Oh, so Goods...Cardinal guard Anthony Goods can fill it up!!!

Stanford guard Anthony Goods could very well be labeled a "streak shooter."

Fortunately for the Cardinal, the junior is more hot than not. Stanford will lean on Goods' sweet stroke from the perimeter Thursday night when No. 5 UCLA visits the No. 24 Cardinal at Maples Pavilion at 7:30 p.m. in the Pac-10 opener.

With the exception of Brook Lopez's 19.3-point average in his three-game stint, Goods leads the Cardinal in scoring with a 12.8-point average, starting all 12 games. Goods is especially effective from beyond the arc, where he has 29 made treys and is shooting a little over 40 percent. In Stanford's lethargic 55-48 win over Fresno State on Saturday, Goods missed his first four shots but finished with 16 points, including three 3-pointers.

The preseason, as a whole, has been good to Goods. He started the year with 47 points combined in three Basketball Travelers Classic contests at Maples, including 17 in 16 minutes in a rout of Harvard to open the tournament. In the tourney climax win over UC Santa Barbara, Goods had 23 points, scoring 20 in the first half. That included a stretch of 10 straight points by Goods, who was named the tournament's MVP.

"I'm off to a good start," Goods said. "Everyone was double-teaming Robin (Lopez) early in the season, and he was doing a good job of kicking it out. I was lucky and able to knock down a couple of shots. It was a lot of hard work I put in in the offseason. I took a lot of extra reps."

Goods, who prepped at Centennial High in Corona, admits he gets more fired up playing the schools from Southern California.

"It's going to be a tough game every night," Goods said. "But opening up with the L.A. schools should be fun. I have a lot of friends on (both) their teams. It's kind of personal. I have to take it that way and play a little harder. You grow up with a lot of those guys and you see them around. You carry these victories out for the summer, a little trash-talking."

The fact that Stanford coach Trent Johnson was able to entice Goods from the clutches of the Bruins and Trojans has to be considered a major Cardinal coup. Santa Clara University first-year coach Kerry Keating spent the previous four seasons as an assistant for Ben Howland at UCLA.

"We recruited Goods at UCLA," said Keating after his Broncos were dusted by Stanford earlier this season. "He has really improved as a shooter and has become more of a combo guard. I'm happy for him. He gives Stanford a third scoring option."

"Anthony is more selective as a shooter," Johnson said. "He's more mature, he's bigger and stronger."

Mr. Clutch

Goods is also clutch. Last Jan. 13, he beat Washington State with a long 3-pointer with 3.3 seconds left in overtime at Maples, the Cardinal prevailing 71-68. Goods totaled 30 points, shooting a torrid 11-for-16 from the floor. It was the second time Goods had hit the 30-point barrier, doing it against Siena at Maples earlier last season.

On Feb. 1 of last year, Goods dialed long distance for a trey with 14 seconds remaining in the first overtime to force a second OT against Gonzaga, a game the Cardinal lost 90-86. Two years ago, Goods beat Washington State in Pullman with a tip-in with 3.7 seconds to play.

"I can't single out any one highlight," Goods said. "Those games last season were a lot of fun, but we came up a little short. I'm out to make some new memories this season."

Goods is considered a 3-point specialist, something the Cardinal desperately needs when it faces a zone defense. Goods has a single-game best of seven 3-pointers, set in that 30-point outing vs. Siena. For his career at Stanford, Goods has 100 3-point goals - 15th all-time. Goods might not catch leader Dion Cross, who made 241 treys from 1992 to 1996. Goods, though, has a good chance to pass former teammate Chris Hernandez, who is fourth with 188.

Lone defeat

Stanford's lone loss this season came at Siena by a 79-67 score. Goods had a rare off night, making just two 3-pointers in 12 attempts from the floor and ending with six points.

"We had that little hiccup in Siena," Goods said. "We did a good job of staying focused.We had a couple of hiccups in the preseason last year in Air Force and Santa Clara. We're a year older, and we're a lot more focused."

Right now, the business of the Pac-10 is at hand.

"We definitely have a shot to win it all in the Pac-10," Goods said. "There are a lot of good teams. We beat everyone last year. It's going to go down right until the end. We have to handle our business, night by night. Our ultimate goal is to get to the NCAA Tournament, but that's so far down the road. We have to prepare for the next opponent."

Opponents must prepare for Goods, a streak shooter who is hot more often than not. That's all Goods for the Cardinal.