Top-10 Clash in TennesseeTop-10 Clash in Tennessee
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Women's Basketball

Top-10 Clash in Tennessee

No. 8 Stanford (7-1)
at No. 9 Tennessee (8-0)
Tuesday, Dec. 18 • 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT
Thompson-Boling Arena • Knoxville, Tenn.
Television • SEC Network
Audio •GoStanford.com
Live Statistics • UTSports.com
Complete Release (PDF)
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THE GAME: No. 8 Stanford (7-1) continues its storied rivalry with No. 9 Tennessee (8-0) in Thompson-Boling Arena on Tuesday, Dec. 18 at 6 p.m. ET. Pam Ward and Carolyn Peck have the call on the SEC Network and Tim Swartz will handle the radio broadcast on GoStanford.com.
 
THE RUNDOWN: Stanford is coming off its first regular-season win against a top-five team since 2014 and is now 9-1 in its last 10 home games against top-five opponents ... The Cardinal is 17th in the country in scoring offense (82.9) and 15th nationally in field goal percentage (.477) ... Stanford has won just twice in Knoxville, in 2012 and 1996 ... The Cardinal is seventh in the country, averaging 10.6 3-point makes per game and 13th in 3-point percentage, making 39.7 percent ... Alanna Smith is the only player in the nation shooting better than 57 percent from the floor and 50 percent from behind the arc and was named both espnW and Pac-12 Player of the Week on Monday ... Lacie Hull earned the first start of her career on Dec. 2 at Gonzaga, is seventh in the conference, averaging 2.25 steals per game ... Stanford has two of the top four shooters from the floor in the Pac-12 this season in Alanna Smith (.578) and Maya Dodson (.571) ... Smith (Australia), Jenna Brown (United States) and Alyssa Jerome (Canada) all represented their countries in international competition this summer ... The nation's consensus No. 1 recruit, Haley Jones, announced her commitment to Stanford on Nov. 28, the first top player to sign with the Cardinal since Chiney Ogwumike in Nov. 2009.
 
VS. TENNESSEE: Stanford is 10-25 all-time against the Lady Vols, but has won four of the last seven.  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). Following an 11-game Lady Vol win streak from 1997-2006, Stanford is 6-6 against Tennessee since 2007. Jamie Nared scored 28 points to lead Tennessee to a 83-71 win last season at Stanford. The Cardinal lost 59-51 in its last trip to Knoxville in 2016.
 
STORIED RIVALRY IN DEPTH »

  • Thursday's match-up will be the 36th all-time in a series that began December 1988, when the Cardinal traveled to Knoxville and lost to the Lady Volunteers, 83-60.
  • The teams have met annually since, in some cases twice a year and in the case of 1990-91, three times. Tennessee took control with an 11-game winning streak from 1997-2006, but since a 73-69 overtime win on Dec. 22, 2007, Stanford has won four of the past seven and five of the past nine.
  • Stanford's loss to an unranked Tennessee team in its last visit to Knoxville in 2016 was just the second time both were not 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.
  • Their meeting in Maples Pavilion in Dec. 2015 was the first time in the series between the schools that neither was ranked in the top 10. Stanford was No. 15 and the Lady Vols were No. 14.
  • Including Tuesday, the two have met as ranked opponents 34 times. This will be the first top-10 matchup between the two since No. 6 Stanford beat No. 3 Tennessee, 76-70, on Dec. 21, 2013.
  • Stanford won its first of two national titles in Knoxville, knocking off Auburn 88-81 on April 4, 1990.
  • 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).

