Return at Rocky Top

No. 10 Stanford (8-1)
at Tennessee (5-4)
Sunday, Dec. 18 • 3 p.m. ET
Thompson-Boling Arena • Knoxville, Tenn.
Complete Release (PDF)
Television • SEC Network
Live Statistics •Available via UTSports.com

THE GAMENo. 10 Stanford (7-1) continues its storied rivalry with Tennessee (5-4) in Thompson-Boling Arena on Sunday, Dec. 18 at 3 p.m. ET. Beth Mowins, Rebecca Lobo and Steffi Sorensen have the call on the SEC Network.

THE RUNDOWNStanford is 13-4 coming off its annual two-week break for final exams ... Stanford's overall record since its first varsity season in 1975 is 1,012-313 (.764) ... The Cardinal is the nation's seventh-winningest program by victories and fourth by percentage ... Entering her 31st season on the bench at Stanford, Tara VanDerveer has accumulated a 988-226 record in her 37+ years as a collegiate head coach and is 12 victories away from joining Pat Summitt as the only NCAA women's basketball coaches with 1,000 career wins ... Stanford is No. 10 in the Associated Press women's basketball poll and has appeared in 292 straight ... Stanford is the country's third winningest road program the last 10 seasons ... The Cardinal is 3-9 on the road against SEC opponents since 1999-00 ... Brittany McPhee is the seventh-best shooting guard among Power 5 conference players in the country with a field goal percentage of .526 ... Erica McCall has had 22 double-doubles in her last 43 games, fifth in the country among active players since the start of 2015-16 ... She is 16 points away from becoming Stanford's 37th 1,000-point scorer ... Karlie Samuelson is second among active NCAA players in career 3-point field goal percentage (.426) ... Stanford signed the nation's fifth-ranked recruiting class on Nov. 9, including three top-50 recruits ... The Cardinal is 11th in the nation in field goal percentage (.484) and 13th in rebound margin (+12.3).

VS. TENNESSEEStanford is 10-23 all-time against the Lady Vols, but has won four of the last five. Last season the Cardinal won its fifth straight at home against Tennessee, 69-55. It was the first time in the 33-game series between the schools that neither was ranked in the top 10. Stanford was No. 15 and the Lady Vols were No. 14. Eight of Stanford's 10 wins have come in Maples Pavilion. Its two road victories in Knoxville came on Dec. 22, 2012 (73-60) and Dec. 15, 1996 (82-65). Sunday will mark the first time since Dec. 1998 that both teams have not been in the AP top 25 at the time of the game.

