No. 6 Stanford (30-5)
vs. No. 14 Texas (25-8)
Friday, March 24 • 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT
Rupp Arena • Lexington, Ky.
Complete Release (PDF)
Television •ESPN
Radio • KZSU 90.1FM
THE GAMEIn a rematch of a November nonconference game, No. 2 seed Stanford (30-5) and No. 3 seed Texas (25-8) will play a regional semifinal in Lexington, Ky. on Friday, March 24 (9 p.m. ET).
THE RUNDOWNStanford is 82-28 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and 48-24 in games away from Maples Pavilion ... The Cardinal earned the Pac-12's automatic berth to the field after winning its 12th conference tournament championship ... Stanford has won 30 games for the 14th time in program history ... On Feb. 3, Tara VanDerveer became the third Division I basketball coach to win 1,000 games when Stanford beat USC 58-42 ... She owns a 1,010-230 career record and has more wins than 341 of the country's 349 Division I programs ... VanDerveer's 80 wins in the NCAA Tournament are third all-time ... Stanford is 172-36 (.827) in games away from Maples Pavilion the past 10 years (road/neutral), one of only three schools to have more than 150 such wins ... Alanna Smith is averaging 14.4 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.3 blocks in the last 12 games ... Erica McCall is 25th in school history in points (1,330), seventh in rebounds (939) and fourth in blocks (195) and has 31 double-doubles in her last 69 games, the 10th most in the country over the past two seasons ... Karlie Samuelson is fourth among active players in career 3-point field goal percentage (.441), third in school history in 3-point makes (240) and tied for 32nd in points (1,136) ... She is second nationally in 3-point field goal percentage this season (.483) ... Brittany McPhee's 6.6 per game scoring increase over last season is the second-best in the Pac-12 ... Marta Sniezek's 2.76 assist to turnover ratio since Feb. 1 is 21st in the country.
WHAT JUST HAPPENED• Stanford went on the road and won two games in Manhattan, Kan. to advance to its 10th consecutive Sweet 16 and 24th overall.
• The Cardinal beat 15th-seeded New Mexico State 72-64 in round one on Saturday and routed K-State 69-48 on Monday night.
• Alanna Smith led Stanford by averaging team-highs of 19.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 3.5 blocks. Brittany McPhee averaged 18.5 points and 6.5 rebounds, Karlie Samuelson chipped in 11.5 points per game and Erica McCall averaged 9.5 points, 9.0 rebounds and 1.0 blocks.
• Stanford's 12 total blocks against New Mexico State were a school tournament record and are now tied as the ninth-most in a single game in tournament history.
• In beating K-State in the second round, the Cardinal held a tournament opponent below 50 points for the 16th time.
• Stanford moved to 17-4 in first- and second-round NCAA Tournament games away from home and is currently on a 14-game winning streak.
THIS AND THAT• Stanford has won 30 games for the 14th time in program history and first since 2014.
• In her last six NCAA Tournament games, Karlie Samuelson is 21-of-35 from behind the arc (.600).
• Erica McCall has had double-digit rebounds in six of her last eight NCAA Tournament games.
• Stanford set a school record with 211 blocks last season and its 197 this year are second all-time.
• A win Friday would advance the Cardinal to its second consecutive Elite Eight. Stanford has 18 all-time regional final appearances and 10 in the last 13 seasons.
• Stanford was also in the Lexington Regional last season. It knocked off No. 1 seed Notre Dame 90-84 in the Sweet 16 before falling in the Elite Eight to seventh-seeded Washington 85-76.
ROAD WARRIORS• The second-round win was Stanford's eighth true road contest in the NCAA Tournament and moved its record to 3-5 in such games.
• Stanford had previously won at Montana on March 20, 1988 (74-72 [OT]) and at San Diego State on March 23, 2009 (77-49). It's road tournament losses came at Maryland on March 14, 1982 (82-48), at Texas on March 24, 1988 (79-58), at Louisiana Tech on March 25, 1989 (85-75), at Georgia on March 20, 2000 (83-64) and at Oklahoma on March 19, 2001 (67-50).
