Stanford to Seattle

No. 16 Stanford (20-9, 14-3)
vs. USC (19-10, 9-9) or Washington State (10-19, 3-14)
Friday, March 2 • 6 p.m.
KeyArena • Seattle, Wash.
Television • Pac-12 Network/Pac-12 Bay Area
Audio •GoStanford.com
Live Statistics • Pac-12.com
Tournament Central
Complete Release (PDF)
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THE GAME: No. 16 Stanford (20-9, 14-3) goes for the program's 13th Pac-12 Tournament title when it begins the event in the quarterfinals on Friday, March 2 against either No. 7 seed USC (19-10, 9-9) or No. 10 seed Washington State (10-19, 3-14) at 6 p.m.
 
THE RUNDOWN: Stanford is 40-4 all-time at the Pac-12 Tournament and has won 12 of the 16 titles ... The Cardinal is 19-1 at the event when it scores 70 points and 40-0 when it holds its opponent under 70 ... Stanford is 182-44 (.805) in games away from Maples Pavilion the past 11 years (road/neutral), one of only two schools to have more than 180 such wins ... Stanford is 15th in the RPI and has played the nation's sixth-toughest schedule ... Kiana Williams' 26 points against Cal on Feb. 15 were the highest single-game total for a Stanford freshman in nine years ... She led Pac-12 freshman in scoring in conference games (11.0) and her 51 made 3-pointers are third in Stanford freshman history ... Brittany McPhee led the Pac-12 in scoring in the month of February (22.9) ... She is averaging 18.5 points per game this season, which would be the most for a Stanford guard since Candice Wiggins in 2007-08 (20.2) ... Stanford is tied for second in the nation with 11 games against ranked opponents and six against top-10 teams ... The Cardinal is one of just nine schools in the country with multiple top-25 road wins  ... Alanna Smith is tied for eighth in the Pac-12 in double-doubles (6), 17th in the league in scoring (12.9), ninth in rebounding (7.3) and third in blocks (1.83) ... Kaylee Johnson is one of five players in Stanford history in the top 10 in school history in both career rebounds and blocks.
 
PAC-12 TOURNAMENT NOTES »

• The Cardinal is 40-4 all-time at the Pac-12 Tournament. It has won 12 of the 16 titles (2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017), is 14-1 all-time in the quarterfinals, 14-1 in the semifinals and 12-2 in the finals.
• Against its potential quarterfinal foes, the Cardinal is 4-1 when playing USC at the event with wins in the semifinals on March 6, 2005 (73-69), the semifinals on March 5, 2006 (73-44), the semifinals on March 4, 2007 (67-52) and the final on March 15, 2009 (89-64). The fifth-seeded Trojans beat Stanford in the semifinals on March 8, 2014 (72-68) en route to becoming the lowest seed to ever win the event.
• Stanford is a perfect 2-0 against Washington State at the Pac-12 Tournament, beating the Cougars in the quarterfinals on March 8, 2013 (79-60) and the quarterfinals on March 3, 2017 (66-36).
• It's 7-0 against Arizona, 4-1 against Arizona State, 7-0 against Cal, 2-0 against Colorado, 1-0 against Oregon, 3-0 against Oregon State, 9-1 against UCLA and 1-1 against Washington. Stanford has never played Utah at the league tournament.
• The No. 2 seed is 20-15 all-time at the Pac-12 Tournament. It's 8-2 against the No. 7 seed and 3-1 against the No. 10 seed. The Cardinal is 1-0 against the No. 7 seed and has never played a No. 10.
• Stanford was the No. 1 seed every year from 2002-14. It won the tournament as the No. 3 seed in 2015, lost in the quarterfinals for the first time as the No. 4 seed in 2016 and won it all last season from the same No. 2 position it is this year.

