By Jeremy Harness

STANFORD – It may not be time to say that Stanford will be the team to give conference front-runner Arizona a run for its money this year – or finish the regular season any better than right in the middle of the Pac-12 standings, where it seems to end up year after year – but the first two weeks have proved to be promising.

The Cardinal got its real test in a tough loss to No. 4 Duke – coach Johnny Dawkins’ alma mater – in last weekend’s Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, and they got back to their winning ways Tuesday night in an 84-47 rout of Delaware at Maples Pavilion.

During Dawkins’ tenure, Stanford’s calling card has been playing sound defense, and that was certainly on display in dismantling the Blue Hens and doing it rather quickly.

Truth be told, the competitive stage of this game came and went after only a few minutes. Stanford got off to a great start, and the Cardinal found themselves with their biggest margin of the first half – 23 points – as they went into into the locker room at the break.

The Cardinal got whatever shot they wanted while holding Delaware to 25 percent shooting in the first half and, for the most part, limiting the Blue Hens to one shot at a time. In fact, for the first 12 minutes of the game, Delaware had only one offensive rebound before collecting three more before halftime.

To put Stanford’s defensive effort in proper perspective, Delaware only had two players score in double figures Tuesday night. Sophomore guard Cazmon Hayes had 15 points, but he made only four of his 21 shots in the process, something that Kobe Bryant can identify with these days.

Freshman swingman Chivarsky Corbett himself was forced into a 4-of-12 shooting night to get his 10 points.

Meanwhile, Stanford converted on 43 percent of their shot attempts in the half, and all it did in the second half is widen its lead, as the 3-point shot became more of an ally and it generally kept the throttle down on Delaware.

The Cardinal opened the half with a 10-3 run in the first five minutes, and from that point, it was time to see if everyone on the Stanford bench was going to get to play.

As the game went along, Stanford had more fast-break opportunities, which padded the scoreboard even more in its favor and helped spread the scoring around.

The Cardinal ended up having four different guys in double figures, with senior Chasson Randle leading the way with 15 points, although he only made four of his 12 shots. Stefan Nastic has the most efficient night of the group, as he converted on six of his 10 attempts for 12 points to go along with seven rebounds.

Standout post man Dwight Powell has graduated, and even though they don’t have anyone to completely fill his shoes, the Cardinal may have someone in Reid Travis.

The freshman forward, who chose to come to Stanford over Minnesota and Duke and has also played for Team USA, had six points on 3-of-8 shooting but also had 11 rebounds on Tuesday and showed a great deal of tenacity on the defensive end.