NCAA Basketball Scores: Stanford Manhandles Arkansas-Pine Bluff 92-49

The Stanford Cardinal continued their strong season opening homestand with a 92-49 blowout of the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions. The Golden Lions managed to take a 28-27 lead late in the first half and seemed prepared to make Stanford work a little harder for any win. Then things promptly fell part for A-PB as Stanford proceeded to go on a 32-3 run that blew this game wide open.

The Cardinal were led in scoring by Jeremy Green (21 points) for the second game in a row as he is emerging as a leading scoring threat for Stanford. The team also received double digit points from Josh Owens (14 points), Dwight Powell (12 points), and Anthony Brown (10 points).

This kind of developing scoring attack will only benefit the Cardinal as they move into the harder portion of their schedule. You can only take so much from victories over lesser opponents, but the one thing that is worth noting is that Stanford put this thing away quickly and didn’t let A-PB hang around late into the second half. A young team can often struggle to put away lesser teams, so this is a good sign for the very young Cardinal.

Stanford takes a bit of a step up in competition as they travel to Anaheim, California to take part in the 76 Classic (bracket HERE – PDF). The Cardinal open with the Murray State Racers on Thanksgiving Day at 6pm pacific on ESPNU. The Racers are currently 2-1 and bring a prolific three point attack and recent NCAA tournament experience to the game. They upset Vanderbilt and lost to Butler in the second round of last year’s NCAA tournament.

The 76 Classic includes a consolation bracket so win or lose, Stanford will keep playing. They face the winner or loser of UNLV/Tulsa in the second round on Friday night, and then face a third opponent to be determined on Sunday the 28th. The available opponents for the Sunday game include Virginia Tech, Cal State-Northridge, Depaul, and Oklahoma State. We’ll have a running stream for the entirety of the three day tournament.

Stanford vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff: Cardinal Wrap Up Homestand

The Stanford Cardinal look to close out their season opening homestand at 3-0 as they face the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions. The Golden Lions are 0-3 with losses to Colorado State, Nebraska and Northwestern. Stanford is coming off a strong victory over the Virginia Cavaliers. Stanford was keyed by a 39-16 advantage in bench points and 18 Virginia turnovers. Jeremy Green reached 20 points for the 12th time in his career and head coach Johnny Dawkins has to hope Green and junior forward Andrew Zimmerman can emerge as leaders on this very young Cardinal team.

Arkansas-Pine Bluff is in the midst of a 12-game road trip to start the season that will include Hawaii, Missouri, Auburn, and UTEP. Daniel Broughton leads the Golden Lions with 12 points per game to go with 6.3 rebounds per game. APB has struggled on defense thus far as they gave up at least 80 points in each of their first two games and then 71 against Northwestern.

While a win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff won't tell us a ton about the Cardinal, any style points in a blowout would be beneficial for this young Stanford basketball team. Good teams generally will beat up on lesser opponents, particularly when they're big underdogs. This one isn't even on the boards given the disparity in talent. Stanford needs to avoid playing down to their competition and their young guys need to learn how to win running away. The Cardinal feature a strong recruiting freshman class and they'll have their ups and downs. Today is a chance for these freshmen to gain some confidence.