HOW WE GOT HERE »

• Stanford's 20 regular-season wins are its fewest since the program went 18-10 heading into the 2001 NCAA Tournament.
• The Cardinal, which finished tied for second in the league standings, has not won a Pac-12 regular-season title since 2014, the first drought of more than two years in program history.
• Stanford won 20+ games for the 17th straight season and 29th overall and had double-digit Pac-12 victories for the 31st consecutive year. Its victory at Washington on Feb. 23 was the program's 500th conference victory as a member of the Pac-12. No other school has more than 400.
• The Cardinal's regular-season finale at Washington State on Feb. 25 was canceled due to the sudden death of the Cougars' strength coach. This is the first year since the formation of Pac-12 women's basketball in 1986-87 that everyone did not play a full 18-game conference schedule.
• Stanford entered conference play with a 6-6 record, the program's first time heading into league action with at least six losses since 1998-99. Stanford was 4-7 in its regular-season nonconference slate in that season, which was also the last time the Cardinal lost multiple regular-season, nonconference home games as it has this year with results against Western Illinois and Tennessee.

SETTING THE STAGE »

• Stanford is 182-44 (.805) in games away from Maples Pavilion the last 11 years (road/neutral), one of only two schools to have more than 180 road and neutral wins along with Connecticut (210). The Cardinal is 8-7 this season in road and neutral games.
• Since the Pac-12 started its postseason event in 2002, Stanford's 40 conference tournament wins are tied for the most in the country with Connecticut and Green Bay, which are also 40-4.
• Stanford is 27-1 in the Pac-12 Tournament when it shoots better than 40 percent and 35-1 when holding its opponent under 40 percent.
• The Cardinal is 19-1 when it scores at least 70 points in Pac-12 Tournament games and is a perfect 40-0 when holding its opponent under 70.
• In the Cardinal's 44 Pac-12 Tournament games, it averages 68.8 points on 42.4 percent shooting and gives up 53.8 points on 33.9 percent shooting. 

POSTSEASON AWARDS »

• Brittany McPhee and Alanna Smith were voted to the 15-person All-Pac-12 squad, Kiana Williams was named to the Pac-12 All-Freshman team in addition to earning an All-Pac-12 honorable mention nod and Kaylee Johnson and Marta Sniezek received Pac-12 All-Defensive honorable mention accolades on Tuesday morning.
• Stanford now has 72 All-Pac-12 honorees in program history and 156 all-time Pac-12 awardees including honorable mention, freshman and defensive teams, the top totals in league history.
• In a Pac-12 Sports Report special on Tuesday night, Tara VanDerveer was named the John R. Wooden Pac-12 Coach of the Year and Brittany McPhee the Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
• VanDerveer, who last week was honored by the WBCA with the 2018 Carol Eckman Integrity in Coaching Award, was chosen by her peers as the conference's best coach for the 15th time. It's the first conference coach of the year award she's received since a four-year run ended in 2014.
• McPhee is the fourth Stanford women's basketball player to be named Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year along with Chiney Ogwumike (2013-14), Kayla Pedersen (2010-11) and Jayne Appel (2009-10).

AGAINST RANKED »

• The Cardinal is 4-7 against ranked teams this season, 2-6 against ranked teams on the road and at neutral sites and has won multiple games against top 25 opponents for each of the last 16 seasons.
• From 2000 to 2012, Stanford played 27 conference and conference tournament games against ranked opponents and went 21-6. In just the last six seasons, the Cardinal has played a ranked Pac-12 team 36 times in conference and conference tournament games, going 24-12.
• Stanford is 75-41 (.647) against AP ranked opponents since 2007-08, fifth in the country in such wins over that span and fourth in percentage.
• Connecticut (.905), Baylor (.766), Notre Dame (.728), Stanford (.647), Tennessee (.617), Duke (.556), Maryland (.540) and Maryland (.540) have winning records against ranked teams the past 11 years.