• This is the 11th time in Stanford's 31 tournament appearances that it will not host a game at home. The last time it happened in 2012, the Cardinal advanced to the Final Four in Denver, Colo.
• Stanford is 18-2 in road and neutral-site games this season and its .900 winning percentage when it plays away from The Farm is third nationally behind Connecticut (18-0) and Maryland (16-1).
• The Cardinal was unable to host the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament because the Pac-12 Women's Gymnastics Championships, which rotate to host sites around the conference each year, was in Maples Pavilion on Saturday, March 18.
• Maples Pavilion has hosted more NCAA Tournament games (65) than any other facility except Tennessee's Thompson-Boling Arena (66).
• Stanford is 172-36 (.827) in games away from Maples Pavilion the last 10 years (road/neutral), one of only three schools to have more than 150 road and neutral wins along with Connecticut (191) and Notre Dame (162).
AGAINST TEXAS• Stanford is 7-4 all-time against Texas, 1-1 at neutral sites and 0-1 in the NCAA Tournament.
• The two have split their nonconference meetings each of the past four seasons.
• The Cardinal made the NCAA Tournament for the first time under Tara VanDerveer in 1988, her third season at the helm of the program.
• Fifth-seeded Stanford had a first-round bye that year and won at fourth-seeded Montana 74-72 in overtime in the second round before losing to No. 1 seed Texas in Austin on March 24 in the Sweet 16.
• That loss to the Longhorns was the third NCAA Tournament game in program history. Since then Stanford has played 107 tournament games and won 81.
• Brittany McPhee scored a career-high 28 points, Erica McCall added 17 points and six blocked shots and Stanford beat No. 8 Texas 71-59 at home on earlier this season on Nov. 14.
• McPhee had her career day on 11-of-15 shooting (.733), the most efficient performance from the floor 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.
STANFORD IN THE TOURNAMENT• Stanford earned its 30th consecutive and 31st overall NCAA Tournament bid by collecting the Pac-12's automatic berth into the field after winning its 12th conference tournament championship.
• Since its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 1982, Stanford has won two national championships (1990, 1992), reached 12 Final Fours (1990-92, 1995-97, 2008-12, 2014), 18 Elite Eights, 24 Sweet 16s and compiled an NCAA Tournament record of 82-28 (.745).
• Stanford's 12 Final Four appearances are the third-most by any school entering this year's tournament, and its 31 overall appearances rank third behind only Tennessee (36) and Georgia (32).
• Tennessee is the only school that has a longer active streak of NCAA Tournament appearances than Stanford's 30. The Lady Vols have earned a bid to all 36 NCAA Tournaments.
• The Cardinal's 82 wins in the NCAA Tournament are third all-time behind Tennessee (124) and Connecticut (111), as are its 110 tournament games. Tennessee has appeared in 152 and Connecticut 128.
• Stanford's .745 NCAA Tournament winning percentage is fourth all-time among programs with a minimum of 20 appearances. Connecticut is No. 1 (.867; 110-17), Tennessee is No. 2 (.816; 124-27) and Baylor is No. 3 (.759; 41-13).
• The Cardinal is a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the 11th time and first since 2014. Stanford has gone on to reach the Final Four as a No. 2 seed five times (1991, 1995, 2008, 2009, 2014), defeating the No. 1 seed in the regional final in 1991 (Georgia) and 2008 (Maryland). No. 2 seeds are 342-131 all-time in the tournament.
#TARA1K• In her 31st season on the bench at Stanford, Hall of Famer Tara VanDerveer has accumulated a 1,010-230 record in her 37+ years as a collegiate head coach and an 858-179 mark on The Farm.
• VanDerveer's 80 wins in the NCAA Tournament are third all-time behind Pat Summitt (112) and Geno Auriemma (111).
• Her teams have won 20 or more games 32 times and collected at least 30 victories 14 times. Pat Summitt (36) and C. Vivian Stringer (34) are the only coaches to lead their teams to more 20-win seasons.
• In November 2013, VanDerveer became just the fifth college women's basketball coach to win 900 career games and on Feb. 3 she joined her good friend Pat Summitt as the only NCAA women's basketball coaches with 1,000 career wins.
