THE GAME: Stanford hosts Gonzaga on Sunday, November 15 at 2 p.m. Kevin Danna and Mary Murphy have the call on ACCNX and Greg Wong will handle radio on GoStanford.com, the Stanford Athletics app and Learfield’s Varsity Network.
THE RUNDOWN: During the nonconference, Stanford will play five Power 4 opponents and five true road games, the only Power 4 school to hit both of those marks ... The Cardinal is tied with Louisville and Tennessee for the most nonconference true road games among Power 4 schools ... Stanford's 12-person roster includes four freshmen, four sophomores and four juniors ... The Cardinal is one of three Power 4 programs without a senior or fifth-year on its roster along with Boston College and BYU ... Stanford returns 25.8 percent of its scoring, 22.4 percent of its rebounding and 29.9 percent of its minutes from a season ago ... Hailee Swain scored 21 against Arizona, 22 against Saint Mary's, 26 against UC Davis and 22 at Santa Clara, and in readily available records dating back to 2002-03, is the first Stanford player to score at least 20 in each of the season’s first four games ... Seven newcomers are on the roster in 2026-27, including transfers Ilse de Vries, Inés Sotelo Míguez and Charlotte Tuhy ... de Vries (Netherlands) and Sotelo Míguez (Spain) are the first Dutch and Spanish players in program history ... On Halloween night, Ashten Prechtel won a WNBA championship with the Golden State Valkyries, becoming Stanford’s eighth WNBA champion all-time and first since Nneka Ogwumike with the Los Angeles Sparks in 2016 ... Prechtel, a 2021 NCAA champion with the Cardinal, joins Sonja Henning, a 1990 national champion, as Stanford alumnae to win both NCAA and WNBA titles.
VS. GONZAGA: Stanford is 14-3 all-time against Gonzaga and 8-1 against the Bulldogs at home. Gonzaga’s only win in Maples came on Nov. 18, 2016, 68-63. Assistant coach Erica McCall had 17 points and 11 rebounds in that defeat. Stanford and Gonzaga have played in nonconference in 14 of the last 17 seasons, missing 2014-15, 2017-18 and 2020-21. In last year’s meeting, the Cardinal erased an early 12-point deficit to beat Gonzaga in Spokane, 65-52. Gonzaga last came to The Farm on Nov. 10, 2024. Ten different players scored, Stanford hit 13 3-pointers, and the Cardinal was an 89-58 winner in the first game played on Tara VanDerveer Court.
SWAIN HAS BEEN SPECTACULAR »
- Leading Stanford's attack has been sophomore point guard Hailee Swain, who has scored 20+ in each game this season - 21 against Arizona, 22 against Saint Mary's, 26 against UC Davis and 22 against Santa Clara.
- She's averaging 22.8 points on 54.7 percent shooting (35-of-64) and is one of only four guards in the country with those numbers along with Notre Dame's Hannah Hidalgo (27.3 ppg, .580 FG%), Maryland's Addi Mack (25.0 ppg, .625 FG%) and Wright State's Jasmine Fearne (24.0 ppg, .727 FG%).
- Swain is the first Stanford player with four straight 20-point games since Kiki Iriafen in 2023-24 and the first Cardinal guard to do it since Lili Thompson in 2015-16. In readily available records dating back to 2002-03, Swain is the first Stanford player to score at least 20 in each of the season’s first four games.
- Candice Wiggins is the last Stanford guard to average more than 20.0 ppg in a season when she put up 20.2 in her senior campaign of 2007-08.
- An ACC All-Freshman Team selection last season, Swain scored in double figures 23 times, the most for a Stanford freshman since Chiney Ogwumike in 2010-11 (also 23).
- She scored 357 total points, the most for a Stanford freshman since Kiana Williams in 2017-18 (363) and her 37 steals were the most for a Stanford freshman since Lacie Hull in 2018-19 (53).
- Swain was tied for second in the country in starts by a freshman and matched Chiney Ogwumike for the second-most starts by a freshman in program history (35).
- She played the third most minutes by a freshman at Stanford (1,050), trailing only Virginia Sourlis in 1982-83 (1,191) and Kayla Pedersen in 2007-08 (1,185).
EARLY OPPORTUNITIES »
- During the nonconference, Stanford will play five Power 4 opponents and five true road games, the only Power 4 school to hit both of those marks.
- The Cardinal is tied with Louisville and Tennessee for the most nonconference true road games among Power 4 schools (5) and its five Power 4 opponents in the nonconference trails only South Carolina (8), Oklahoma (6), USC (6) and UCLA (6).
- The average Power 4 program plays just 1.87 true road games and 3.01 Power 4 opponents during the nonconference portion of its schedule.
YOUNG & HUNGRY »
- Hailee Swain’s one word to describe the upcoming season when asked at ACC Tipoff: ‘hungry.’
- Stanford's 12-person roster includes four freshmen, four sophomores and four juniors.
- The Cardinal is one of three Power 4 programs without a senior or fifth year on its roster along with Boston College and BYU.
EZIKE'S EMERGENCE »
- Another sophomore, Nora Ezike has been a revelation through three games, averaging 13.0 points on 56.3 percent shooting (18-of-32).
- She is 5-of-11 (.455) from behind the arc this season, second on the team in both makes and percentage. Because of roster composition, Ezike trained with the guards during her stint with the Nigerian National Team this summer.
- In very limited action last season, Ezike averaged 1.7 points and played a total of 36:54 in Stanford's 35 games.
- Ezike had 15 points and six rebounds and tied a school record for free throw percentage, going 10-of-10 at the line on Friday at Santa Clara. Cameron Brink was the last Cardinal to be perfect on at least 10 free throw attempts when she was 10-of-10 against Duke on November 19, 2023.
- Against Saint Mary's on Nov. 4, she had career highs in points (18), rebounds (7) and steals (4) and was 8-of-10 from the floor. Ezike is the first Stanford player with 18 points, seven rebounds and four steals in a game since Cameron Brink at Washington State on February 11, 2024 (21 points, 11 rebounds, five steals) and is the 19th Cardinal player with that line in records dating back to 2002-03. Others on the list are Brink, Lexie Hull, Alanna Smith (2x), Brittany McPhee, Erica McCall (2x), Chiney Ogwumike (4x), Nneka Ogwumike, Jayne Appel, Candice Wiggins and Nicole Powell (4x).
BIG IMPACT BY IJIWOYE »
- Junior Shay Ijiwoye has been Swain's running mate in the backcourt and is averaging 10.5 points and team highs of 4.5 assists and 2.3 steals per game.
- She had six of Stanford's 16 steals in the win over Saint Mary's, the program's most in a game since Lexie Hull also had six in the NCAA Tournament against Kansas on March 20, 2022.
- Ijiwoye contributed 11 points, five rebounds and a career-high six assists at Santa Clara on Friday. She had five assists in each of the previous two games and is the first Stanford player with 5+ assists in three consecutive games since Talana Lepolo did it in seven straight in January 2024.
- Ijiwoye sets the tone for Stanford's defense and leads the team in fouls drawn by a wide margin with 24, many of those by beating the player she is guarding to a spot and drawing a charge. Nora Ezike is second in fouls drawn this season with 14.