SHANGHAI, China – Stanford opens the Jerod Haase era more than 6,000 miles away from its Northern California campus in Shanghai, China, facing Harvard in the 2016 Pac-12 China Game presented by Alibaba Group. The game will be played Saturday at noon in Shanghai, which will be Friday at 8 p.m. in California.
The game will be broadcast live on ESPN2, with Roxy Bernstein and Bill Walton on the call from Mercedes-Benz Arena. Stanford alums John Platz and Scott Reiss will have the call on KNBR 1050 AM.
CARDINAL GOES GLOBAL
Stanford's trip to China will be the third international trip during the regular season in the 102-year history of the men's basketball program.
The Cardinal owns a 2-3 all-time record in regular-season games played outside of United States territories, competing in Cancun, Mexico, in 2009 and Paradise Island, Bahamas in 2012.
JEROD HAASE ERA BEGINS
Jerod Haase was introduced as Stanford's Anne and Tony Joseph Director of Men's Basketball by Jaquish & Kenninger Director of Athletics Bernard Muir on March 25, 2016. Haase, the 18th head coach in the history of the program, takes over the helm of the Cardinal program after four seasons as the head coach at UAB. He led the Blazers to a regular-season Conference USA championship in 2016 and the program's 15th all-time NCAA Tournament appearance in 2015. Haase compiled an 80-53 overall record while improving the Blazers' win total every year.
VETERAN GROUP
Boasting one of the most experienced rosters in the Pac-12 Conference, Stanford brings back four starters and 10 of its top 11 scorers from last season. Jerod Haase inherits a Cardinal roster that welcomes back four double-digit scorers in Reid Travis (12.8 ppg), Dorian Pickens (12.3 ppg), Marcus Allen (11.1 ppg) and Michael Humphrey (10.3 ppg) from its 15-win campaign a year ago. In all, 81.1 percent of the rebounding and 77.7 percent of the scoring from last season return on the 2016-17 roster.
BUSY WEEK IN CHINA
Stanford's travel party arrived in China on Sunday, Nov. 6, following a 14-hour flight from San Francisco that began Saturday afternoon in the United States. The Cardinal will enjoy a full schedule of activities during the stay, which includes stops in Shanghai and Hangzhou.
The week of activities includes a tour of the Alibaba Group campus, a trip to the Shanghai Disney Resort, a Huangpu River Cruise and several other cultural experiences.
Stanford will play an exhibition game on the campus of Shanghai Jiao Tong University on Wednesday, Nov. 9, against Tsinghua.
PICKENS THE WORLD TRAVELER
The 2016 Pac-12 China Game will be 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.
Pickens competed in all six games during Stanford's 2015 summer tour of Italy, visiting Rome, Florence, Venice and Como. This past July, the junior was selected to play on the Pac-12 All-Star Team that competed against the Australian Olympic Team in Melbourne. He played in both games for the Pac-12 All-Stars, earning one start.
WHAT RETURNS IN 2016-17
• 94.7 percent of blocks from last season
• 85.7 percent of assists from last season
• 81.1 percent of rebounding from last season
• 77.7 percent of scoring from last season
TRAVIS AND CARTWRIGHT BACK IN ACTION
Forward Reid Travis and guard Robert Cartwright are healthy and poised to return to action this season after an injury-plagued 2015-16 season.
Travis started the first eight games of last season and averaged 12.8 ppg and 7.1 rpg, before missing the rest of the year with a leg injury. Cartwright missed the entire 2015-16 season after he sustained a compound fracture in his right arm during practice on Nov. 2, 2015. He was a projected starter entering the 2015-16 season.
STANFORD IN SEASON OPENERS
In its 101-year history, the Cardinal sports an 83-18 record in season openers. Stanford has won 26 of its last 28 openers, with the only exceptions coming in 2009 at San Diego and in 2005 against UC Irvine.
OPENING AWAY FROM STANFORD
The Cardinal is opening the season away from Maples Pavilion for the first time in four seasons, since posting a 74-62 victory over San Francisco in a game played in Oakland, California to open the 2012-13 season.
AGAINST HARVARD
Stanford owns a perfect 9-0 record all-time against Harvard. The Cardinal also opened the 2007-08 season against the Crimson, defeating Harvard 111-56, in the last meeting between the two schools. Stanford has posted double-digit wins against Harvard in seven of the nine victories.
This is the first neutral-site game between the two schools.
Series Snapshot
| Year | Location | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1978-79 | at Stanford | W, 103-81 |
| 1981-82 | at Stanford | W, 93-70 |
| 1982-83 | at Harvard | W, 81-77 |
| 1983-84 | at Stanford | W, 79-66 |
| 1985-86 | at Harvard | W, 78-62 |
| 1987-88 | at Stanford | W, 97-60 |
| 1995-96 | at Stanford | W, 65-59 |
| 2003-04 | at Stanford | W, 100-59 |
| 2007-08 | at Stanford | W, 111-56 |
STANFORD-HARVARD CONNECTIONS
Considered two of the most prestigious institutions in the world, Stanford and Harvard have several connections on the basketball court as well.
