What's Next
No. 15/15 Stanford (18-5, 8-3) goes for its 22nd regular-season sweep of rival California (11-11, 2-9) in the past 29 seasons when it makes the short trek to Berkeley on Friday, Feb. 5 at 7 p.m. Krista Blunk and Mary Murphy have the call on Pac-12 Networks.
Against California
Stanford is 65-19 all-time against Cal dating back to Feb. 12, 1975, 28-11 against the Golden Bears on the road and has won 15 of the last 17 in the series.
Stanford has come out on top in six straight in Haas Pavilion. Its only loss there in the past 20 years was on Jan. 18, 2009 (57-54).
The Cardinal will be going for its 22nd season sweep of California since 1988.
The two schools played the first intercollegiate women’s basketball game on April 4, 1896 at a San Francisco armory on Page Street the day before Easter. Stanford won 2-1.
Catching You Up
Stanford played three home games in five days and came out on top in every one to run its record in Maples Pavilion to 10-1. The Cardinal beat No. 25 Washington on Jan. 29 (69-53), Washington State on Jan. 31 (69-52) and Cal on Feb. 2 (53-46).
The Cardinal took the first installment of the Battle of the Bay on Tuesday night behind Erica McCall’s 13th double-double of the season (11 points, 13 rebounds), 15 points on 4-of-5 shooting from Karlie Samuelson and 15 rebounds from Kaylee Johnson.
Stanford limited Cal to just 29 percent shooting, the eighth opponent it has held below 30 this season and third in conference play.
It was the 17th time Stanford held the Golden Bears to less than 50 points in 84 all-time meetings.
Stanford limited Cal to its lowest point total in a conference game since a Jan. 2, 2011 Cardinal victory in Haas Pavilion (78-45).
Lili Thompson accounted for 41 percent of Stanford’s points (57) against UW and WSU, going for 27 against the Huskies and a career-high 30 against the Cougars. She was named both espnW National Player of the Week and Pac-12 Player of the Week on Monday.
Thompson averaged 28.5 points per game in those two wins and shot 63 percent from the field (22-of-35) and 71 percent from the 3-point line (10-of-14). On Friday, she scored 17 of her 27 in the first quarter, making six of her seven shots in the period, going a perfect 5-of-5 from deep and single-handedly outscored Washington (17-13) in those opening 10 minutes.
She did herself three better on Sunday, ripping off a career-high 30 points. Thompson scored 24 in the second half on 9-of-11 shooting, including 5-of-5 from deep. As a team, Washington State scored 25 points on 8-of-27 shooting, including 2-of-8 from behind the arc during the same period.
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.
Kaylee Johnson averaged 16.0 rebounds per game in the three wins, including a season-high 19 in Sunday’s victory over Washington State, while Erica McCall tallied averaged of 11.3 points and 10.7 rebounds.
The Cardinal shot 41.5 percent (22-of-53) from behind the arc in the victories after being held to 28.1 percent (15-of-160) in its previous 10 games. Lili Thompson shot 58 percent (11-of-19) from deep and Karlie Samuelson hit 53 percent (7-of-12).
Setting The Stage
Since 2007-08, the Cardinal sports a conference road record of 68-9, a Pac-12 home record of 74-3 and is 61-5 in the month of February.
The Cardinal is 28-11 all-time against the Golden Bears in Berkeley. Eight of those 11 losses came from 1978-87, meaning that since an 84-65 loss at California on Feb. 20, 1987, Stanford has gone 25-3 at Haas Pavilion. In fact, over the past 20 years Stanford has only lost to California in that building once, a 57-54 loss on Jan. 18, 2009.
Overall, Stanford is 58-8 against the Golden Bears since the first season of Pac-12 (then Pac-10) play in 1986-87.
This And That
Stanford is No. 6 in the country in RPI and has played the nation’s third-toughest schedule.
The Cardinal is 14-5 against the RPI top 100. Only Notre Dame (15) has more RPI top 100 wins. Stanford’s 19 games against RPI top 100 foes are also the most in the nation.
The Cardinal has held 18 of 23 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 (.318), 14th in scoring defense (53.0) and ninth in blocks per game (6.0).
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.
Erica McCall is eighth in the nation with 13 double-doubles.
Karlie Samuelson is fourth in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage (.466) and has made 20 of her last 34 from behind the arc.