 
WHAT JUST HAPPENED? »

  • Alanna Smith had 21 points, Shannon Coffee made a key 3-pointer late in the fourth quarter and Stanford held on to beat previously undefeated and then-No. 3 Baylor 68-63 on Saturday afternoon.
  • The win was the Cardinal's first in the regular season against a top-five team since it ended No. 1 UConn's 47-game winning streak in overtime, 88-86, on Nov. 17, 2014.
  • Stanford is now 9-1 in its last 10 home game against top-five opponents.
  • The 6-foot-5 Coffee set season highs with nine points and 19 minutes and made three of her four 3-point attempts. The senior has made 12 from deep in her career and seven have come against Baylor. She was 4-of-8 last season in an 81-57 loss in Waco.
  • Coupled with Smith's 5-of-9 effort from behind the arc, the Cardinal's two tallest players were a combined 8-of-13 (.615) from distance.
  • Baylor, which entered the game leading the nation in field goal percentage (.557), shot just 34.9 percent (22-of-63) against the Cardinal, its lowest since losing 88-69 to Notre Dame in the Elite Eight on March 31, 2014 (.338).
  • Kalani Brown (16.4 ppg) and Lauren Cox (12.3 ppg), who came in averaging nearly 30 combined points per game, together went for just seven points on just 3-of-11 shooting (.273). Brown came into the day leading the NCAA's active players in field goal percentage (.648) made only two of her seven attempts from the floor, the third-lowest percentage of her career when attempting at least five shots.
  • The win was Stanford's 15th in a row at home, the 10th-longest active streak in the nation.

 
LONE LOSS »

  • Stanford started the season 6-0, its best since winning its first 11 games in 2012-13.
  • The Cardinal's loss at Gonzaga on Dec. 2 was its third to a WCC team in the nonconference in the last four seasons. Gonzaga won at Stanford, 68-63, on Nov. 18, 2016 and Santa Clara beat the Cardinal in Maples on Nov. 23, 2015, 61-58.
  • Gonzaga shot 54.2 percent from the floor (26-of-48) in its most recent victory, the best for a Stanford opponent since No. 22 DePaul made 59.6 percent (31-of-52) in a 91-71 win on Dec. 16, 2010.

 
SEASON SNAPSHOT »

  • The Cardinal is 17th in the country in scoring offense (82.9) and 21st in scoring margin (+21.5).
  • Stanford hasn't averaged more than 75.0 points per game since 2013-14 and has averaged 68.7 (2017-18), 68.8 (2015-16) and 69.3 (2014-15) in three of the last four years. Those are three of the five lowest scoring offenses for a Tara VanDerveer team at Stanford, behind 1985-86 (66.6) and 1986-87 (67.8).
  • Stanford is 15th nationally in field goal percentage (.477) and 12th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.37). Those categories are just a couple of many where the Cardinal has seen a marked improvement year-over-year. Last season, Stanford was 87th in field goal percentage (.424) and 126th in assist-to-turnover ratio (0.93).
  • Stanford returns 77 percent of its minutes played from 2017-18, the fourth most among top 25 programs at the end of last season according to Her Hoop Stats' overall rating, which takes strength of schedule into account.
  • Arizona State returns 97 percent, Virginia Tech 91 percent and Louisville 82 percent. South Carolina also welcomes back 77 percent of its minutes played.
  • The Cardinal made its 11th consecutive trip to the Sweet 16 last season, posting a 24-11 overall record and a 14-3 mark in Pac-12 play. Stanford won at least 20 games for the 17th straight season and 29th overall and had double-digit Pac-12 victories for the 31st consecutive year.

 
AGAINST RANKED »

  • The Cardinal, 1-0 against ranked teams this season with its win over Baylor, was 4-9 against ranked foes last year and has won multiple games against top 25 opponents for each of the last 16 seasons.
  • Stanford is 76-43 (.639) against AP ranked opponents since 2007-08, fifth in the country in such wins the past 12 years and fourth in percentage.
  • Connecticut (.903), Baylor (.761), Notre Dame (.733), Stanford (.639), Tennessee (.611), Duke (.550) and Maryland (.534) are the only teams with winning records against ranked teams over that span.

