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Tennessee Thursday

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No. 18 Stanford (6-5)
vs. No. 7 Tennessee (11-0)
Thursday, Dec. 21 • 6 p.m.
Maples Pavilion • Stanford, Calif.
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Television • Pac-12 Networks
Radio •GoStanford.com
Live Statistics •GoStanford.com
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THE GAME: No. 18 Stanford (6-5) continues its storied rivalry with No. 7 Tennessee (11-0) in Maples Pavilion on Thursday, Dec. 21 at 6 p.m. Krista Blunk and Mary Murphy have the call on Pac-12 Networks and Kevin Danna will handle the radio broadcast on GoStanford.com.
 
THE RUNDOWN: Stanford returns 10 letterwinners, but just two starters to a team coming off its seventh Final Four in the past 10 seasons ... Marta Sniezek is the only player on the roster that has averaged over 20 minutes per game in her career ... With its loss to Western Illinois on Monday, the Cardinal has dropped a nonconference home game to an unranked opponent in three consecutive seasons ... Stanford is the only school in the nation that has played four AP top-10 opponents and will add a fifth when it plays No. 7 Tennessee ... Nine of the Cardinal's last 17 games have been against ranked foes ... Stanford's 15 3-point makes at San Francisco on Nov. 29 are tied for third in program history ... Alanna Smith had the country's first 30-point, 15-rebound double-double against a top-10 team since 2013 on Nov. 25 against Ohio State ... Also against the Buckeyes, Anna Wilson became the 10th player in Stanford history to make seven 3-pointers in a game ... DiJonai Carrington pulled down 22 rebounds on Nov. 17 against UC Riverside, tied for the third-most in school history ... Kaylee Johnson is 10th in program history in rebounds (815) ... Brittany McPhee (Ann Meyers Drysdale Award/Wooden Award/Naismith Trophy) and Smith (Lisa Leslie Award) are the Cardinal's representatives on major preseason watch lists.
 
VS. TENNESSEE: Stanford is 10-24 all-time against the Lady Vols, but has won four of the last six and five straight at home - 69-55 (2015), 76-70 (2013), 97-80 (2011), 67-52 (2009) and 73-69 [OT] (2007). Eight of Stanford's 10 wins have come in Maples Pavilion. Tennessee's last victory on The Farm came on Dec. 4, 2005 (74-67). Following an 11-game Lady Vol win streak from 1997-2006, Stanford is 6-5 against Tennessee since 2007. Last season, the Cardinal raced out to an 11-point, first-quarter lead, but dropped a 59-51 decision to Tennessee in Knoxville.
 
STORIED RIVALRY IN DEPTH »

  • Thursday's match-up will be the 35th 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 six and five of the past eight.
  • Stanford's loss last season to an unranked Tennessee team 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.
  • The last meeting in Maples 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 Thursday, the two have met as ranked opponents 33 times and as top-5 foes 14 times.
  • Stanford's No. 18 ranking at the time of this game is its worst when facing Tennessee since it was No. 23 when it lost to the No. 5 Lady Vols on Nov. 26, 1999 
  • 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'S BACK, WHAT'S NOT »

  • The Cardinal returns 10 letterwinners, but just two starters to a team coming off its seventh Final Four in the past 10 seasons.
  • Stanford posted a 32-6 overall record last season and a 15-3 mark in Pac-12 play. The Cardinal won its 12th Pac-12 Tournament championship and celebrated Tara VanDerveer's 1,000th career victory during the program's 14th 30-win campaign.
  • Gone are Erica McCall, Karlie Samuelson and Briana Roberson, seniors that accounted for 45 percent of Stanford's minutes, 46 percent of its scoring and 35 percent of its rebounds in 2016-17.
  • The Cardinal's young squad has eight underclassmen and just one player on the roster that has averaged more than 20 minutes per game in her career (Marta Sniezek - 22.4).
  • New faces include a pair of McDonald's All-Americans in forward Maya Dodson and point guard Kiana Williams. Both were also Jordan Brand Classic All-Americans and Williams, who is from San Antonio, was named MVP of the West Team after scoring a game-high 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting.

McPHEE MISSING »

  • Stanford has been without its leading scorer and top returner, Brittany McPhee, for the past nine games as she recovers from a right foot injury.
  • McPhee, an All-Pac-12 performer as a junior and candidate for this year's Ann Meyers Drysdale and John R. Wooden awards, averaged 13.3 points per game last season, including 16.8 points on 44.4 percent shooting from behind the arc in the NCAA Tournament.
  • In the season opener at No. 5 Ohio State, she poured in 24 points on 11-of-21 shooting. Of her 10 career 20-point games, four have come against ranked teams.
  • McPhee scored nine in Stanford's loss to No. 1 UConn on Nov. 12 and hasn't played since.
  • McPhee made her USA Basketball debut this summer at the U24 Four Nations Tournament in Tokyo. She averaged 9.3 points on 61.1 percent shooting (11-of-18) and 4.0 rebounds in 15.7 minutes per game and the United States swept its three games against Australia, Canada and Japan.