Tara VanDerveer is 29 victories away from joining Pat Summitt as the only NCAA women’s basketball coaches with 1,000 career wins.
The Cardinal, 995-309 all-time, is close to joining the exclusive 1,000-victory club.
Notes entering the week »
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
Four of Stanford’s five losses this season have come on the road to teams ranked in the AP top 20 at the time of the game. All four of those squads are currently in the top 15 of the AP poll.
Texas (RPI No. 7), Arizona State (RPI No. 10), Oregon State (RPI No. 9) and UCLA (RPI No. 8) are all also in the top 10 of the RPI and are a combined 38-5 at home this season.
In the most recent in-depth NCAA RPI report released Monday, Stanford sits at No. 6 and has played the nation’s third-toughest schedule.
Through games as of Jan. 31, Stanford’s 22 opponents this year have the third-highest combined winning percentage in the country of .679 (296-140). Tennessee leads that category with opponents that have gone 290-121 (.706) and Ohio State is second (241-106; .695).
The Cardinal is 13-5 against the RPI top 100. Only Notre Dame (14) has more RPI top 100 wins.
| Teams With 10+ RPI Top 100 Wins | |
| Team | W-L |
| Notre Dame | 14-1 |
| Stanford | 13-5 |
| South Carolina | 12-0 |
| Baylor | 11-1 |
| Arizona State | 11-2 |
| Ohio State | 11-4 |
| UCLA | 11-5 |
| Connecticut | 10-0 |
| Oregon State | 10-3 |
Stanford’s 18 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.
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.
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 17 of 22 opponents below 40 percent shooting, seven below 30 percent and one below 20 percent. Stanford is second in the nation in field goal percentage defense (.319) and 17th in scoring defense (53.3).
Each of Stanford’s 20 opponents (not counting the season opener at UC Davis) have been held below their season shooting average. Those foes have also put up 16.3 points less than their scoring average when facing Stanford.
In its last 14 games, the Cardinal has surrendered 48.8 points on 30.6 percent shooting (242-of-790). Oregon is the only school to score more than 60 against Stanford during that stretch. 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 Points Allowed | |||
| Opponent | Average PPG | vs. Stanford | Difference |
| Gonzaga | 88.0 | 48 | -40.0 |
| George Washington | 81.5 | 63 | -18.5 |
| Santa Clara | 56.3 | 61 | +4.7 |
| Missouri State | 72.2 | 65 | -7.2 |
| Dayton | 76.8 | 66 | -10.8 |
| Purdue | 66.0 | 65 | -1.0 |
| Texas | 72.6 | 77 | +4.4 |
| Tennessee | 66.0 | 55 | -11.0 |
| Cornell | 61.3 | 38 | -23.3 |
| CSU Bakersfield | 64.3 | 41 | -23.3 |
| Chattanooga | 54.7 | 30 | -24.7 |
| Arizona | 63.4 | 34 | -29.4 |
| Arizona State | 64.9 | 49 | -15.9 |
| Utah | 72.2 | 52 | -20.2 |
| Colorado | 68.0 | 56 | -12.0 |
| Oregon | 78.6 | 62 | -16.6 |
| Oregon State | 70.2 | 58 | -12.2 |
| USC | 71.9 | 47 | -24.9 |
| UCLA | 78.7 | 56 | -22.7 |
| Washington | 75.9 | 53 | -22.9 |
| Washington State | 67.2 | 52 | -15.2 |
| Average Difference | 1,470.7 | 1,128 | -16.3 |
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 21 times in 88 quarters, or 23.9 percent of the time this season. It did so in eight straight over games against CSU Bakersfield, Chattanooga and Arizona.
Stanford is also ninth in the country in blocked shots per game (6.2) and has tallied seven or more blocks in a game eight times this season after doing it five times all of last year. The Cardinal is on pace for 192 rejections this season, which would be just shy of the school record of 196 set in 2001-02.
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 9-1 at home and 5-4 on the road, with all four of those losses coming to ranked teams. The Cardinal is scoring 74.1 points per game in Maples on 44.8 percent shooting and has a +12.4 rebounding margin. On the road, Stanford is averaging 56.1 points per game on 37.4 percent shooting and has a +0.1 rebounding margin.
