Salt Lake City Sunday

What's Next

No. 15 Stanford (21-6, 11-4) goes for its 20th straight win against Utah (15-11, 7-8) when it heads to Salt Lake City on Sunday, Feb. 21 at 2 p.m. MT/1 p.m. PT. Krista Blunk and Julianne Viani have the call on Pac-12 Networks.

Against Utah

Stanford is 19-0 all-time against Utah dating back to the first meeting on Jan. 13, 1986. This will be the eighth game between the two schools as conference foes. Stanford has won those previous seven matchups by an average of 20.0 points.

Four players scored in double figures in Stanford’s 72-52 win over Utah in Maples Pavilion earlier this season. Lili Thompson and Brittany McPhee contributed 16 points apiece, Karlie Samuelson added 13 on 3-of-5 shooting from beyond the arc and Erica McCall chipped in 11.

Catching You Up

Four players scored in double figures and Stanford used three significant runs to take the lead, extend that advantage and ultimately put away Colorado on the Buffaloes’ home floor Friday night, 80-49.

Brittany McPhee led the Cardinal with 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting and seven rebounds in 24 minutes off the bench. Lili Thompson had 15 and a career-high four steals, Erica McCall added 13 points to go with her seven rebounds and Kaylee Johnson filled her line with 12 points, seven rebounds, four blocks and three steals. Stanford moved to 9-0 this season when four players score in double figures.

Stanford led 37-29 at halftime and grabbed a stranglehold on the game with a 17-1 third-quarter run. In the first half, the Cardinal took a 28-13 lead with a 15-0 spurt spanning the first and second quarters. Stanford closed the victory with a 21-1, fourth-quarter stretch.

Stanford’s lead was just eight at the break because Colorado scored 16 of its 29 first-half points off of 11 Cardinal turnovers. Only two of the Buffaloes’ 20 second-half points came in the same fashion.

The Cardinal had its best performance from behind the arc in the win, making at least half of its 3-point attempts (7-of-14) for the first time this season.

Stanford reached the 80-point plateau in a Pac-12 road game for the first time since scoring 86 in an overtime win at Washington State on Jan. 11, 2015. It hadn’t scored that many in a conference road game in regulation since an 87-82 loss at Washington on Feb. 9, 2014.

Setting The Stage

Since 2007-08, the Cardinal sports a conference road record of 70-9, a Pac-12 home record of 75-4 and is 64-6 in the month of February.

Stanford, 998-310 all-time, is two wins away from 1,000 in program history.

Stanford has reached 20 overall wins for the 15th straight year and 10 conference wins for the 29th consecutive season.

In its last three games, Stanford is shooting 47.7 percent from the floor (83-of-174) and 43.5 percent from 3-point range (20-of-46). On the year, the Cardinal hits on 41.8 percent of its shots overall and 35.7 percent of its attempts from deep.

Notes entering the weekend

Against Colorado

Stanford is 14-4 all-time against Colorado dating back to Dec. 1988 and has won all nine meetings since the Buffaloes became a member of the Pac-12. CU’s last victory in the series was in the NCAA Tournament on March 23, 2002, a 62-59 win in a west regional semifinal in Boise, Idaho.

On Jan. 10, the Cardinal won at home, 71-56, behind double-doubles from Kaylee Johnson and Erica McCall. Johnson had a career-high 17 points and 11 rebounds and McCall added 16 points, 11 rebounds, and a game-high three blocks.

Catching You Up

Stanford split a pair of home games last weekend, starting with an 82-58 victory over Arizona on Friday night. On Sunday, the Cardinal stormed back from 17 points down to force overtime against No. 9 Arizona State, but the Sun Devils’ Sophie Brunner made a shot at the buzzer to win it for ASU, 63-61.

Down 13 heading into the fourth, Stanford went on an 8-0 run to start the period and grabbed its first lead (55-54) on a Karlie Samuelson 3-pointer with 26 seconds left. Brunner made it to the foul line with nine seconds remaining, and made one of two to send the game to overtime.

Stanford held ASU to just six fourth-quarter points on 1-of-9 shooting and forced eight turnovers. The Sun Devils didn’t make any of their seven attempts from deep in the second half and overtime after hitting 6-of-14 in the first and second quarters.

Erica McCall carried Stanford back in the game, scoring 22 and setting a career high with 11 made field goals. She had 18 points on 9-of-12 shooting in the second half and overtime.

With the result, Arizona State became the first Pac-12 school to beat Stanford in two straight in Maples Pavilion since Arizona in 2000 and 2001.