STORIED RIVALRY IN DEPTH• Sunday's match-up will be the 34th all-time in a series that began December 1988, when the Cardinal traveled to Knoxville and lost to the Lady Volunteers, 83-60.
• Since then, the teams have met annually, in some cases twice a year and in the case of 1990-91, three times. Tennessee took control of the rivalry with an 11-game winning streak from 1997-2006, but since a 73-69 overtime win at Maples Pavilion on Dec. 22, 2007, Stanford has slowly turned the tide. The Cardinal has won four of the past five and five of the past seven.
• In those last seven games, Stanford has advantages in scoring (70.6-65.4), field goal percentage (.432-.373), 3-point field goal percentage (.363-.288) and rebounding (39.1-37.6).
• Sunday marks just the second time both teams will not be in the AP top 25 at the time of the game. On Dec. 19, 1998, No. 2 Tennessee beat an unranked Cardinal squad in Knoxville, 98-62. The two have met as ranked opponents 32 times and as top-5 foes 14 times.
• Stanford won its first of two national titles in Knoxville, knocking off Auburn 88-81 on April 4, 1990.
• The Cardinal's last trip to the state wasn't as kind. In Dec. 2014, Stanford lost at Chattanooga 54-46 and at Tennessee 59-40. Stanford was held to below 50 points in back-to-back games for just the sixth time in program history and first since the final two contests of the 1976-77 season.
BACK FROM BREAK• Sunday's matchup with Tennessee is also Stanford's first game following its annual two-week break for final exams.
• Since first taking a two-week break during the season for exams in 1999-2000, Stanford is 13-4 in its first game back from the hiatus. It had won 13 straight until last season's 77-69 loss at No. 5 Texas.
SETTING THE STAGE• Stanford is 104-21 (.832) on the road the last 10 years and one of only three schools to have more than 100 road wins during that span along with Green Bay (108) and Connecticut (106).
• The Cardinal is 14-17 against teams from the SEC since 1999-00 and 3-9 in such games on the road. Its last three SEC road victories came at South Carolina on Dec. 19, 2008 (78-47), at South Carolina on Dec. 19, 2012 (53-49) and at Tennessee on Dec. 22, 2012 (73-60).
• Stanford is 11th in the nation in field goal percentage (.484), 13th in rebound margin (+12.3), 24th in field goal percentage defense (.342) and 18th in scoring margin (+22.4).
• Since 2007-08, Stanford has shot 11.5 percentage points better than its opponents (.460-.345). Only Connecticut (+.188) and Baylor (+.132) have better field goal percentage differentials over that span.
• The Cardinal is 47-4 in road games against unranked opponents since 1999-00 with the four losses coming against Chattanooga (2014), Saint Mary's (2000), St. Joseph's (1999) and UMass (1999).
AMONG THE BEST EVER• Stanford's victory over Oregon State on Feb. 26, 2016 was the 1,000th in program history. With 1,012 wins, the Cardinal is the seventh-winningest program in women's college basketball history. The country's other 1,000-victory programs are Tennessee (1,304), Louisiana Tech (1,078), Connecticut (1,055), James Madison (1,050), Old Dominion (1,018), Texas (1,016) and Stephen F. Austin (1,012).
• The Cardinal's overall record since its first varsity season in 1975 is 1,012-313 (.764) and 836-175 (.827) with Tara VanDerveer at the helm.
• Stanford's .764 winning percentage is fourth all-time in Division I, trailing Tennessee (.811) and Louisiana Tech (.783) and Connecticut (.781).
MORE MILESTONES ON THE HORIZON FOR TARA• Entering her 31st season on the bench at Stanford, Hall of Famer Tara VanDerveer has accumulated a 988-226 record in her 37+ years as a collegiate head coach and an 836-175 mark on The Farm. Her teams have won 20 or more games 31 times, including each of the last 15 seasons.
• In November 2013, VanDerveer became just the fifth college women's basketball coach to win 900 career games and is 12 victories shy of joining Pat Summitt as the only NCAA women's basketball coaches with 1,000 career wins.

Winningest Coaches (By Victories)

• Summitt (1,098) along with Mike Krzyzewski at Duke (1,053) and Herb Magee at Philadelphia University (1,039) on the men's side are the only college basketball coaches with 1,000 wins.
McPHIRE• Brittany McPhee is 12th in the Pac-12 averaging 14.6 points per game and has scored 20+ three times.
• The junior torched then-No. 8 Texas for a career-high 28 points on 11-of-15 shooting (.733) and followed that up with 22 points against Gonzaga for the first back-to-back 20-point games of her career.
• Her performance from the floor against the Longhorns was the most efficient for a Stanford guard against a ranked opponent with records dating back to 1999-00 (minimum 10 field goals made).
• Four-time All-American Candice Wiggins is second on that list, converting 55.6 percent in games against No. 16 Minnesota on Nov. 20, 2005 (10-of-18) and No. 23 UTEP on March 24, 2008 (15-of-27).
• Including McPhee, Stanford guards have made 10 field goals in a game against top-25 teams nine times since 1999-00. Wiggins has seven of them.
• McPhee is the seventh-best shooting guard among Power 5 conference players in the country with a field goal percentage of .526.
BIRD SOARING• Since the start of her junior year, Erica McCall is averaging 15.4 points on 51.5 percent shooting, 9.3 rebounds and 1.9 blocks.
• McCall and Utah's Emily Potter are the only players in the country averaging those numbers since the beginning of last season. • Her 66 blocks last season tied for third in Stanford single-season history and her 154 career blocks rank fifth at Stanford behind Jayne Appel (278), Chiney Ogwumike (202), Val Whiting (201) and Kristen Newlin (163).
• McCall's 24 career double-doubles are tied for 14th among active NCAA players and she's had 22 in her last 43 games. Among those active players, only Alaina Coates of South Carolina (26), Lexi Martins of George Washington (25), Nia Coffey (23) of Northwestern and Brionna Jones (23) of Maryland have had more since the start of the 2015-16 season.
• McCall is on watch lists for the Naismith Trophy, Wade Trophy and Wooden Award. She is 16 points away from becoming Stanford's 37th 1,000-point scorer.
TAKE AIM• Karlie Samuelson was 80-of-169 from behind the arc in 2015-16 and checked in at third in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage (.473). She is second in Stanford single-season history in 3-point field goal percentage behind Jennifer Azzi (.495; 1988-89) and ninth in 3-point makes (80).
• The senior is the second in career 3-point field goal percentage (.426) among active players.
• In her last 30 games, Samuelson is 71-of-140 on 3-pointers (.507).