TWO OF TOP THREE OUT »

  • The Cardinal has played its past two games without two of its top three scorers as sophomore DiJonai Carrington has been sidelined after taking an elbow in practice.
  • After averaging 2.5 points and 2.3 rebounds as a freshman, Carrington had emerged as Stanford's third-leading scorer (11.7 ppg) and its third-best rebounder (7.7 rpg) this season.
  • She dropped in 21 points against No. 1 UConn on Nov. 12 and pulled down a career-high 22 rebounds one game later against UC Riverside on Nov. 17.
  • The 5-foot-11 guard's rebound total is tied for third in school history with Kaylee Johnson and Mikaela Ruef. Chiney Ogwumike, who totaled a school-record 24 rebounds against Oregon on Feb. 24, 2013, and Nneka Ogwumike, who had 23 at Oregon on Jan. 23, 201, are the only Cardinal players with more boards in a game.
  • Carrington scored a career-high 24 points and had 10 rebounds for her second double-double of the season in Stanford's 79-54 win over Kent State on Nov. 23.
  • Carrington's brother Darren is a senior wide receiver at Utah and was second team All-Pac-12 in 2015 while at Oregon. Her father, also Darren, played football at Northern Arizona and was a fifth-round draft pick of the Denver Broncos in the 1989 NFL Draft. He appeared in Super Bowl XXIV with the Broncos and Super Bowl XXIX with the Chargers.
  • Carrington herself played two years of tackle football in middle school with the Clairemont Hawks.

AGAINST RANKED »

  • The Cardinal was 8-4 against ranked teams last season, 6-2 in road and neutral-site games and 4-2 against the top 10. Stanford has won six of its last 12 against top-10 opponents.
  • Stanford has won multiple games against top 25 opponents for each of the last 15 seasons.
  • Stanford is 71-38 (.651) against AP ranked opponents since 2007-08, fifth in the country in such wins over that span and fourth in percentage.
  • Connecticut (.903), Baylor (.756), Notre Dame (.725), Stanford (.651), Tennessee (.621), Duke (.562), Maryland (.531) and Texas A&M (.500) have winning records against ranked teams the past decade.

CATCHING YOU UP »

  • The Cardinal was stunned on its home floor by Western Illinois on Monday night, 71-64. Stanford held the Leathernecks to three second-quarter points and led by nine at the break, but shot just 10-of-44 (.227) in the second half.
  • Stanford had 24 offensive rebounds, but managed just 14 second-chance points and was outscored in points off turnovers, 23-8. The Cardinal's performance on the offensive glass was its best since it grabbed 26 against Santa Clara on Dec. 14, 2014.
  • Stanford routed UNLV 74-33 on Saturday afternoon. Three players earned their first career starts - Kiana Williams, Anna Wilson, Shannon Coffee - and all 12 Stanford players available scored. Freshman Maya Dodson scored all of her career-high 11 points in the second half.
  • Prior to its two-week break for final exams, the Cardinal lost 81-57 at No. 9 Baylor on Dec. 3. Coffee scored a career-high 14 points and was 4-of-8 from behind the arc in defeat.
  • Stanford's center became the first player in the nation at least 6-foot-5 to hit four 3-pointers in a game since Delaware's Elena Delle Donne made the same number against Georgia State on March 6, 2013. Delle Donne made four or more 3-pointers 15 times in her career.
  • Down four at halftime, Stanford scored 62 second-half points and made 15-of-31 3-pointers to beat San Francisco on the road on Nov. 29, 86-66.
  • Stanford came in second place at the Play4Kay Showcase in Las Vegas over Thanksgiving, beating Kent State (79-54) and Belmont (74-53) before falling in overtime to No. 9 Ohio State, 94-82.
  • It was the Cardinal's second defeat to the Buckeyes in as many weeks. Stanford began its season with an 85-64 loss in Columbus on Nov. 10.
  • Stanford was much improved in its second meeting with OSU and led by as many as 12 in the second half, but was unable to hang on against an experienced group of five seniors and two redshirt juniors.
  • Alanna Smith and Anna Wilson were named to the all-tournament team after some big performances in the title game. Smith, who also had a 23-point, 11-rebound double-double against Belmont on Nov. 24, went for 33 and 16 against Ohio State, while Wilson poured in a career-high 21 points on 7-of-8 shooting from 3-point range.
  • DiJonai Carrington collected her second double-double of the season with 24 points and 10 rebounds in the Play4Kay opener against Kent State on Nov. 23.

BAPTISM BY FIRE »

  • Stanford leads the nation with four games against top-10 teams already this season and the Cardinal will add a fifth with No. 7 Tennessee Thursday night. No other school has more than two.
  • For comparison, Stanford played five top-10 opponents all of last season, which was the program's most since 2010-11 (7).
  • Dating back to last season, nine of Stanford's past 17 games have been against ranked opponents, including seven in the top 10 and four in the top five.
  • Before playing UC Riverside on Nov. 17, Stanford had played six ranked teams in a row, tying a program record last done in 1998-99 when it played six top 25 opponents to begin the season.

