By Matthew T.F. Harrington

photo credit: AP photo of Stanford’s Marcus Sheffield taking a shot against DePaul Tuesday night

STANFORD, Calif. –It was about as perfect as it could get for Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins and the Cardinal Tuesday night at Maples Pavilion. In beating the visiting DePaul Blue Demons 79-60, the Cardinal checked off a number of boxes on its holiday list.

First there was stout defense, then there was scoring from someone without the last name Allen. Mix in some steals and a couple three-pointers and Stanford (5-3) had its best victory of the year heading into a Saturday match-up with a Texas Longhorn team fresh off an upset over North Carolina.

“A big thing for us this year is ‘together’,” said sophomore Dorian Pickens on his team’s scoring depth Tuesday. “We have a really deep team. Everybody comes into the game ready to make contributions offensively and defensively.”

The Cardinal never trailed in the contest, scoring the game’s first basket 23 seconds into the contest and rode 7 made treys and 8 steals in the first half, both breaking single-game highs this year in just 20 mins. Stanford outscored DePaul 39-24 in first half after limiting the Blue Devils to just 36 percent shooting.

“I thought our first half defense was as good as it’s been all year,” said Dawkins. “Our guys did a really good job of making it difficult. We were playing as one out there on the floor.

Stanford stumbled a bit in the second half, allowing the visitors to hit 51.7 percent of their shots but still built as much as a 23-point lead. Senior guard Aaron Simpson scored a team-high 16 points DePaul (5-5).

“There’s always room for improvement,” said junior guard Marcus Allen. “We played well on defensive in the first half. We had a small let-off in the second half. It can always improve.”

Veterans Marcus Allen (17 points, season-high three three-pointers) and Rosco Allen (14 points) got revenge for last season’s 87-72 loss to DePaul in Rosemont on November 30^th by leading a Cardinal offense that hit 25-51 field goals. Fellow starter Reid Travis pitched in 12 points and 7 rebounds.

“I am happy that we played a lot better than we played last year,” said Dawkins. “Last year was one of our worst performances. Give them credit, they made us play that way. This year our guys were really focused. They remembered that game. They wanted to do better, and they did.”

Stanford received a boost from reserve Pickens who contributed 16 points off the bench, coming just 4 points shy of his career-high set against Charleston earlier this season. Pickens hit 3 of Stanford’s season-best 10 threes.

“Dorian came in and gave us a lift,” said Dawkins. “Not just because he was scoring, but defensively. He got a lot of deflections that we got steals off of.”

One face that wasn’t a part of last season’s loss was guard hybrid Marcus Sheffield. The freshman scored 9 points over his 12 minutes of play to add to Stanford’s 27 bench points.

“We recruited ‘Sheff’ to be a scorer for us,” said Dawkins. “I think you saw glimpses of what he can do tonight. He can score around the basket, he can step outside and knock down shots. He’s just like any other freshman, he has to get a little stronger. He’s a little bean right now. He needs to get stronger but as he does he’s going to be a terrific player for us.”

Another freshman, Cameron Walker played 11 minutes at point guard.

“The thing I learned about watching Cameron in high school and at practice,” said Dawkins. “He has a unique ability to find guys and get guys the ball. He finds guys very well. He enjoys it more than he enjoys scoring.”

The guard-forward hybrid will get his share of point guard minutes with Robert Cartwright out for the season.

“We looked at it during the summer, during the fall,” said Dawkins of playing Walker at the point. “With Robert going down we look at it as a must now. Putting him there is one of the options. He’s very versatile. He can give you a lot of different positions.”

While the scoring was crucial, so too was Stanford’s ability to force the turnover. The Cardinal managed their best steal total of the season with 13 swipes and 20 turnovers.

“It’s not what we’re known for,” said Dawkins of his team’s double-digit pilfer total. “We’re going to defend you hard but we don’t turn teams over as much. I’ve talked to my guys about being more active, getting hands in the lanes, getting deflections. Tonight it all came together.”

Stanford wasn’t only aggressive on the defensive end, they charged to the basket on offense as well. The Cardinal drew 21 personal fouls and went 19 for 24 from the free throw line.

“We’re a pretty aggressive team, a physical team,” said Dawkins. “I think that combination means there are going to be collisions, there are going to be fouls. Tonight we capitalized on it.”

About the only thing Stanford didn’t capitalize on was turning in a great performance in front of a packed house. While the listed attendance was 4,912, the actual count was much lower. That was due in large part to Stanford having wrapped up the quarter this past week.

“We’re playing a Big East team like DePaul, just like Texas is coming in here,” said Dawkins. “You want to have a great crowd for these games. Our kids work hard. They want people there. We always know Christmas break is tough. Once our students leave campus it becomes harder for us. Hopefully we’ll have a terrific crowd for Texas.”