Northwestern State (0-1) at Stanford (1-0)

With a deep and talented roster, Stanford showed it didn’t need Brook Lopez in its opener.

The 23rd-ranked Cardinal hope to turn in another impressive effort on Saturday night when they continue play in the Basketball Travelers Classic against Northwestern State.

Lopez, a 7-foot forward who nearly declared for the NBA draft after last season, is academically ineligible for the fall quarter and has also been suspended for a violation of team rules. He averaged 12.6 points and was Stanford’s third-leading scorer in 2006-07.

Stanford (1-0) didn’t miss him in an easy 111-56 win over Harvard on Friday. Reserve Drew Shiller scored 18 points and Anthony Goods overcame an upset stomach to add 17 as the Cardinal built a 28-7 lead less than nine minutes into the game and never looked back.

“We got off to a good start and did everything well,” Stanford coach Trent Johnson said. “Our first half was exceptional; one of the best halves we’ve played since I’ve been here.”

No starter played more than 17 minutes for Stanford, and the bench took advantage of the extended minutes. Besides Shiller, three other Cardinal reserves scored in double figures, including Taj Finger’s 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting in a much better effort than Monday’s 82-70 exhibition win over Concordia.

“We wanted to show our fans how hard we intend to play and how enthusiastic we’re going to be this year,” Finger said. “We didn’t do that in our (exhibition) game.”

The 55-point margin of victory was the third-highest in school history.

Northwestern State (0-1) suffered a 92-71 loss to UC Santa Barbara in its season opener Friday. The Demons led 49-48 with over 15 minutes remaining before they were overwhelmed by the Gauchos.

“We were right there with eight minutes to go against a very good, veteran team,” Northwestern State coach Mike McConathy said. “We played 32 pretty good minutes. We’ll need more Saturday night against Stanford.”

Damon Jones scored 17 points to lead Northwestern State, but none after halftime. Trey Gilder and Colby Bargeman combined for 25 points for the Demons, who committed 28 turnovers.

“We had some newcomers who didn’t respond to the bell,” McConathy said. “Trey and Colby had good second halves, Gerrell Thomas did some good things for us, but Damon, who had such a great first half, couldn’t seem to shake free after halftime.”

Stanford and Northwestern State have never met.

The round-robin event concludes Sunday when Stanford meets UC Santa Barbara after Northwestern State takes on Harvard.