Defense leads Cardinal past Colorado State to 4-0 start

Stanford defeated Colorado State 56-49 Sunday night despite the worst offensive performance of the four-game Jerod Haase era. But the Cardinal have won all four and held the opponent to 30% field goal percentage in consecutive games.

Stanford's shooting percentage wasn't much better than what the Rams mustered -- 36% after a promising start to the game with 10 assists on the first 11 makes -- and the signs were there early in the contest that it would be a struggle. The Cardinal threw up 11 three-point shots in the first half. And while Haase didn't have a problem with all those shots, the number was the result of how effectively the Rams were packing the paint.

"We need to be able to make a few more open shots and I want our guys to have confidence," he said. "But we need to make sure we don't shoot easy shots too early in the shot clock that won't be the best shot for us.

"The biggest thing is we need to get the ball inside. They were a little more undersized and quicker in the post and did a great job of three-quartering and fronting the post. What we didn't do is counter that by going high-low (or) skipping it across and then punching it inside. We have to work on that."

But there were some positive flashes of the ball movement that Haase is looking for on the court.

Robert Cartwright continues to show progress in only his fourth game after more than a year away from competitive basketball. He finished with nine points, six assists and three assists. But the offense in general was challenged in a different way than the first three games, Cartwright said.

"We have to find ways to win and we did that in a close game that was low scoring," he said.

The Cardinal had more turnovers (19) than assists (13) for the first time this season. Haase said hesitation was part of the problem and he has to do a better job of making sure the players understand what he wants.

"I thought the players were trying to do the right things and again that's where I'll take some of the blame that my message has to be clearer," Haase said. "Then we have to be able to execute against all kinds of defenses."

Haase could see the players thinking their way through the offense "a little bit. But I don't think that's going to be a long-term problem."

The Cardinal have played a variety of defenses in the early season, and Cartwright said the team wasn't able to get out and run in the second half like they wanted. Credit the Rams for making the Cardinal have to punch it out in a half-court contest, but the point guard said the Cardinal need to find a way "to play our style and work hard on doing what we want to do. We definitely want to be a team that pushes the ball up the court and we need to do a better job of that."

Dorian Pickens made 4-0f-6 threes to help relieve the pressure caused by the packed-in Rams defense, but Cartwright was the only other player to make a three.

"I want to look to be aggressive in those opportunities," Pickens said. "One of the things that set those up was our post presence. Teams are going to buckle down and try to take away Reid and Mike and Josh or Grant and those guys. Any time they focus on them and I have the ability to catch it in spots I like to catch it, I like to be aggressive and take advantage."

On defense, Haase praised the effort but cautioned that the Cardinal need to play smarter down the stretch of a game. He pointed to a six-play stretch when the Rams scored and then forced five straight fouls on drives. He also lamented "a little bit of a team failure to execute our ball-screen defense effectively."

But overall Haase was happy with where the team stands after playing the fourth game in a 10-day stretch that started in Shanghai. Early in the week he talked to the team about toughness, and he said the group showed resilience even if they didn't finish on a resounding note.

"In today's game ... we grinded it out, but I don't know that we just played a tough game," he said. "I think we can do better in that category both in rebounding, and playing without fouling is tough. Tough isn't just going and hitting someone on a box out or chasing the ball. There's a lot of versions of toughness. I would say over for the stretch of these last 10 days we've been a tough team and tough enough to do certain things."