STANFORD, Calif. — A few weeks ago, the student who dresses up as Stanford's tree was suspended from mascot duties after unfurling a banner during a football game that read: "Stanford hates fun."
San Diego State begs to differ. It had a grand, ol' time at The Farm.
Darrion Trammell racing downcourt on a fast-break late in the game, then dropping a behind the back bounce pass for trailing 6-foot-2 guard Lamont Butler for a flying rim-shaking, soul-shaking dunk … fun, fun, fun.
The No. 17 Aztecs opened a 17-point lead in the first half and rarely trailed by less than double figures after that, winning 74-62 on the road against a Stanford team picked to finish fifth in the Pac-12.
Now it's onto Lahaina and the Maui Invitational, where five of the eight entrants are ranked in the Associated Press poll and SDSU's opening opponent Monday, Ohio State, is receiving votes. The horizon, suddenly, is limitless.
The crowd in 7,233-seat Maples Pavilion was sparse, less than half-full for the nation's No. 17 team in what likely will be the smallest true road attendance the Aztecs will face all season.
But the lack of atmosphere, particularly in sharp contrast to a raucous environment for Friday's home game against BYU, did not sap the Aztecs' effort.
No one finished with more than Jaedon LeDee's 14 points, but eight players had six or more. The Aztecs (3-0) shot 51 percent overall, 8 of 21 behind the arc and had only 11 turnovers. The 74 points were actually their lowest of the young season after a pair of games in the 80s.
But Stanford (1-2) couldn't keep up, most notably Davidson transfer Michael Jones. He had a career-high 31 in the opener last week … and zero Tuesday against the dual buzz saw of Butler and Darrion Trammell, who combined for 12 assists, one turnover and five steals.
The Aztecs won the opening tip and got the ball to Butler at the top. He drove right and kicked to Matt Bradley on the right wing.
It was similar action to the final minute Friday against BYU, when LeDee drove from the top and got to the basketball because the help defender refused to leave Bradley in the right corner, even though Bradley was shooting 3 of 16 on the night.
This time, the help defender helped onto Butler and left Bradley open behind the arc. Swish.
It was Bradley's first made jumper of the season (all five of his previous baskets were dunks or layups) and was a portent of good things to come. Stuff like this happened:
—Keshad Johnson missed a pair of corner 3s early and, undeterred, quickly made a 2 in the lane and 3 from the wing. That started a stretch of 3s on four of the next five possessions and built an early double-digit lead.
—LeDee getting the ball in the paint, fumbling it, picking it up and chucking up an off-balance left-handed shot … that banked in.
—Butler firing a corner 3 that bounced one, two, three, four, five times on the rim and dropped.
The lead grew to 17 in the first half before a late Cardinal run narrowed it to 41-30 at intermission. Stanford kept coming, and the Aztecs kept responding.
The offense was the variable in the equation, the defense the constant. The Aztecs would continue getting stops and finally capitalize with a flurry of points. Stanford would close to six or seven; the Aztecs would push it back to double figures.
SDSU has always been versatile on defense, able to switch most screens and effectively help from most positions. But it hasn't been this versatile offensively in a while, able to absorb an off night from a key contributor.
Against BYU, it was Bradley finishing with six points on 3 of 16 shooting after averaging 16.9 last season. Tuesday, it was Trammell not making a basket (all six of his points came at the line) a day after being named Mountain West player of week for scoring 18 and 21 in the first two games.
Johnson, still playing with a brace on his right shoulder, had 11 points, as did Butler. Micah Parrish had nine and Adam Seiko eight.
Notable
SDSU flew home after the game on a late flight from San Francisco. It will practice Thursday and Friday, then leave for the Maui Invitational on Saturday. The games start Monday against Ohio State (6 p.m. PST, ESPN 2) … Stanford's honorary captain sitting on the end of the bench was quarterback Alex Smith, who played for the 49ers and, before that, Helix High … The officials were Mike Reed, Tony Padilla and Gregory Nixon. Reed also worked SDSU's opener against Cal State Fullerton.