Opponents shoot 28.8 percent against Stanford on The Farm and 33.5 percent in their home gyms.
The Cardinal is 3-4 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 against the Washington schools last weekend, the Cardinal regained its stroke, hitting 44.4 percent (16-of-36) from behind the arc and making 8.0 per game.
Tracking Thompson
Against Colorado on Jan. 10, Lili Thompson became the 36th Stanford player to surpass 1,000 career points. Now at 1,109 she is 31st all-time at Stanford, between Jill Yanke (1,134; 1985-89) and Jillian Harmon (1,096; 2005-09).
Thompson has scored 20 or more seven times this season, including in each game over the weekend against Washington and Washington State. 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.
Lili Thompson closed the door on the Cougs with this #12Best three in crunch time!https://t.co/Mgc01Oikci
— Pac-12 Networks (@Pac12Networks) January 31, 2016
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 is her league-leading third of the season and the fourth of her career.
Flying High
Erica McCall, who entered 2015-16 with just two career double-doubles, has sextupled that total in her junior season.
McCall has 12 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 12 double-doubles are tied for 11th in the NCAA.
.@_mediumE has seven points this half and nine overall to go along with 11 rebounds.
— Stanford WBB (@StanfordWBB) January 31, 2016
Watch on @Pac12Networks.https://t.co/e2LLkTQgTs
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 12.8 points and 9.6 rebounds per outing.
Good Stretches
Brittany McPhee has made 14 of her last 35 attempts from 3-point range (.400) 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 14 games, averaging 7.4 points on 58.0 percent shooting (40-of-69) to go along with 7.6 rebounds.
The nation’s third-best freshman rebounder a season ago, she has grabbed 12.5 boards in the Cardinal’s last four 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+ five times in those 14 games after doing it all of six times as a freshman.
.@_KayleeJohnson_ with five points/11 boards. Seventh game this season with 10+ rebounds.
— Stanford WBB (@StanfordWBB) January 31, 2016
Watch on @Pac12Networks.https://t.co/mrijQ3CFhn
Pass-first point guard Marta Sniezek set a career high with six assists against UW on Friday and backed that up with another five against WSU on Sunday. She averaged 5.5 assists against just 2.5 turnovers.
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 45-of-99 from behind the arc this season and is seventh in the nation (min. two made per game) in 3-point field goal percentage (.455). A career 40.1 percent 3-point shooter, Samuelson has made 118 from deep in her career.
When you leave Karlie open.... pic.twitter.com/klFOrYfIkJ
— Stanford WBB (@StanfordWBB) November 27, 2015
Seventy-nine percent (440-of-556) of her career points have come on 3-pointers (354) and free throws (86). The junior captain has almost made twice as many field goals from behind the arc as she has from inside, converting 58 2-point attempts. She is 20-of-41 (.488) on such shots this season.
In her last eight games, the junior is 17-of-30 on 3-pointers (.567).
Among The Best Ever
The Cardinal is 994-309 (.763) all-time since its first varsity season in 1975. Stanford would join an exclusive list with six more wins. Tennessee, Louisiana Tech, James Madison, Old Dominion and Texas are currently the only Division I institutions with 1,000 victories. Stanford is seventh on that list, also behind Stephen F. Austin.
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 970-222 (.814) record in her 37 years as a collegiate head coach and an 818-171 (.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).
| Winningest NCAA Coaches All-Time (By Victories) | ||||
| Coach | Years | Won | Lost | Percentage |
| Pat Summitt | 38 | 1,098 | 208 | .841 |
| Sylvia Hatchell | 40+ | 973 | 351 | .735 |
| Tara VanDerveer | 36+ | 970 | 222 | .814 |
| C. Vivan Stringer | 44+ | 965 | 360 | .728 |
| Barbara Stevens | 38+ | 945 | 265 | .781 |
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 30 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 Tuesday night, 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.
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. 16 in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll.
Stanford has appeared in the AP rankings 489 times out of 704 total polls since 1977 (69.5 percent), with an average positioning of 7.0. It’s been in the past 280 polls, the third-longest active streak behind Tennessee (563) and Connecticut (425). Stanford has also been in 286 consecutive coaches polls.
The Cardinal’s 489 all-time appearances in the AP top 25 are fourth behind Tennessee (690), Georgia (522) and Texas (495).
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.
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.”