 
SHARP SHOOTERS »

  • Stanford is seventh in the country, averaging 10.6 3-point makes per game and 13th in 3-point percentage, making 39.7 percent.
  • Stanford's 16 3-pointers on Nov. 11 against Idaho tied a program single-game record also achieved at UCLA on Feb. 24, 2002 and at Washington on Feb. 24, 2001.
  • The Cardinal made 31.9 percent of its attempts from behind the arc last season, the second-worst percentage in program history. Stanford also was a program-low 42.4 percent overall in 2017-18.
  • Stanford won that game against Idaho 115-71, its fifth-highest point total ever and most since tying a school record with 122 against Cal State Fullerton on Dec. 10, 1994.

 
FOUR TO THE FARM »

  • Stanford bolstered an already strong recruiting class for next season with the addition of the nation's consensus No. 1 recruit, Haley Jones (Santa Cruz, Calif./Archbishop Mitty), who committed on Nov. 28.
  • Jones joined the earlier signings of top-50, five-star talents Fran Belibi (Aurora, Colo./Regis Jesuit), Hannah Jump (Los Altos Hills, Calif./Pinewood School) and Ashten Prechtel (Colorado Springs, Colo./Discovery Canyon) in Stanford's class, which is ranked second nationally by espnW HoopGurlz.
  • Jones is the first No. 1 prospect to sign with Stanford since Chiney Ogwumike came to The Farm as the top player in the country in Nov. 2009. She is also the first woman to have her college commitment covered by ESPN and SportsCenter.

 
SO INTERNATIONAL »

  • Alanna Smith, Jenna Brown and Alyssa Jerome all represented their countries across the globe in various tournaments this summer.
  • Smith, the program's first international student, became the sixth Stanford player to appear in a FIBA World Cup in helping Australia to a silver medal in late September. The senior was one of two Stanford players at the tournament in Tenerife, Spain along with alumna Nneka Ogwumike (United States) and was a late arrival to campus for the fall quarter. Classes started on September 24.
  • It was the 22-year-old's second go-around with the Senior Women's National Team. She made her debut and won silver at the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup in Bangalore, India and was one of two Australian players to score in double figures, averaging 10.8 points on 58.3 percent shooting and 5.3 rebounds.
  • Brown and the USA Basketball U18 National Team won gold at the FIBA Americas U18 Championship in Mexico City in early August. The freshman averaged 7.5 points on 57.1 percent shooting, 2.8 assists and 2.3 rebounds in six games. She had her best performance in the semifinals against Colombia, going for a team-high 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting, including hitting three of her four 3-point attempts.
  • In her first taste of FIBA competition two years ago, Brown took home bronze alongside current Cardinal Maya Dodson at the 2016 FIBA U17 World Cup in Zaragoza Spain.
  • Jerome was the youngest player on Canada's Senior Women's National Team roster that participated in a four-game exhibition series in China and Japan from August 1-7.

 
SUMMERS OFF THE FLOOR »

  • Senior center Shannon Coffee spent her summer interning with the Stanford Center for Clinical Research, working on a study to address growing concerns over concussions in sports through research and data collection.
  • The project involved mouthguards developed by engineers at Stanford with the ability to track impact, force and more in collisions between high school football players.
  • Senior guard Alexa Romano was in Peru all summer as part of an archaeological excavation and research team led by Stanford professor Dr. John Rick at a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Andes.
  • It was Romano's second academically-oriented international trip with Stanford. Two summers ago she spent three weeks in India as part of The Rubenstein-Bing Student-Athlete Civic Engagement Program, serving 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 Dakshinpuri, New Delhi.

 
FROM DOWN UNDER »