• Summitt (1,098) along with Mike Krzyzewski at Duke (1,071) and Herb Magee at Philadelphia University (1,053) on the men's side are the only college basketball coaches with 1,000 wins.
• VanDerveer has more career wins than 341 of the country's 349 Division I programs.
HOW WE GOT HERE• The Cardinal won its 12th Pac-12 Tournament in 16 tries thanks to a comeback that relied on stifling defense against No. 6 Oregon State in the championship game.
• Alanna Smith scored 18 points off the bench, Karlie Samuelson added 14 and after surrendering 22 points and nine field goals in the first quarter, the Cardinal allowed just 21 points and seven made field goals over the game's final 30 minutes.
• Stanford, which finished tied for second in the league regular-season standings, has not won a Pac-12 regular-season title since 2014, the first three-year drought in program history.
• Stanford has 20 wins for the 16th straight season and 28th overall and tallied double-digit Pac-12 victories for the 29th consecutive year.
• The Cardinal has won with a balanced attack featuring six different leading scorers and three players (Erica McCall, Brittany McPhee, Karlie Samuelson) averaging over 12 points per game for the first time since 2010-11 (Nneka Ogwumike, Jeanette Pohlen, Kayla Pedersen).
• Stanford is 29th in the nation in field goal percentage (.447), eighth in field goal percentage defense (.345), 16th in scoring defense (55.5), 52nd in scoring offense (72.0) and 12th in scoring margin (+16.5).
• The Cardinal is one of seven programs in the country in the top 30 nationally in both field goal percentage and field goal percentage defense along with Baylor, Duke, Connecticut, Central Arkansas, Green Bay and South Carolina.
COMEBACK KIDS• Stanford has been down by at least nine points and come back to win four times this season, including in three of its last four games.
• The Cardinal erased an 18-point deficit on the road at No. 7 Washington on Jan. 29, a 13-point hole in the Pac-12 Tournament final against No. 6 Oregon State on March 5 and nine-point deficits against Oregon in the Pac-12 Tournament semifinals on March 4 and New Mexico State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on March 18.
• Says Karlie Samuelson, "We keep our heads in the game. I think there's a difference between feeling panicked and having a sense of urgency. We always know we can come back, so just keep playing hard."
AGAINST RANKED• The Cardinal is 6-3 against ranked teams this season, 4-1 in road and neutral-site games and 3-1 against the top 10.
• Stanford has won multiple games against top 25 opponents for each of the last 15 seasons.
• The Cardinal has won five of its last six against top-10 opponents, beating No. 7 Oregon State (Feb. 26, 2016), No. 2 Notre Dame (March 25, 2016), No. 8 Texas (Nov. 14, 2016), No. 7 Washington (Jan. 29, 2017) and No. 6 Oregon State (March 5, 2017) around a road loss to the No. 10 Beavers (Feb. 24, 2017).
• Stanford is 69-33 (.676) against AP ranked opponents since 2007-08, fifth in the country in such wins over that span and fourth in percentage.
• Connecticut (.905), Baylor (.762), Notre Dame (.726), Stanford (.676), Tennessee (.615), Duke (.559), Maryland (.542) and Texas A&M (.509) have winning records against ranked teams the past decade.
CONFERENCE OF CHAMPIONS• A Pac-12-record seven teams were selected to participate in the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament from a league boasting the country's top collective RPI.
• All seven won in the first round and a conference-record five have made the Sweet 16, the most of any league.
• From 2000 to 2012, Stanford played 27 conference and conference tournament games against ranked opponents and went 21-6. In just the last five seasons, the Cardinal has played a ranked Pac-12 team 30 times in conference and conference tournament games, going 20-10.
• For the second time and second-straight year, the Pac-12 has four teams ranked in the final Associated Press poll in Stanford (No. 6), Oregon State (No. 8), Washington (No. 12) and UCLA (No. 15).
SUPER SUB• The first international recruit in program history, Australian Alanna Smith is looking increasingly comfortable at the end of her sophomore season.
• In her last 12 games, Smith is averaging a team-high 14.4 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.3 blocks in 24.3 minutes off the bench.
• Of her 19 career games in double figures scoring, 11 have come since Jan. 1.
