Daejon Davis dedicated Friday night's game to a friend who died in a car accident two days ago, and the freshman's career 20 points led Stanford to a 75-62 win over Denver. The Cardinal never trailed after starting the game with an 8-0 burst and at one point held a 23-7 advantage in the first half.

"We got a win," said head coach Jerod Haase of the progress shown by the Cardinal. "That’s the No. 1 thing right there. I thought we were a bit more organized with what we were trying to run on the offensive end. In the second half I thought we had a better understanding of valuing the basketball and not putting the ball in jeopardy. On the flip side of that our zone offense was stagnant. Their defensive plan was to pack it in and hope we shoot 50 threes. I feel like we did shoot 50 threes."

Stanford had 10 turnovers in the first half, half of which came in the final six minutes. It was that stat that largely explained why Denver was able to stay relatively close despite Stanford making nine three-pointers in the half.

In the second half Denver got within 56-53 with 9:50 left in the game but Davis finished a tough and-one play to help turn the tide and Isaac White hit a three to push the lead back to 10.

Davis had five rebounds, five assists and five steals to go with his 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting.

"Daejon I thought had a heck of a game, especially on the leadership standpoint of getting us on the same page," Haase said. "When he’s thinking as a point guard and a leader out there, his game will just flow. I thought a lot of that happened today."

Davis credited the team's fast start to the game and improvement in several areas on offense and defense to the intensity of practices the past two weeks.

"Coach held us accountable for every turnover, every baseline drive, not running the right play, not being on time in the right play -- it’s a matter of execution in practice … and we ran every time (after a mistake)," he said. "That level of focus on the little things really helped us today."

One of the players who exemplifies that attention to detail and work ethic is fellow freshman Isaac White. The Australian made 4-of-12 threes and scored 17 points. While Haase preached for better inside-outside balance even in the face of a packed-in defense, White has earned the right to put up shots.

"The coaches just told me a few minutes ago that they would have preferred me to shoot 20," White said. "They have given me the ultimate green light and I’m very fortunate to have that. At the same time I think I’ve earned that."

Davis praised his classmate for putting up more shots than anyone except maybe Reid Travis: "That’s a true testament to why he’s able to have the green light. It doesn’t come easy. He’s proven he’s going to make shots in the game and put in the extra work."

White had a great hustle play in the second half when he jumped after a loose ball and caused the Denver player to fumble a chance to grab the ball. It went out of bounds off the Pioneer and got the Stanford bench fired up.

It's that type of play that the Cardinal need to right the course of the season.

"We’re under .500," Davis said. "We have to get back to where we want to be. Coach is telling us not to slack on our dreams and what we want to accomplish this season. We have to play together and stay together. My teammates really helped me tonight."

Haase on not calling a teammate during Denver's run to get within three: "If I had something really awesome to say I probably would have called a timeout and given them something. I thought our game plan was good and the guys understood what we were trying to do. We were talking about the three-point shooters and how we were going to rotate and talking about when and how we were doubling the post. I didn’t feel like there was a lack of direction in terms of the game plan. So, there is a certain level that I do want these guys to figure out these experiences. I don’t want to be the guy who bails them out every single time. I want them to learn and grow in these experiences."

After only two rebounds by Travis, Haase expects more: "He needs more rebounds. Some of it is defensively location on the floor and who he’s guarding, but having said that he should get more offensive rebounds. That’s something we’ll emphasize with him. Absolutely he needs to have a bigger number in that column."

Travis may not have had the rebounds Haase wanted to see, but he did put in 20 points.

Michael Humphrey finished with 11 points and scored nine of them on 3-of-3 shooting from the arc in the first eight minutes of the game.

Oscar da Silva had six rebounds and two of them were on the same offensive possession for the Cardinal that ended in a three made by White.

Dorian Pickens and Marcus Sheffield are getting closer to playing but Haase refrained from offering details. However, Pickens took part in pre-game shooting.