Junior Reid Travis' brother, Jonah, was a member of the Harvard men's basketball team, graduating in 2015.
Stanford assistant coach Adam Cohen spent the 2013-14 season as an assistant coach at Harvard, where he helped the Crimson set program records for overall wins (27) and conference victories (13) en route to the team's fourth consecutive Ivy League title and a third straight appearance in the NCAA tournament.
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 begin tracking floor burns as an official stat throughout the year.
HEAD COACHES IN THEIR STANFORD DEBUTS
Head Coaches are 15-2 all-time in their Stanford debuts. The last coach to drop his first game as head coach of the Stanford men's basketball program was Mike Montgomery (65-67 to Georgia Tech in 1986). The Hall of Fame coach went on to win a school-record 393 career games in 18 seasons with the Cardinal. Johnny Dawkins' first game as the head coach of Stanford in 2008 was also against an Ivy League opponent (75-67 victory over Yale).
Coaching Debuts
| Coach | Season | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jerod Haase | 2016-17 | vs. Harvard (Shanghai, China) | - |
| Johnny Dawkins | 2008-09 | at Yale | W, 75-67 |
| Trent Johnson | 2004-05 | vs. San Francisco (Oakland, Calif.) | W, 98-83 |
| Mike Montgomery | 1986-87 | vs. Georgia Tech (Richmond, Va.) | L, 65-67 |
| Tom Davis | 1982-83 | UC Riverside | W, 84-71 |
| Dick DiBiaso | 1975-76 | Nevada | W, 94-70 |
| Howard Dallmar | 1954-55 | San Jose State | W, 80-69 |
| Robert W. Burnett | 1951-52 | Pacific | W, 86-76 |
| Everett S. Dean | 1938-39 | San Francisco | W, 38-20 |
| John W. Bunn | 1930-31 | San Jose State | W, 27-22 |
| E.P. Hunt | 1926-27 | at Hollywood AC | L, 28-34 |
| Andy Kerr | 1922-23 | Pacific | W, 18-9 |
| C.E. Van Gent | 1921-22 | Santa Clara | W, 23-22 |
| Walter Powell | 1920-21 | Olympic Club | W, 42-34 |
| M.C. "Bob" Evans | 1919-20 | St. Ignatius | W, 45-35 |
| Russell Wilson | 1916-17 | at L.A. Athletic Club | W, 37-18 |
| E.C. "Squire" Behrens | 1915-16 | vs. Pacific (San Jose, Calif.) | W, 47-22 |
| H.W. Maloney | 1913-14 | St. Ignatius | W, 22-20 |
PAC-12'S MOST IMPROVED SCORER
Dorian Pickens owned the largest increase in scoring average from his freshman season (2014-15) to his sophomore campaign (2015-16). Note: Colorado's George King redshirted the 2014-15 season.
LOOKING FOR CONSISTENCY IN LINEUP IN 2016-17
Stanford used 11 different lineups in its 30 games last season. Rosco Allen was the lone Cardinal to start all 30 games last year. Senior Marcus Allen owns the most starts on the 2016-17 roster, with 48 career starting assignments. Senior Christian Sanders and junior Michael Humphrey have each started 33 career games.
SCHEDULE BREAKDOWN
Stanford's 2016-17 schedule features 15 home games, as many as 19 contests against NCAA Tournament opponents from last season, along with this week's trip to Shanghai, China to play in the Pac-12 China game against Harvard.
CARDINAL IN THE NBA
Four former Stanford standouts – Brook Lopez (Brooklyn Nets), Robin Lopez (Chicago Bulls), Dwight Powell (Dallas Mavericks) and Josh Huestis (Oklahoma City Thunder) – opened the 2016-17 season on NBA rosters. Brook Lopez was the Nets' scoring leader last season, averaging more than 20 points per contest. Powell and Huestis are both in their third year in the NBA. Powell signed a new contract with Dallas prior to the season. Chasson Randle and Anthony Brown are each competing in the NBA Developmental League.
STANFORD PART OF STAR-STUDDED 2017 PHIL KNIGHT INVITATIONAL
Stanford will compete in the prestigious 16-team PK80 – Phil Knight Invitational – over Thanksgiving week of 2017. The event, which will honor Nike co-founder and Stanford alumnus Phil Knight MBA '62 in advance of his 80th birthday, will be contested in Portland, Oregon over Thanksgiving week during the 2017-18 season. Stanford will be joined in the elite 16-team field by Arkansas, Butler, Connecticut, Duke, Florida, Georgetown, Gonzaga, Michigan State, North Carolina, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon, Portland, Portland State and Texas. This highly-anticipated event will be one of the largest regular-season tournaments in college basketball history.