Twelve players scored, including three in double figures, and Stanford had its best shooting performance of the season in Friday’s win over Arizona.

The Cardinal shot 51.7 percent (30-of-58) from the floor, its third game over 50 percent this season and best clip in its last 27 outings. Stanford hadn’t had a better field goal percentage since March 23, 2015 against Oklahoma (.522) and not in Pac-12 play since Feb. 13, 2015 against USC (.552).

The Cardinal also nabbed 13 steals, its most since Nov. 28, 2013 against South Dakota State (14), a span of 90 games.

With the victory, Stanford reached 20 overall wins for the 15th straight year and 10 conference wins for the 29th consecutive season.

Setting The Stage

Since 2007-08, the Cardinal sports a conference road record of 69-9, a Pac-12 home record of 75-4 and is 63-6 in the month of February.

Stanford has won three straight in Boulder and hasn’t lost at CU since Dec. 28, 1998.

The last time these two teams met on Jan. 10, Lili Thompson scored 12 points. With her basket at the 3:12 mark of the second quarter, she surpassed 1,000 career points, becoming the 36th Cardinal to do so.

Stanford made one fewer field goal than Colorado and two fewer 3-pointers in that win, but the Cardinal carried the day by earning 26 more free throw attempts than the Buffs. Stanford was 23-for-34 from the charity stripe while CU went 4-of-8.

Starting Lineup

In 2015-16, Stanford is without a senior starter for the first time in 13 seasons. The 2002-03 campaign was the last time the Cardinal didn’t have a senior in its first five. That 13-player roster featured two juniors and 11 underclassmen.

Schedule Perspective

Five of Stanford’s six losses this season have to teams ranked in the AP top 20 at the time of the game and four have come on the road. All five of those squads are currently in the top 12 of the AP poll.

Texas (RPI No. 8), Arizona State (RPI No. 7), Oregon State (RPI No. 9) and UCLA (RPI No. 10) are all also in the top 10 of the RPI and are a combined 46-5 at home this season.

In the most recent in-depth NCAA RPI report, Stanford sits at No. 6 and has played the nation’s third-toughest schedule.

Through games as of Feb. 15, Stanford’s 26 opponents this year have the third-highest combined winning percentage in the country of .656 (355-186). Tennessee leads that category with opponents that have gone 385-155 (.713) and Notre Dame is second (383-196; .661).

The Cardinal is 14-6 against the RPI top 100. Only Notre Dame (17) and South Carolina (15) have more RPI top 100 wins.

Stanford’s 20 games against RPI top 100 foes are also the most in the nation.

Past and Future

On Jan. 25, former Stanford All-American sisters Chiney and Nneka Ogwumike were named as two of 25 finalists for the 2016 U.S. Olympic Women’s Basketball Team. The 25 finalists were chosen by the USA Basketball Women’s National Team Player Selection Committee, which will select the official 12-member U.S. Olympic Team later this year.

Go America. Go Chiney. Go Nneka. Go Stanford. @chiney321 and @nnemkadi named two of 25 finalists for the 2016 @usabasketball Olympic Team. 🌲🇺🇸 #GoStanford

A photo posted by Stanford Women's Basketball (@stanfordwbb) on Jan 25, 2016 at 12:28pm PST

On Jan. 17, incoming freshmen DiJonai Carrington, Nadia Fingall and Anna Wilson were named to the West roster for the 15th annual McDonald’s All American Game on March 30 in Chicago.

Of the 24 girls selected to be McDonald’s All Americans, Stanford and Maryland have the most players suiting up next fall with three commits each.

They will be the 16th, 17th and 18th Cardinal signees featured in the nation’s premier high school basketball all-star event. Stanford most recently had a pair of McDonald’s All Americans in 2013 in current juniors Kailee Johnson and Erica McCall.

Teammates a little sooner than expected. @dijonai__, @nadia.fingall and @aplusw3 named to the @mcdaag West Team. #GoStanford

A photo posted by Stanford Women's Basketball (@stanfordwbb) on Jan 20, 2016 at 9:00am PST

The three commits to earn roster spots ties a program record from 2007 when Ashley Cimino, Kayla Pedersen and Jeanette Pohlen were each named McDonald’s All Americans.

Applying Pressure

The Cardinal has held 20 of 26 opponents below 40 percent shooting, eight below 30 percent and one below 20 percent. Stanford is second in the nation in field goal percentage defense (.323) and 16th in scoring defense (53.7).

Says Tara Vanderveer » Our defense is what we’ve been hanging our hat on...This is one of the most committed defensive teams we’ve had.

Opponents have put up 15.3 points less than their season scoring average when facing Stanford.