Active 3-Point FG% Leaders

• She is currently 25th in the country in percentage from behind the arc this season (.475).
• Samuelson's 0-for-4 effort from deep last time out against UC Davis snapped a streak of making a 3-pointer in 19 consecutive games.
• More than 71 percent of her career attempts are from 3-point range and more than 80 percent of her points have come on 3-pointers and free throws. Samuelson is 77-of-161 (.478) on two-point shots.
• Samuelson returned to practice on Nov. 8 for the first time in roughly six weeks after she recovered from a hairline fracture in her wrist.
SNIEZEK STEPS UP• In her last 24 games, Marta Sniezek is averaging 4.9 assists with a 2.51 assist-to-turnover ratio.
• The sophomore averaged 1.8 assists with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 0.9 in her first 20 career games.
• She's had at least five assists in all but two games this season and totaled 15 against just one turnover at the Cancun Challenge.
• Last year, Sniezek became the eighth Stanford freshman to reach 100 assists (109) and fourth to tally that many in the past 20 seasons (Amber Orrange, Ros Gold-Onwude, Nicole Powell).
• Against Washington in the Pac-12 Tournament on March 4, she had 13 assists against zero turnovers. Her assist total was a Pac-12 Tournament record and also the most for a Stanford player in a single game since 1991.
APPLYING PRESSURE• The Cardinal finished sixth nationally in field goal percentage defense (.338) and ninth in blocks per game (6.0) last year. Its field goal percentage defense was third in Stanford history and its 211 total blocks set a school record.
• The Cardinal is third in the nation in field goal percentage defense the past 10 years, holding its 334 opponents to 34.5 percent shooting (7,087-of-20,555).

FG% Defense Leaders (Since 2007-08)

PROGNOSTICATIONS• Stanford is No. 10 in the AP top 25 and No. 10 in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll.
• It has been ranked 501 times out of 716 total AP polls since 1977 (70.0 percent), with an average positioning of 7.1. It's been in the past 292, the second-longest active streak behind Connecticut (437). Stanford has been in 300 consecutive coaches polls.
• The Cardinal's 501 all-time appearances in the AP top 25 are fourth behind Tennessee (696), Georgia (522) and Texas (507).
• Stanford was picked to finish second in the Pac-12 when the conference announced the results of the preseason coaches' poll. It's the second consecutive season Stanford has come in second in the preseason poll. The Cardinal had topped the rankings for 15 consecutive years beginning in 2000-01.
CARDINAL FOURTUNE• On Nov. 9, the Cardinal announced the signings of Maya Dodson (Alpharetta, Ga./St. Francis), Alyssa Jerome (Toronto, Ontario, Canada/Harbord Collegiate), Estella Moschkau (Mount Horeb, Wisc./Edgewood) and Kiana Williams (San Antonio, Texas/Karen Wagner), a group collectively rated No. 5 by espnW HoopGurlz.