• Smith has come off the bench in 32 of her 35 appearances this season. Her 9.1 points per game average in those 32 outings as a substitute is the third-best in the Pac-12. Minyon Moore averaged 12.0 points in 26 games off the bench for USC and Alexys Swedlund 10.6 in 16 games off the bench for Washington State.
• Smith averaged 13.0 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in the month of February, one of three non-starters in the country with those numbers along with Georgia's Caliya Robinson and Oklahoma's Vionise Pierre-Louis.
• She accounted for 38 percent of Stanford's points in the Pac-12 Tournament title game against Oregon State and was named to the league's all-tournament team after averaging 10.3 points in Seattle.
BIRD SOARING• On March 1, Erica McCall was named to the 2016-17 CoSIDA Academic All-American Division I second team to become the eighth academic All-American in program history along with Chiney Ogwumike, Kristin Folkl, Kate Starbird, Chris MacMurdo, Julie Zeilstra, Jeanne Ruark Hoff and Louise Smith.
• She is averaging team highs in points (14.3), rebounds (8.7) and blocks (1.7), has scored in double figures in 29 games and led the team in scoring 26 times and rebounding 20 times.
• McCall was named the Most Outstanding Player at the Pac-12 Tournament after averaging 11.0 points, 10.7 rebounds and 3.0 blocks in Stanford's three wins.
• The senior is one of only four players at Stanford with 1,300 career points, 900 rebounds and 190 blocks (Jayne Appel, Chiney Ogwumike, Val Whiting).
• Since the start of her junior year, McCall is averaging 14.6 points and 9.1 rebounds, one of nine players in the country with those numbers over the past two seasons along with Kristine Anigwe (Cal), Nia Coffey (Northwestern), Jessica Shepard (Nebraska), Brionna Jones (Maryland), Kaylee Jensen (Oklahoma State), Ally Lehman (Northern Illinois), Channon Fluker (CSUN) and Maya Hood (San Diego).
• McCall, who at one point or another has been on watch lists for the Naismith Trophy, Wade Trophy, Wooden Award and Ann Meyers Drysdale Award as well as a finalist for the Senior CLASS Award, became Stanford's 37th 1,000-point scorer at George Washington on Dec. 21. She is currently 25th in program history with 1,330.
• Her 195 career blocks are fourth at Stanford. Jayne Appel (278), Chiney Ogwumike (202) and Val Whiting (201) own the top three spots in program history.
• She is also seventh with 939 rebounds and one of 32 players in Pac-12 history with 900 career boards.
• McCall is tied for 10th nationally in double-doubles since the start of 2015-16 with 31 in her last 69 games and tied for 13th among active NCAA players in career double-doubles (33).
• At Stanford since 2000, McCall is sixth in double-doubles behind Chiney Ogwumike (85), Nicole Powell (58), Nneka Ogwumike (51), Jayne Appel (46) and Kayla Pedersen (40).
• In Pac-12 games, McCall averaged 13.8 points, 8.7 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game, one of 13 players in the nation to do that in conference (minimum 10 games played).
TAKE AIM• Karlie Samuelson is fourth in career 3-point field goal percentage (.441) among active NCAA players and with 240 3-pointers made is third in Stanford history, three in front of older sister Bonnie.
• Samuelson's 87 made 3-pointers this season are tied for fourth in Stanford history with Candice Wiggins. Jeanette Pohlen (96; 2011), Krista Rappahahn (91; 2006) and Wiggins (90; 2006) are the only players to make 90 in a season for the Cardinal.
• She is averaging career highs in points (12.6), rebounds (3.5) and assists (2.6) and personal bests in field goal percentage (.484) and 3-point field goal percentage (.483).
• Three of her four career games with six 3-pointers made have come this season as have 24 of her 54 games scoring in double figures and five of her seven 20-point efforts.
• Will likely finish her career fifth in the Pac-12 in 3-point field goal percentage and with the best clip for any player since 1990.
• Rosalind Moore-Senior (Arizona State - 1987-89; .494), Chris Holten (Cal - 1987-90; .467), Jennifer Azzi (Stanford - 1987-90; .452) and Michelle Eble (Oregon - 1987-90; .443) are the only Pac-12 players to finish their careers making more than 43 percent from behind the arc.