OF LATE »

• Stanford's defense has been uncharacteristically porous in its last two games. California and Washington combined to average 78.5 points on 47.9 percent shooting (57-of-119), including 42.6 percent from deep (23-of-30).
• In its first 20 games of the season, Stanford was averaging 16.3 turnovers per game and had an assist-to-turnover ratio of 0.85. In the last nine it has cut its turnover number down to 10.9 with a 1.32 assist-to-turnover ratio.
• Stanford's defense in conference was some of the best in the nation. The Cardinal gave up just 59.5 points on 36.9 percent shooting in its 17 Pac-12 games.
• Among Power 5 conference teams in league play, that opponent points per game number was sixth in the country and the field goal percentage defense was fourth.
• Louisville surrendering an average of 55.6 points in ACC contests, Baylor was at 56.1 in Big 12 games, Mississippi State gave up 56.3 points per game in SEC matchups, Georgia 58.3 in its SEC matchups and North Carolina State 58.6 in the ACC. In terms of field goal percentage defense in conference games, Baylor led in that category (.329), Georgia was second (.345) and Oregon State third (.368).

BRACKET REVEAL/NATIONAL RANKINGS »

• With just three weeks remaining until Selection Monday, Stanford appeared in the top-16 reveal by the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Committee for the first time this season on Feb. 20. The Cardinal were slated at No. 16 overall and the No. 4 seed in the Albany Region. The nation's top 16 teams host first and second rounds.
• The Cardinal dropped out of the AP rankings for the first time in 17 years on Dec. 25, worked its way back a week later at No. 24 following its home victories over UCLA and USC and dropped out again for three consecutive polls after it lost at No. 25 Arizona State on Jan. 7 (73-66).
• Stanford is back and at No. 16 this week. It had climbed 10 spots in the two weeks from Jan. 29 to Feb. 12 and its seven-place jump from Jan. 29 to Feb. 5 was the largest in program history.
• The Cardinal is 15th in the RPI and has played the nation's sixth-toughest schedule.
• Stanford hadn't been unranked since 2001, when a 72-54 loss at No. 20 Oregon on Jan. 13 knocked the No. 24 Cardinal out of the polls. It wouldn't get back in until opening the next season at No. 9.
• The Cardinal has been in 527 AP polls, the fourth most all-time, and had its stretch of 312 in a row snapped when it was unranked Dec. 25. Stanford's streak is tied for the third longest in the history of the poll. Tennessee had the longest run at 565 weeks, Connecticut has an active 467-week streak and Duke also appeared in 312 consecutive rankings.

BAPTISM BY FIRE »

• Stanford is tied with Oregon and Tennessee for second nationally in games against top-25 teams with 11. South Carolina leads in that category with 12. The Cardinal, which has won multiple games against top 25 opponents for each of the last 16 seasons, is 4-7 in those games and has won three in a row.
• The Cardinal is also tied for second in games against top-10 teams with six, including five from the nonconference portion of its schedule. Kentucky has played seven and Oklahoma State and Connecticut have each faced six top-10 squads. For comparison, Stanford played five top-10 opponents all of last year, which was the program's most since 2010-11 (7).
• Of those 11 AP Top 25 games, six have been true road contests. Stanford has two top-25 road wins, one of just nine schools in the country with multiple road victories over ranked opponents. Notre Dame has four, Connecticut, Baylor and Purdue three and Oregon, Tennessee, Mississippi State and South Carolina two each.

SCOUTING REPORT »

• Prior to Feb. 23 at Washington, Stanford had done a good job of limiting the efficiency of its opponent's top offensive threat in Pac-12 play. Overall, the leading scorers below have combined to shoot 32.3 percent (71-of-220) from the floor and average 12.9 points. Before the Huskies' Amber Melgoza scored 40 against the Cardinal, they had combined to shoot just 29.4 percent (57-of-194) from the floor and average 11.2 points.    

TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS »

• Stanford finished as the only Pac-12 team undefeated at home in conference with a 9-0 record.
• The Cardinal surrendered 54.2 points on 32.1 percent shooting at home all season, including 21.6 percent from behind the arc.
• Stanford's field goal percentage defense in Maples Pavilion this year was the sixth-best home mark in the country behind Baylor (.312), Green Bay (.315), Central Arkansas (.316), Norfolk State (.320) and Texas Southern (.321).

OFFENSE/DEFENSE »

• After shooting just 39.3 percent in the nonconference, Stanford hit 43.3 percent in Pac-12 play.
• Overall, the Cardinal is shooting 41.6 percent from the field (110th in the country), 30.7 percent (208th) from deep and 62.9 percent (325th) from the free throw line.
• The program's all-time lows in those categories are 42.6 percent from the field (2015-16), 31.1 percent on 3-pointers (2011-12) and 64.8 percent on free throws (1978-79).
• Stanford's turnover margin (-1.2) is also 235th in the nation.
• At the other end of the court the Cardinal is 26th in the country in field goal percentage defense (.360), 26th in 3-point field goal percentage defense (.282), 19th in blocks per game (5.34) and 33rd in rebounds per game (42.2).
• Stanford has finished in the top 15 nationally in field goal percentage defense 10 of the last 11 years.

McBUCKETS »

• The Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Brittany McPhee was the consensus national player of the week (espnW, USBWA, Naismith Trophy) following her performances at Oregon State and Oregon in which she averaged 25.5 points on 55 percent shooting.
• Her 33-point outing at No. 6 Oregon was the first 30-point game for a Stanford player on the road against a top-10 team since Candice Wiggins dropped in exactly 30 in a 73-65 win at No. 10 Arizona State on Jan. 27, 2007.
• McPhee, who missed nine nonconference games with a right foot injury, became Stanford's 39th 1,000-point scorer in its win over No. 25 Arizona State on Jan. 26 and is currently 30th on the Cardinal's all-time scoring list with 1,185.
• McPhee was also named espnW National Player of the Week on Jan. 1 after averaging 23.5 points on 54 percent shooting, 7.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists in Stanford's home victories to start conference play.
• McPhee has scored 20+ nine times this season and is averaging 18.5 points per game to go with 5.2 rebounds. No Stanford guard has averaged more than 15 points in a season since Candice Wiggins scored 20.2 as a senior in 2007-08. Wiggins averaged better than 16.9 points per game all four years.
• She is is one of 10 Power 5 conference guards in the country averaging 18.0 points and 5.0 rebounds (Loryn Goodwin - Oklahoma State; Arike Ogunbowale - Notre Dame; Victoria Vivians - Mississippi State; Kenisha Bell - Minnesota; Sabrina Ionescu - Oregon; Allazia Blockton - Marquette; Bridget Carleton - Iowa State; Dionna White - Georgetown; Kaila Charles - Maryland).
• Because she missed so much time, McPhee won't appear in the national statistical rankings until the NCAA Tournament should Stanford advance to play 36 total games this season.
• She led the Pac-12 in scoring in the month of February, averaging 22.9 points and 6.0 rebounds.
• McPhee has had eight career 20-point games against ranked teams and her five best have come against top-15 foes. In addition to the 33 she put up at No. 6 Oregon, she scored 28 against No. 8 Texas on Nov. 14, 2016, dropped in 27 in the Elite Eight against No. 2 Notre Dame on March 26, 2017, had 27 against No. 7 Tennessee on Dec. 21, 2017 and 26 against No. 11 UCLA on Dec. 29, 2017.
• Nine of her 10 outings this season have been against the AP Top 25 and the senior has averaged 19.8 points and 5.2 rebounds in those games. Among players that have played at least nine ranked opponents her scoring average is eighth nationally and second in the conference behind Oregon's Sabrina Ionescu (21.0 ppg in 11 games).
• A human biology major with a 3.71 cumulative GPA, McPhee was voted to the CoSIDA Academic All-District first team on Feb. 22 and is now eligible to earn academic All-America honors.