In its last 18 games, the Cardinal has surrendered 50.3 points on 31.6 percent shooting (322-of-1,020) and has surrendered more than 60 points just twice, including one overtime affair. In its first eight games of the season, Stanford gave up 61.2 points on 33.8 percent shooting (179-of-529) and allowed more than 60 points six times.

Stanford’s defensive pressure comes without fouling. The Cardinal is called for an average of 14.3 fouls per game, the 16th fewest in the country.

One game after holding Chattanooga to 30 points on Dec. 28, the sixth-fewest for an opponent in program history, the Cardinal only surrendered 34 on Jan. 2 at Arizona, a total now tied for 10th in its record books and for the fewest allowed by the program in a Pac-12 game. Stanford had never before held back-to-back opponents to less than 35 points.

Stanford has held its opponent below 10 points 26 times in 104 regulation quarters, or 25 percent of the time this season. It did so in eight straight over games against CSU Bakersfield, Chattanooga and Arizona.

Stanford is also seventh in the country in blocked shots per game (6.0) and has tallied seven or more blocks in a game 10 times this season after doing it five times all of last year.

The Cardinal’s 13 blocks against USC on Jan. 22 tied the school record from Feb. 3, 1989 against Arizona State. Stanford also had 12 against CSU Bakersfield, 11 against Oregon and 10 against UC Davis.

Stanford has had four games with double-digit blocks in a single season for just the second time in program history (2000-01).

Its defensive prowess this season is a return to normal for the Cardinal. Last year’s 37.0 percent field goal percentage defense mark was 43rd and the lowest in some time. Stanford hadn’t surrendered a better percentage since 2005-06 (36th; .373) and hadn’t finished a season ranked lower in that category since 2002-03 (57th; .384).

From 2006-07 to 2013-14, the Cardinal did not finish outside the nation’s top 15 in field goal percentage defense, capping that stretch with a 35.7 percent mark to check in 14th in the country in 2013-14.

Stanford was the nation’s best with a school record field goal percentage defense in 2012-13 (.316). The Cardinal was seventh in 2011-12 (.339), fifth in 2010-11 (.336), third in 2009-10 (.339), 13th in 2008-09 (.352), 11th in 2007-08 (.355) and sixth in 2006-07 (.346).

Splits

Stanford is 11-2 at home and 6-4 on the road, with all four of those losses coming to ranked teams. The Cardinal is scoring 72.1 points per game in Maples on 44.4 percent shooting, including 35.8 percent from deep, and has a +9.8 rebounding margin. On the road, Stanford is averaging 56.5 points per game on 37.1 percent shooting, 29.7 percent on 3-pointers, and has a +0.8 rebounding margin.

The Cardinal is 3-5 against the AP Top 25 this season, with all three wins coming at home.

Stanford started the year shooting 38.9 percent from 3-point range in its first 10 games. The Cardinal went 8-2 and averaged 8.6 makes from deep, including draining at least 10 on four different occasions. Its percentage from behind the arc was 17th and its makes ranked 19th.

In the next 10 games, Stanford’s 3-point field goal percentage dipped to 28.1 percent (45-of-160) and its makes per game dropped to 4.5. But in its last six, the Cardinal has worked to improve its stroke, hitting 38.8 percent (38-of-98) from behind the arc and making 6.3 per game.

Tracking Thompson

Against Colorado on Jan. 10, Lili Thompson became the 36th Stanford player to surpass 1,000 career points. Now at 1,145 she is 29th all-time at Stanford between Maggie Nelson (1,180; 1974-78) and Kami Anderson (1,141; 1984-88).

Stanford up 28-21 on Colorado at the half. @_li_squared just became the 36th Cardinal to surpass 1,000 career points. #GoStanford

A photo posted by Stanford Women's Basketball (@stanfordwbb) on Jan 10, 2016 at 12:57pm PST

Thompson has scored 20 or more seven times this season, including in recent wins against Washington and Washington State. In those two, she averaged 28.5 points per game and shot 63 percent from the field (22-of-35) and 71 percent from the 3-point line (10-of-14). Thompson scored 41 percent of Stanford’s points (57) and was named both espnW National Player of the Week and Pac-12 Player of the Week for her efforts.

It was the second espnW National Player of the Week award of Thompson’s career. Last November, she was honored after averaging 26.0 points and 5.5 rebounds per game in Stanford’s games against No. 1 Connecticut and No. 10 Texas. Her conference accolade was her league-leading third of the season and the fourth of her career.