  • Alanna Smith is on a laundry of preseason watch lists, including the Naismith Trophy, Wade Trophy, John R. Wooden Award, Katrina McClain Award and Senior CLASS Award and also was selected to the preseason All-Pac-12 Team as voted on by the media who regularly cover the conference.
  • The reigning espnW and Pac-12 Player of the Week, this season Smith is shooting 57.8 percent from the field (52-of-90), 50.0 percent from behind the arc (21-of-42) and averaging a team-high 18.5 points per game to go with 6.4 rebounds.
  • She is the only player in the nation shooting better than 57 percent from the floor and 50 percent from deep using NCAA minimums of five made field goals per game and two made 3-pointers per game.
  • Smith is second in the conference and 30th in the country in field goal percentage, fifth in the Pac-12 and 12th in the country in 3-point percentage, seventh in the league in scoring and leads the nation's 6-foot-4 players in 3-point percentage and 3-pointers made.
  • She is 33rd in school history in scoring (1,152) and seventh in blocks (160).
  • In the Cardinal's win over San Francisco on Nov. 15, Smith had 18 points, seven rebounds, three assists, four blocks and five made 3-pointers. She is the eighth player with those numbers in a single game in the past 20 years and the only one to do it in less than 30 minutes (26).
  • Smith has made 95 career 3-pointers, more than any other player her height since 2015-16. Six-foot-4 Courtney Zezza on Saint Francis has made 79 over the past four years.

 
WATCH WILLIAMS »

  • Kiana Williams is also on a handful of watch lists for the Naismith Trophy, John R. Wooden Award and Ann Meyers Drysdale Award.
  • The sophomore is second on the team in scoring (15.0 points per game) and makes an average of 2.88 3-pointers per outing, good for fifth in the league. Her 71 made triples a year ago are the second most for a Stanford freshman in program history.
  • Williams had a standout freshman campaign in 2017-18, was named All-Pac-12 honorable mention and also landed on the Pac-12 All-Freshman and Pac-12 All-Tournament teams. Twenty-six players were voted either All-Pac-12 or all-conference honorable mention last season and Stanford's dynamic playmaker was the only freshman among them.

 
INCREASED CONTRIBUTIONS »

  • Six-foot-3 posts Nadia Fingall and Maya Dodson have played major roles in Stanford's 7-1 start.
  • A junior, Fingall has started each game and is averaging 9.1 points and 5.0 rebounds. She's shooting 52.6 percent from the field (30-of-57) and dropped in a career-high 24 points on 11-of-14 shooting in Stanford's 88-65 win against FGCU in Hawaii on Nov. 23 to go along with another personal best five assists. Fingall averaged 3.3 points on 44.6 percent shooting and 3.1 rebounds a year ago.
  • Dodson similarly has upped her game as a sophomore and is scoring 8.0 points on 57.1 percent shooting from the floor and leads the conference in blocks per game (1.75). As a freshman, Dodson scored 3.5 points per game on 49.5 percent shooting.
  • Dodson is fourth in the league in field goal percentage, just behind Alanna Smith (.578) according to the Pac-12's stats, which have different minimums than the NCAA.
  • Fingall, who had 19 assists in 34 games a year ago, already has 16 this season. Dodson has 12 in 165 minutes this year after just five in 372 minutes as a freshman in 2017-18.

 
TWIN TREES »

  • Sisters Lexie (25.7 minutes per game) and Lacie Hull (23.0 minutes per game) have played big roles in the early going and are Stanford's third and fourth most utilized players in terms of minutes played.
  • Lexie, who has missed the past four games with a left foot injury, started the season's first three games and averaged 10.7 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.7 steals. She had an 11-point, 11-rebound double-double in the season opener against UC Davis and is believed to be the first freshman in Stanford history to record a double-double in her debut.
  • Lacie finished off the team's Rainbow Wahine Showdown with a pair of strong performances. Her seven steals on Nov. 24 against American were the most for a Stanford player since Candice Wiggins had the same number in a win over Old Dominion on Nov. 24, 2007.
  • She followed that up with of eight points, six assists and two blocks on Nov. 25 against Hawaii and scored nine points in her first career start at Gonzaga on Dec. 2.
  • Lacie is seventh in the conference, averaging 2.25 steals per game, and has 15 assists against just seven turnovers (2.14 assist-to-turnover ratio). Candice Wiggins is the only Stanford player to average 2.0 steals per game in a season over the past 20 years. She did it three times: 2004-05 (2.43), 2007-08 (2.15) and 2005-06 (2.00).