Anthony Goods scored 22 points, Landry Fields added 17 and, in a gritty 82-70 win over Concordia University, No. 21 Stanford men’s basketball gave its fans several reasons for optimism with the season opener against Harvard just three days away.

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Senior Kenny Brown scored four points in six minutes of play in the Cardinal’s exhibition win over Concordia. Anthony Goods scored a game-high 22 in the 82-70 Stanford victory. #gallery http://daily.stanford.edu/image/full/8145
Alvin Chow / Stanford Daily File Photo

Senior Kenny Brown scored four points in six minutes of play in the Cardinal’s exhibition win over Concordia. Anthony Goods scored a game-high 22 in the 82-70 Stanford victory.

“Concordia played hard-nosed, competitive basketball,” head coach Trent Johnson said. “It was good for us. There were some good things, but there were some early jitters which were to be expected.”

The junior Goods’ two-handed dunk put Stanford ahead 13-2 four minutes into the game. When diminutive guard Terrence Worthy (11 points) hit two straight threes to pull the Eagles within 76-70 with two minutes left, it was Goods with a layup and, two possessions later, two free throws to ice the victory. In between, the Cardinal led most of the way by a comfortable 8-12 point margin on the strength of 51 percent shooting (26-of-51) and 30 more free throw attempts (25-of-32, 78 percent) than the visitors from Irvine, Calif.

Still, Goods was a harsh judge of his team’s performance — though Johnson sitting three feet away might have had something to do with that.

“I’d go with a C,” he said. “Average. We looked terrible at times, we looked decent at times. We didn’t handle the pressure that well.”

Goods was Stanford’s second-leading scorer with 13 points per game last year, so the night’s biggest surprise was the play of sophomore wingman Landry Fields, who fans hope is on the verge of a breakout sophomore year. After shooting 5-of-7 from the field, going a perfect 6-of-6 from the line and hustling for several loose balls in just 17 minutes of play, Fields earned hearty applause from both the one-third-full arena and the Sixth Man section.

“At the offensive end, Landry shoots the ball, and he’s going to play well. He played very well in the summer [in Italy], and he’s going to be a vital part of this team,” said Johnson, though both Johnson and Fields himself emphasized a need to cut down on defensive lapses.

Former Stanford player Ken Ammann’s Concordia squad won the NAIA national championship in 2003 and is ranked No. 2 in the division this year. And though they played scared in the first half — rushing shots and missing too many open looks — the undersized Eagles settled down in the second and legitimately pushed the Cardinal with solid, fundamental basketball.

“That was a good basketball team,” Goods said. “It’s not like we were playing Nowhere State or something.”

So while the casual fan may be upset Stanford didn’t turn the exhibition into a laugher, the Cardinal locker room concerned itself with two bigger worries.

Concordia harassed Stanford into 18 turnovers with the same kind of full-court pressure that Louisville used to devastating effect in last year’s NCAA Tournament slaughter. Sophomore University of San Francisco transfer Drew Shiller, junior Mitch Johnson’s backup at point guard, looked particularly fazed in his first minutes in a Stanford uniform, though coach Johnson chalked his performance up to nerves.

Even if Johnson is correct, he faces another problem that won’t fade as quickly. The second string, substituted en masse for the starters with a 13-3 lead five minutes in, managed just six points in their five-minute shift.

The defense-first unit’s scoring struggles to score were hardly a surprise. It is unlikely that all five of them will ever be on the floor at once, but offensive depth has to be a worry, especially in the frontcourt, where seniors Peter Prowitt and Taj Finger combined for just five shots and 10 points in 32 total minutes despite a significant size advantage.

But Finger brings mobility on defense that the Lopez twins lack, and the other upperclassmen quietly showcased their strengths too. Slashing senior forward Fred Washington scored 10 points on decisive drives to the hoop, and Hill added seven, despite an off night (2-of-9) for the team’s most consistent scorer.

All told, last night did nothing but reinforce the general feeling heading into the season — if Fields develops, a point guard emerges and Brook Lopez returns as his same dominant self come December, this year could be the best since Josh Childress led the 2003-04 squad to a 30-2 finish in Mike Montgomery’s last year at the helm.

Johnson knows it, too. Two years ago, his team entered the season ranked No. 13 in the nation, behind senior stars Chris Hernandez, Matt Haryasz and Dan Grunfeld. Johnson screamed to anyone who would listen that the team wasn’t worthy of the hype, and he looked rather prescient one NIT bid later.

This year? At first blush, the pressure’s not quite as great as the team is ranked 21st in the ESPN/USA Today poll (23rd in the AP poll) and picked to finish fifth in the Pac-10, but the league is light years ahead of where it was just two short years ago — it’s the nation’s strongest conference, hands down. But even in that light, Johnson knows the expectations are fair, and, though he won’t say it aloud, maybe even a bit low.

“We’re a much better team than we were last year at this time,” he said. “I think we’re worthy of where we’re picked in our conference. Nationally, being 23rd? Yeah, I feel that.”