better."
"We talked about the turnovers. I thought we were a lot better tonight. We really valued the basketball, especially against a pressing team. They pressed us pretty much from start to finish. And I really wanted to see if our guys could handle the pressure and make the plays necessary, and I thought we did tonight. A lot better than we did the first night."
"We want to move the basketball, we want our guys moving. And we know we need each other to score. Every team is different. Last year, when you take away the big three players we had — Chasson Randle, Anthony Brown, and Stefan Nastic — each one of those players, if they had the basketball, they knew they were capable of generating their own offense. Stefan in the post, Chasson in the perimeter, and Anthony in the perimeter. This year's team isn't built that way. So we need each other to score, so it's definitely more screening and cutting, freeing guys up. But I love that actually, it's a great way to play and everyone feels a connection on the offensive end."
Dorian Pickens:
"That first game for us was obviously much tighter than we wanted. Tonight we wanted to focus on coming out with a ton of energy right from the jump. And really focusing on what we call having a defensive masterpiece… because we know that offense will come."
"Moving the ball is going to be one of our identities this year. Last year, we had some strong guys like Chasson, Steph, and Anthony, and this year, we have a lot of young guys. We're going to focus on moving the ball around, searching for great shots, and our offense really suits that. We've moved to an offense that's free-flowing, moving the ball, setting off-ball screens, and moving the ball around to anyone because we know that we're all capable of scoring."
Michael Humphrey:
"We loved the three seniors last year, but they dominated the game. This year, we can have five or six guys in double-digits each night. We want to take great shots, and I think all five guys on the court — maybe the six or seven guys in the solid rotation — realize that it's kind of like that next-pass mentality: pass up a good shot for a great shot. It's just going to help everyone out.