STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford heads to Orlando, Fla. to compete in the eight-team Advocare Invitational at the HP Field House at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex Thursday through Sunday. The Cardinal opens the tournament against Miami at 11:30 a.m. PT on Thanksgiving Day. From there, it will face either No. 21/22 Iowa State or Indiana State, depending on Thursday's results.
ADVOCARE INVITATIONAL
The 2016 Advocare Invitational field also includes No. 11/11 Gonzaga, Florida, Seton Hall and Quinnipiac. A Thursday-Friday-Sunday format, the three-day tournament features four teams - Miami, Iowa State, Gonzaga and Seton Hall - who made the 2016 NCAA Tournament. The Championship game will take place at 10:30 a.m. PT on Sunday, with the third-place game at 1:30 p.m. PT and the fifth-place game at 4 p.m. PT. All games will be aired on either ESPN2 or ESPNU.
BEST START IN FIVE SEASONS
Stanford's 4-0 start to the season is its best in five years, since opening the 2011-12 season 5-0. The Cardinal has won its first four games of the season just twice the last eight years.
MILES ADDING UP
Stanford will travel more than 21,000 miles from campus and back during its first nine games of the season. The 2016-17 campaign opened in Shanghai, China, more than 6,000 miles from campus. This week, Stanford travels nearly 3,000 miles to Orlando, Fla. After the Advocare Invitational, the Cardinal will travel nearly 2,000 miles to Lawrence, Kan. to face Kansas in its ninth game of the season on Dec. 3. The three trips will total almost 50 hours in an airplane.
GETTING DEFENSIVE
Stanford ranks third in the Pac-12, surrendering just 59.2 points per game. Last time out, the Cardinal held Colorado State to its lowest point total (49) in two seasons. Prior to that, Stanford limited Weber State to 49 points in Thursday's contest. It's the first time since the 2011-12 season Stanford held back-to-back opponents under 50 points. That year, the Cardinal limited Pacific to just 37 points on Nov. 28, 2011 and then Seattle to 49 points on the road on Dec. 1, 2011.
TRAVIS DOMINANT IN RETURN TO COURT
After missing the final 22 games last season due to injury, Reid Travis has returned to action this season. He leads the team in scoring (19.0 ppg) and rebounding (10.5 rpg) through the first four contests. Travis ranks fourth in the Pac-12 in rebounding and fifth in scoring. The forward ranked 24th nationally in rebounding through Monday's games. The junior's .590 field goal percentage is also tops on the team among players who average more than 10.0 mpg. Two of his three career double-doubles have come in the first four games this season.
TRAVIS AGAINST HARVARD
In the season-opener against Harvard, Travis posted career-highs in points (24) and rebounds (17) in 31 minutes of action to lead the Cardinal. Travis' 17 boards were the most in a game by a Cardinal since Josh Huestis posted 18 rebounds against USC on Feb. 20, 2014, a span of 80 games.
DISTRIBUTING THE BASKETBALL
Through the first four games, Stanford is averaging 15.8 assists per game. The total average ranks third in the Pac-12, behind UCLA (25.0) and Utah (17.3). The Cardinal posted a season-high 18 assists in the win over CSUN last week. In Sunday's win over Colorado State, the Cardinal had 10 assists on its first 11 baskets of the game.
BALANCED ATTACK WITH FIVE IN DOUBLE FIGURES
Stanford recorded five double-digit scorers in its first two games of the season. Prior to last week, the Cardinal had five double-digit scorers in a game three times over the previous two seasons. It's the first time Stanford had back-to-back games with five double-digit scorers since the 2013 season (Nov. 21, 2013 vs. Texas Southern and Nov. 25 vs. Houston).
STANFORD AGAINST MIAMI
Stanford is 2-1 all-time against Miami. The two schools most recently met on April 2, 2015, in the championship game of the NIT in New York. The Cardinal posted a 66-64 win over the Hurricanes to take the NIT title. Current members of Stanford - Marcus Allen (9), Reid Travis (7), Michael Humphrey (2) and Robert Cartwright (0) - each played in that win over Miami. Stanford also defeated Miami (93-59) on Jan. 16, 1989. Miami defeated the Cardinal, 71-58, on Dec. 30, 1986 in the West Palm Hurricane Classic in West Palm Beach, Fla. Miami is the most recent Atlantic Coast Conference team Stanford has faced. The Cardinal also played Duke (L, 70-59) in the 2014-15 season.
BIGS PROVIDE BOOST
Stanford's group of Reid Travis, Michael Humphrey and Grant Verhoeven have provided a strong presence in the paint for the Cardinal through the season's first four games. The trio has combined to score 131 points (32.8 ppg) and collect 79 rebounds (19.8 rpg) this season.
The Harvard game was the first time all three recorded double digits in the scoring column in the same game. Travis and Humphrey each scored in double figures in four of the first eight games of last season, before Travis was sidelined with a leg injury for the remainder of the season.
VETERAN GROUP
Boasting one of the most experienced rosters in the Pac-12, four starters - Reid Travis, Michael Humphrey, Marcus Allen, and Christian Sanders - and 10 of the top 11 scorers from last season are back. Including the first four games of this season, Stanford's roster has combined for 642 appearances.
PICKENS THE WORLD TRAVELER
The 2016 Pac-12 China Game was Dorian Pickens' third international basketball trip in a 15-month span. He has traveled more than 20,000 miles around the globe and spent more than 80 hours on an airplane during his international basketball adventures.
In addition to the Pac-12 China game in Shanghai, Pickens competed in all six games during Stanford's 2015 tour of Italy. He visited Rome, Florence, Venice and Como during the exhibition tour. This past July, the junior was selected to play on the Pac-12 All-Star Team that competed in two games against the Australian Olympic Team in Melbourne.
STANFORD AND KANSAS AGREE ON FOUR-GAME SERIES
Stanford and Kansas have announced an agreement on a four-game series. The Cardinal and Jayhawks will meet each of the next four seasons, beginning Dec. 3 in Lawrence, Kansas. The two teams will meet Dec. 21, 2017 at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, before Stanford returns to Lawrence on Dec. 1, 2018, and hosts the Jayhawks at Maples Pavilion Dec. 29, 2019. Stanford Head Coach Jerod Haase was a standout guard for Jayhawks from 1994-97.
FLOOR BURNS STAT COMES TO THE FARM
During his standout collegiate career at Kansas, Jerod Haase was known for his energy and passion on the court, diving for loose balls and taking charges, whatever he could do to help his team win. During his time with the Jayhawks, the "floor burns" stat was created in his honor and is still tracked by the program today. One season, Haase totaled 167. Beginning with the 2016-17 season, Stanford will be tracking floor burns as an official stat throughout the year.
TRAVIS NAMED TEAM CAPTAIN
Junior Reid Travis was named the Cardinal's team captain at the beginning of the season. It was the first time in Jerod's Haase's five years as a head coach he has named a team captain.