• On Feb. 10 against Utah she became the program's 38th 1,000-point scorer and is now 32nd (1,134).
• Samuelson averaged 13.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists while shooting 49.7 percent from the field and 49.4 percent from deep in league games. She was one of two players in the country averaging 13/4/3 while shooting 49 percent from the floor and on 3-pointers in conference (Savannah Scott - Northern Colorado).
• Her .494 3-point percentage (44-of-89) in conference games led the Pac-12 and was sixth nationally.
• Samuelson's career 3-point percentage would be second in program history to Jennifer Azzi (.452).
• Samuelson will also likely go down owning two of the three best single seasons in terms of 3-point percentage in program history. Azzi has the record of .495 in 1988-89 and Samuelson's .473 clip as a junior last season is currently second.
• Since older sister Bonnie arrived on campus as a freshman for the 2011-12 season, the Samuelson sisters have made 477 of Stanford's 1,326 3-pointers during that time, or 36.0 percent.
• In her last 56 games, she is 139-of-280 on 3-pointers (.496).
• She is currently second in the country in percentage from behind the arc this season (.483).
• More than 70 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 118-of-245 (.482) on two-point shots.
• Against Arizona on Jan. 20, Samuelson became the eighth Stanford player to make 200 3-pointers in a career, joining Candice Wiggins, Jeanette Pohlen, Bonnie Samuelson, Vanessa Nygaard, Kelley Suminski, Sebnem Kimyacioglu and Nicole Powell.
McPHIRE• Junior Brittany McPhee is 15th in the Pac-12 averaging 13.1 points per game.
• She scored 16 of her game-high 21 in the first half against Kansas State on Monday night and also had seven rebounds, five assists and a career-high five made 3-pointers.
• McPhee, who averaged 6.5 points per game as a sophomore, has increased her average output by 6.6 points, the second-best improvement in the Pac-12.
• She is one of four players in the conference who upped their scoring output by at least six points - Ivana Kmetovska, Washington State (+6.7); Kennedy Burke, UCLA (+6.6); Alexys Swedlund (+6.4).
• McPhee is the 15th-best shooting guard among Power 5 conference players with a field goal percentage of .449. She is shooting 27.5 percent on threes (28-102) and 51.2 percent on twos (145-283).
• Twenty-three of her 33 career games scoring in double figures have come this season as have six of her eight 20-point efforts.
DISHIN'• Marta Sniezek, who has handed out five or more assists in 25 of her 70 career appearances, is averaging 4.3 assists per game this season.
• In the last 20 years, only Nicole Powell, Milena Flores, Jeanette Pohlen and Amber Orrange have averaged more assists for Stanford over the course of a season. Powell averaged 6.3 in 2001-02 and 4.7 in 2000-01. Flores averaged 7.3 in 1998-99, 6.1 in 1997-98 and 5.9 in 1999-00, Pohlen averaged 4.8 in 2010-11 and 4.5 in 2009-10 and Orrange averaged 4.5 in 2013-14.
• Sniezek has handed out 58 assists against just 21 turnovers in the last 13 games.
• Her 2.76 assist to turnover ratio since Feb. 1 is 21st nationally.
IN THE POLLS• Stanford is No. 6 in the AP top 25 and No. 6 in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll.
• It has been ranked 514 times out of 729 total AP polls since 1977 (70.5 percent), with an average positioning of 7.1. It's been in the past 305, the second-longest active streak behind Connecticut (450). Stanford has been in 313 consecutive coaches polls.
• Tara VanDerveer (523 weeks) recently moved to No. 2 behind Pat Summitt (618) in all-time AP women's basketball poll appearances, passing Andy Landers (522).
CARDINAL FOURTUNE• On Nov. 9, Stanford signed 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), 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 FIBA U17 World Championships in Spain and the FIBA Americas U18 Championships in Valdivia, Chile.
• Dodson and Williams were selected to participate in both the McDonald's All American Game on March 29 in Chicago and the Jordan Brand Classic on April 14 in Brooklyn.