In the four games since those performances, Thompson is averaging 9.0 points on 21.6 percent shooting (11-of-51), but leads the team in assists and steals.

Flying High

Erica McCall, who entered 2015-16 with just two career double-doubles, has septupled that total in her junior season.

McCall has 14 this season, including four straight to open the year. In the past decade, only Chiney Ogwumike has had a better start to a year for the Cardinal. Ogwumike also had four straight double-doubles to start the 2013-14 campaign. McCall’s 14 double-doubles are tied for 12th in the NCAA.

Only five Stanford players have ever averaged a double-double for an entire season: Chiney Ogwumike (2012, 2013, 2014), Nnemkadi Ogwumike (2012), Nicole Powell (2004), Jeanne Ruark Hoff (1980) and Kathy Murphy (1978). McCall is currently averaging 13.1 points and 9.4 rebounds per outing.

In her last six games, McCall is shooting 56.5 percent from the floor (39-of-69).

A psychology major with a 3.53 cumulative GPA, McCall was selected to the 2015-16 CoSIDA Academic All-District Women’s Basketball Team on Feb. 11. Her honor continued a run of five straight years with a Cardinal receiving academic all-district accolades, the longest streak in the Pac-12.

.@birdstheword_24, smart and good at basketball. Earns CoSIDA Academic All-District distinction on Thursday. #GoStanford

A photo posted by Stanford Women's Basketball (@stanfordwbb) on Feb 11, 2016 at 1:28pm PST

Good Stretches

Brittany McPhee has made 17 of her last 40 attempts from 3-point range (.425) after starting her career going 9-of-48 (.188) in her first 37 career games.

Kaylee Johnson has come on strong in Stanford’s last 18 games, averaging 7.1 points on 56.8 percent shooting (50-of-88) to go along with 7.7 rebounds.

The nation’s third-best freshman rebounder a season ago, she has grabbed 10.7 boards in the Cardinal’s last six outings.

The sophomore opened the year averaging 1.1 points and 4.5 rebounds while shooting just 22.2 percent from the floor in the Cardinal’s first eight games. Johnson has scored 10+ seven times in those 18 games after doing it all of six times as a freshman.

Marta Sniezek is averaging 3.7 assists in Stanford’s last six games with a 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. In the first 20 games of the year, the freshman was handing out 1.8 assists and owned an assist-to-turnover ratio of 0.9.

Different Samuelson, Same Story

Stanford lost Bonnie Samuelson to graduation after a career in which she finished third in school history and 10th in Pac-12 history in 3-point makes (237), but younger sister Karlie Samuelson has stepped in to keep up the family’s sharpshooting legacy.

Karlie is 54-of-116 from behind the arc this season and is fourth in the nation (min. two made per game) in 3-point field goal percentage (.466). A career 40.8 percent 3-point shooter, Samuelson has made 127 from deep in her career.

Seventy-nine percent (471-of-593) of her career points have come on 3-pointers (381) and free throws (90). The junior captain has made more than twice as many field goals from behind the arc as she has from inside, converting 61 2-point attempts. She is 23-of-49 (.469) on such shots this season.

Eleven of her 25 career games in double figures scoring have come in Stanford’s last 17 outings and in her last 12 games, Samuelson is 26-of-47 on 3-pointers (.553).

Among The Best Ever

The Cardinal is 997-310 (.763) all-time since its first varsity season in 1975. Stanford would join an exclusive list with four more wins. Tennessee, Louisiana Tech, James Madison, Old Dominion, Texas and Stephen F. Austin are currently the only Division I institutions with 1,000 victories. Stanford will be the third-fastest to that mark, behind Louisiana Tech (1,210) and Tennessee (1,232). The Cardinal has reached 997 wins in 1,307 games.

Entering this season, the Cardinal was fourth in the NCAA over the last five years by both wins and percentage. From 2011-15, Stanford went 160-22 (.879). Connecticut was 182-12 (.938), Baylor was 173-14 (.925) and Notre Dame was 174-18 (.906).

More Milestones On The Horizon For Tara

Entering her 30th season on the bench at Stanford, Setsuko Ishiyama Director of Women’s Basketball Tara VanDerveer has accumulated a 973-223 (.814) record in her 37 years as a collegiate head coach and an 821-172 (.827) on The Farm.

In November 2013, she became just the fifth college women’s basketball coach to win 900 career games. Last March she won her 800th game at Stanford, becoming the 10th college basketball coach – men’s or women’s – with that many victories at a single Division I school, P. Summitt (Tennessee), M. Krzyzewski (Duke), G. Auriemma (Connecticut), D. Smith (North Carolina), A. Rupp (Kentucky), A. Landers (Georgia), J. Boeheim (Syracuse), R. Selvig (Montana) and J. Phelan (Mount St. Mary’s).

