You almost get the feeling that Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins is playing some sort of mathematical game, trying to see how many different starting-lineup combinations are possible.
Against USC on Sunday, Dawkins managed to use a starting five he has not used previously all season. It was the ninth different starting lineup Dawkins has used in the Cardinal's 13 Pac-12 games. That's hard to do. And it's not as though Dawkins has been forced to shuffle things around because of injuries, which would make it somewhat understandable. Dawkins just likes to try to fit different pieces together in almost every imaginable combination.
The fact that the Cardinal beat USC 59-47 to give Dawkins his first road victory against either of the L.A. schools since he became Stanford's coach should not be construed as evidence that Dawkins will use the same starting five in next week's home games against the Oregon schools.
The Cardinal had lost five of its previous six games and got back over the .500 mark in conference play at 7-6, tied with UCLA for sixth place. But the simple fact is, USC is terrible. The Trojans have only six scholarship players and have lost 16 of their past 18 games. They failed to break the 50-point barrier for the third straight game and for the ninth time in the past 14 games.
They scored just 18 points in the first half against the Cardinal. But Stanford only led by two at halftime, as the starting unit of Josh Owens, Dwight Powell, Jarrett Mann, Andrew Zimmermann and Chasson Randle got the Cardinal off to a sluggish start that produced just 20 first-half points.
Aaron Bright came off the bench for just the second time this season, and that didn't work out so well as he went scoreless for the first time this season, missing all five of his field-goal attempts -- including four three-point shots -- in his 27 minutes of action.
Randle made up for much of that by hitting 4 of 5 three-point shots on his way to 16 points,
Andy Brown, the third-year freshman who missed the past two seasons because he tore the same anterior-cruicate ligament three times in less than two years, got playing time in the first half and made his first collegiate field goal midway through the half. He finished with three points.
Andy Brown should not be confused with Anthony Brown, who was a starter much of the season but has been coming off the bench recently. The latter Brown had just eight points, but the fact that he made both his three-point shots is an encouraging sign.
This was hardly a blowout. The Cardinal led by just two points with 11:03 left before the Cardinal reeled off 11 straight points to finish off the Trojans.
Again the Cardinal did a good defensive job on USC's leading scorer -- and only real scoring weapon -- Maurice Jones. He went 2-for-14 on Sunday after going 1-for-12 against the Cardinal in teams' first meeting. That's 3-for-26, which is not very good by any standard.
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