WATCH WILLIAMS »

• Kiana Williams set or matched career highs against Cal on Feb. 15 with 26 points, four steals and five 3-pointers. The 26 points were the most for a Stanford freshman since Nneka Ogwumike had 27 in the NCAA Tournament against San Diego State on March 23, 2009.
• It was also the second-highest total by a Pac-12 freshman in a conference game this season, trailing the 29 Tori Williams of Utah scored against Washington on Feb. 18.
• A two-time Pac-12 Freshman of the Week, Williams has scored in double figures in 14 of her last 22 games and led Pac-12 freshmen in scoring in league games, averaging 11.0 points. Arizona's Sam Thomas was second (10.5) and Oregon's Satou Sabally third (9.8).
• Williams averaged 3.1 points and shot 20.7 percent (6-of-29) in her first seven collegiate games. In the last 22 she's scoring 11.3 per game on 40.2 percent shooting (88-of-219). She is making 50.0 percent of her two-point baskets (41-of-82) during those last 22 games.
• She had a career-high seven assists in the win over Arizona on Jan. 28 and has 26 assists and 12 turnovers in her last nine games. Before she coughed it up late in the first quarter against Colorado on Feb. 11, Williams hadn't turned it over in 99 minutes.
• Williams' 51 made 3-pointers are the third most for a Stanford freshman in program history behind Jamie Carey (81; 1999-2000) and Lindsey Yamasaki (65; 1998-99).

FROM DOWN UNDER »

• Alanna Smith was named Pac-12 Player of the Week for the first time on Nov. 27 following her three games at the Play4Kay Showcase in Las Vegas. She averaged a double-double of 23.7 points and 11.7 rebounds in Stanford's 2-1 week, shot 64.6 percent from the field (31-of-48), 40 percent from deep and also averaged 2.0 blocks.
• Smith's 33-point, 16-rebound performance against No. 9 Ohio State was the nation's first 30-point, 15-rebound double-double against an AP top-10 team since Stanford's Chiney Ogwumike went for 32 points and 20 boards against No. 3 Tennessee on Dec. 21, 2013.
• On Dec. 13, Mississippi State's Teaira McCowan also did it with a 35-point, 19-rebound effort as part of a 90-79 Bulldog win against No. 9 Oregon.
• Smith's is just the fourth by a Pac-12 player against a top-10 team since 2000 and the others are all Cardinal. In addition to Ogwumike's in 2013, Nneka Ogwumike had 42 points and 17 rebounds against No. 6 Tennessee on Dec. 20, 2011 and Nicole Powell put up 32 points and 16 rebounds against No. 2 Tennessee on Dec. 14, 2003.
• Her six double-doubles are tied for eighth in the Pac-12 and she is 17th in the league in scoring (12.9), ninth in rebounding (7.3) and third in blocks (1.83), all of which are career highs.
• Of her seven career games with 20+ points, four have come this season. She is also eighth in Stanford history with 138 career blocks.

GETTING ON THE GLASS »

• Kaylee Johnson's 953 career rebounds are eighth in program history. Next on the list is Erica McCall, who grabbed 976 from 2013-17. She is seventh in the Pac-12 this season at 7.7 per game.
• With 158 career blocks she is the seventh Stanford player more than 150 joining Jayne Appel (273), Chiney Ogwumike (202), Val Whiting (201), McCall (200), Kristen Newlin (163) and Joslyn Tinkle (150).
• Her 7.4 career rebounds per game average would be eighth in Stanford history. Johnson has pulled down 10 or more 42 times in 128 career games and owns a pair of 22-rebound outings as a freshman.
• She has 10 double-digit rebound games already this season after just three last year.
• Johnson is one of five players in Stanford history in the top 10 in school history in career rebounds and blocks along with Jayne Appel, Chiney Ogwumike, Val Whiting and Erica McCall.