One of the greatest leaders in any sport at any level, VanDerveer enters the 2015-16 season as the third-winningest coach in NCAA women’s basketball history and is 27 victories away from joining Pat Summitt as the only coaches with 1,000 career wins.

Off the court, she served as Stanford football’s honorary captain for its Oct. 3 home win over Arizona. In another football connection, former Stanford head coach Jim Harbaugh and one of Tara’s coaching confidants delivered a pregame address to the team before its win over Utah on Jan. 8.

On Jan. 26, VanDerveer was honored with the 2016 Coaching Corps Lifetime Achievement Award at the organization’s 2nd Annual Game Changer Awards at The Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. VanDerveer’s award was presented by former Stanford All-American and current San Francisco head coach Jennifer Azzi. The event supported Coaching Corps’ mission to provide youth from under-resourced communities access to trained coaches and the benefits of sports activities and team-based learning.

Game changers. #GoStanford

A photo posted by Stanford Women's Basketball (@stanfordwbb) on Jan 27, 2016 at 8:50am PST

Checking The Polls

Stanford is No. 15 in the AP top 25 and No. 15 in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll.

Stanford has appeared in the AP rankings 491 times out of 706 total polls since 1977 (69.5 percent), with an average positioning of 7.0. It’s been in the past 282 polls, the third-longest active streak behind Tennessee (565) and Connecticut (427). Stanford has also been in 289 consecutive coaches polls.

The Cardinal’s 491 all-time appearances in the AP top 25 are fourth behind Tennessee (692), Georgia (522) and Texas (497).

So International

Stanford forward Erica McCall won her fourth gold medal representing the United States at the 2015 World University Games in Gwangju, South Korea in July.

A United States co-captain, McCall finished the event tied for eighth overall in scoring (15.2), was eighth in rebounds (8.5), tied for third in blocks (1.8) and led all players in South Korea in field goal percentage, converting 37 of her 62 attempts from the floor (.597). Team USA went a perfect 6-0 and defeated its opponents by an average of nearly 22 points per game.

Champ. 🏆🇺🇸 @birdstheword_24 @gostanford @usabasketball #GoStanford

A photo posted by Stanford Women's Basketball (@stanfordwbb) on Jul 13, 2015 at 12:20pm PDT

In July, freshman Alanna Smith led Australia to a third-place finish and was named to the All-Star Five at the FIBA U19 Women’s World Championship in Chekhov, Russia.

The first international recruit in Stanford women’s basketball history, Smith tied for 12th in the entire tournament in points per game (12.6), tied for 15th in rebounds (7.0), tied for third in blocks (2.7), tied for 23rd in steals (1.3) and led Australia in each of those categories.

.@alannas96 » @gostanford freshman and one of the best at the @fiba U19 Women's World Championship. #GoStanford #FIBAU19 @basketballaus

A photo posted by Stanford Women's Basketball (@stanfordwbb) on Jul 27, 2015 at 10:22am PDT

Always Learning

Last year it was Mike D’Antoni, Joe Prunty, Jenny Boucek and others who helped Tara VanDerveer and her staff learn the intricacies of a more guard-oriented, fast-paced, pick-and-roll offense as Stanford moved away from the triangle for the first time since the 2002-03 season.

This year it has been a give-and-take with the NBA Champion Golden State Warriors. The Warriors practiced at Stanford on Oct. 5 before preseason game in San Jose and assistant coach Kate Paye attended another Golden State practice in the East Bay. When the Warriors were on the road in San Diego, VanDerveer’s sister and UCSD women’s coach, Heidi VanDerveer, attended a practice.

Solid start to the first day of practice. Warriors warmed up the court for the Cardinal. #GoStanford #Warriors pic.twitter.com/JyPwgPlEHo

— Stanford WBB (@StanfordWBB) October 5, 2015

Warriors assistant coach and former Stanford star Jarron Collins » “It goes back to, men’s team or women’s team, basketball’s basketball and we’re all trying to improve. There’s this synergy of just talking shop. We’ve had a level of success, obviously, and you just want to borrow from those that have achieved a certain level. Our practices are very open to coaches who want to come and watch and observe. It’s pretty cool for us getting to interact with Coach VanDerveer.”

VanDerveer, who also asks former Stanford guard and now-Warriors sideline reporter Rosalyn Gold-Onwude of her observations on what Golden State is doing, says “it’s kind of a little clinic happening every two or three nights on television.”