• Dodson is a five-star talent and the No. 11 prospect in the espnW HoopGurlz Top 100, Moschkau is a five-star prospect rated No. 44 and Williams is a five-star point guard and the No. 8 prospect overall.
• Williams is Stanford's first top-10 recruit since Chiney Ogwumike signed as the top player in the country in Nov. 2009.
• Jerome is a veteran of Canada Basketball and represented her country this summer at the both the aforementioned FIBA U17 World Championships in Spain and the FIBA Americas U18 Championships in Valdivia, Chile.
• Dodson and Williams were named to the 50-person Naismith Trophy High School Girl's Preseason watch list on Nov. 16.
FOREVER STANFORD• It was a big summer for Stanford alumnae, headlined by Nneka Ogwumike '12 winning the 2016 WNBA MVP award and hitting the game winner in Game 5 of the WNBA Finals with 3.1 seconds left to lift the Los Angeles Sparks to the championship.
• Ogwumike is Stanford women's basketball's seventh WNBA champion and the third Cardinal to win a league most valuable player award in any sport, joining NFL quarterbacks John Brodie (San Francisco 49ers; 1970) and John Elway (Denver Broncos; 1987).
• On Oct. 17, the 2012 Stanford graduate was voted president of the WNBA players' union executive council, a post she will hold for three years. She will serve alongside her sister Chiney '14, who will serve as the organization's vice president. Jayne Appel Marinelli, who retired this September after a seven-year WNBA career with the San Antonio Stars, will begin her post-playing days as the union's Associate Director of Player Relations.

• Sebnem Kimyacioglu '05, the fifth Stanford alumna to compete in the Olympics, helped Turkey advance to the quarterfinals in the country's second appearance in women's basketball at the Games.
• Kimyacioglu was one of 39 Stanford athletes to compete at the 2016 Summer Olympics. The Cardinal contingent in Rio hailed from 10 countries and spanned 17 varsity sports. The 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games resulted in a school-record 27 medals, the most of any NCAA institution.
THAT'S HIM• Those who came to a Stanford practice during the fall quarter might have recognized a familiar face in two-time All-American Casey Jacobsen, who was a practice player for both the Cardinal women and men. Jacobsen left Stanford after three seasons and was the 22nd overall pick in the 2002 NBA Draft by the Phoenix Suns. He enjoyed a five-year NBA career and also played professionally in Spain and Germany.
• Jacobsen finished his degree in communication this month and will walk with his class next June.

• He is fourth in Stanford history in points (1,723), sixth in scoring average (18.1) and fourth in 3-pointers made (222).
CIVIC ENGAGEMENT PROGRAM• Sophomore guard Alexa Romano was among 40 student-athletes from Stanford and Duke who traveled to one of five countries during the summer for three weeks as part of the Rubenstein-Bing Student-Athlete Civic Engagement Program.
• Romano served as a coaching assistant for sports activities, taught English as a second language courses and promoted computer literacy initiatives for youth at a community center in New Delhi.

• She is in the process of copying her journal from the trip - 50 typed pages on the computer - to a leather-bound version she purchased the Dili Haat open-air craft bazaar in New Delhi.
COMMUNICATION IS KEY• VanDerveer is constantly evolving and finding new ways to push herself and do her job well depending on the makeup of her team and communication was the focus this offseason.
• In mid-September, the Cardinal spent just more than an hour in a "Championship Communication" workshop with Betsy Butterick to develop communication techniques.
• Late last spring, Stanford played water polo at the Avery Aquatic Center. The team later had conversations with football coach David Shaw and former Stanford dean Julie Lythcott-Haims, who wrote "How to Raise an Adult: Break Free of the Overparenting Trap and Prepare Your Kid for Success." Stanford also did a Skype session with author Jon Gordon, who wrote "The Energy Bus."
• On Nov. 10, three-time Olympic volleyball champion and current U.S. women's coach Karch Kiraly — who has done his own communication exercises with the Americans through peer evaluations — spoke to the team before he worked TV for the USC-Stanford volleyball match at Maples Pavilion.