By: Ben Leonard
Follow @ben___leonard

Coming into the season, Stanford knew it was going to have some growing pains, having to replace stars like Chasson Randle and Anthony Brown with young talent.

It took a lot of aches and pains (even more than expected), but fueled by 23 points from point guard Christian Sanders, the Stanford Cardinal (1-0) finally pulled away from the Horizon League’s Green Bay Phoenix (0-1) to open their season in a 93-89 overtime win, part of the NIT Season Tipoff. Fittingly, the Cardinal ended last season with an NIT Championship  — it picked up right where they left off.

The Cardinal was picked to finish ninth in the Pac-12 media poll a year after tying for fifth last season, and have gotten their fair share of bad injury luck — they lost point guard Robert Cartwright for the season (broken arm), and had to play without Marcus Allen (wrist), and Grant Verhoeven (foot).

They certainly looked like a team short on players and experience in the early going. Even though they took a quick 17-13 lead, Green Bay turned it on, going on a 25-11 run in the last eleven minutes of the first half to take a 38-28 halftime lead, leading by as many as 14 points.

Head coach Johnny Dawkins tried to help his young team out as best as he could, calling timeouts to try to stop the Phoenix’s momentum, but it was to no avail. Green Bay’s full-court press simply forced Stanford to turn the ball over too much (11 TO), giving Green Bay too many easy opportunities to score (16 points off TO).

A self-described tweener, point guard/off guard Christian Sanders broke down how the press affected them: “Early on it was effective. Instead of attacking the basket to score, we seemed hesitant. When they came to trap, they left space (unlike most teams). We had to overcome that awkwardness — it’s just a growing-up kind of thing.”

Stanford had a lot of growing up to do, and fast. Sanders mentioned that the team was still “searching for [them]selves and learning about each other” in the first half. It was painfully obvious: the Cardinal also struggled mightily at the line in the first half, making just 6 of 11 from the charity stripe, and failed to make a three-point attempt on seven tries. Guards Carrington Love (10 points) and 6’7″ Turner Botz (8 pts) led the way for Green Bay, making Stanford’s defense look bad.

After all those turnovers in the first half,  Dawkins preached to his team to “value the ball.” Okay, they only kind of listened (10 TO the rest of the way), but it sure lit a fire under them. They slowly but surely started to pull back, cutting the Phoenix’s lead to six points with 11:20 left to play.

Stanford made some clear adjustments, becoming “more aggressive” according to forward Rosco Allen, who picked up his first career double-double, one of six Cardinal in double figures. They limited Green Bay to shoot just 34.4% from the field, while they found their shooting touch, making five of nine three-pointers and shooting 59.3% fro the field.

After getting the crowd back in it with their rally, the Cardinal finally pulled ahead 69-68 with just under three minutes to play on guard Dorian Pickens’ lay-up, their first lead since the early stages of the first half. Pickens combined with Sanders (filling in for Cartwright) to score 20 points in the second half, fueling the Cardinal’s resurgence.

Dawkins expressed total confidence in Sanders as his point guard: “It’s his time…. he needs to make the most of it for the team. He told me he was ready with such confidence.”

It looked like Pickens’ and Sanders’ efforts had the game on ice, up two points with two Sanders’ free-throws with just ten seconds left. But Pickens clanked his first free-throw off the iron before making the second, allowing for Green Bay’s Charles Cooper to hit an “and-one” layup to send the game into overtime.

Sanders carried the team in overtime, scoring eight points while making four clutch free-throws to help the Cardinal walk away victorious. Not bad for a guy who had only started in nine games coming into the season. Rosco Allen’s three gave Stanford a five-point lead with 28 seconds left, enough to ground the Phoenix.

Overall, Dawkins was pleased with his team’s effort against a program with a “really good tradition.” Before you doubt his honesty, Green did make their conference championship game and finish 24-9 last year.

It was a “big test” for his team, one that “still has a lot to learn…from the good and bad.” Stanford is still searching for an “identity” after losing so many players.

One thing’s for certain: Stanford won’t be able to get away with committing 21 turnovers in the coming games. After a matchup against Charleston Southern, Stanford will go on to play a great team in SMU, Saint Mary’s, and eleventh-ranked Villanova. Not too shabby of a non-conference schedule. SEC football teams, take notes.

Notes: 

Malcom Allen made a surprise return to action on Friday, after we had been told he would miss some games…Allen has been practicing for a little over a week and was ‘completely ready’ to return to action…There still is no exact date for Marcus Allen’s return, but as for Verhoeven, their returns are “getting closer”….Stanford announced plans to play Harvard in 2016 in China….Dawkins: “It’s great for our team and for our conference”…..