HOME COOKIN' »

  • Stanford is 152-11 (.933) at home the last 11 years and one of 11 schools to have more than 150 home wins during that span.
  • Its .938 home winning percentage since 2007-08 is third behind Connecticut (.973) and Baylor (.959)
  • With Monday's loss to Western Illinois, the Cardinal has dropped a nonconference game at home to an unranked opponent for three consecutive seasons (Gonzaga - 2016; Santa Clara - 2015).

FROM DOWN UNDER »

  • A candidate for this year's Lisa Leslie Award, Alanna Smith was named Pac-12 Player of the Week for the first time on Nov. 27 following her three games in Vegas. She averaged a double-double of 23.7 points and 11.7 rebounds in Stanford's 2-1 week, shot 64.6 percent from the field (31-of-48), 40 percent from deep and also averaged 2.0 blocks per game.
  • Smith's 33-point, 16-rebound performance against No. 9 Ohio State was the nation's first 30-point, 15-rebound double-double against an AP top-10 team since Stanford's Chiney Ogwumike went for 32 points and 20 boards against No. 3 Tennessee on Dec. 21, 2013.
  • On Dec. 13, Mississippi State's Teaira McCowan also did it with a 35-point, 19-rebound effort as part of a 90-79 Bulldog win against No. 9 Oregon.
  • Smith's is just the fourth by a Pac-12 player against a top-10 team since 2000 and the others are all Cardinal. In addition to Ogwumike's in 2013, Nneka Ogwumike had 42 points and 17 rebounds against No. 6 Tennessee on Dec. 20, 2011 and Nicole Powell put up 32 points and 16 rebounds against No. 2 Tennessee on Dec. 14, 2003.
  • Smith's point total is the second-highest single-game effort in the Pac-12 this season and the most at Stanford since Chiney Ogwumike dropped in 37 against Washington State on March 1, 2014.
  • In her last 26 games, Smith is averaging 14.5 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in just over 26 minutes of action.
  • In her first 57 career appearances, the first international recruit in program history averaged just 5.6 points, 3.2 rebounds and 0.9 blocks 13 minutes per game.
  • Smith has put together double-doubles in four of her last six games and is averaging 19.2 points on 52.2 percent shooting and 10.3 rebounds since Thanksgiving.
  • Her four double-doubles are tied for second in the Pac-12 with Monique Billings (UCLA) and Annika Jank (Colorado). Oregon's Sabrina Ionescu has six, including three triple-doubles.

SHOOTING TRENDS »

  • Stanford entered the Nov. 29 game at San Francisco still struggling to replace the 3-point prowess of the departed Karlie Samuelson, who shot 44.3 percent for her career (20th in NCAA history).
  • Against the Dons, Stanford was 4-of-10 on triples in the first half and then exploded in the second, going 11-of-21 across the third and fourth quarters.
  • The 11 3-point makes in the second half are the most in a half in program history and the 15 total makes on 31 attempts (.484) are tied for third at the school all-time behind a pair of 16 3-point efforts at UCLA (Feb. 24, 2002) and at Washington (Feb. 24, 2001).
  • In its first seven games, the Cardinal was 46-of-166 (.277) from behind the arc and is 42-of-125 (.336) in the past four.
  • Sophomore Anna Wilson, who battled injures as a freshman and only played 48 total minutes in six games, came off the bench against Ohio State on Nov. 25 and poured in 21 points in 19 minutes, making 7-of-8 from behind the arc.
  • Wilson became the 10th Stanford player to make seven 3-pointers in a game and the first since Bonnie Samuelson dropped in eight against UCLA on Feb. 15, 2015.
  • The school record for 3-point makes in a game is nine shared by Lindsey Yamasaki (Feb. 24, 2001 at Washington) and Molly Goodenbour (Dec. 21, 1993 at Tennessee).

WATCH WILLIAMS »

  • Freshman Kiana Williams, who started the first game of her career on against UNLV on Dec. 16, has been Stanford's leading scorer in its past four games, averaging 15.3 points and a 40.0 percent clip from behind the arc (14-of-35).
  • Williams, who was averaging 3.1 points and shooting 20.7 percent (6-of-29) in her first seven collegiate games, scored a career-high 17 at San Francisco on Nov. 29 and followed that up with 13 points in 34 minutes at No. 9 Baylor on Dec. 3, 14 points in 18 minutes against UNLV on Dec. 16 and another 17 in 30 minutes against Western Illinois on Monday.
  • Her 15.3 points per game average since Nov. 29 is the second-best among Pac-12 freshmen over that time behind Colorado forward Annika Jank (17.5 points).
  • A five-star talent, rated as the eighth best player in the country according to ESPN HoopGurlz, Williams was the Cardinal's first top-10 recruit since Chiney Ogwumike signed as the top player in the country in Nov. 2009.

GETTING ON THE GLASS »

  • Kaylee Johnson has pulled down 10+ rebounds in four consecutive games for the second time in her career and first since her freshman season in 2014-15.
  • With 815, the senior is in 10th in program history. Next on the list is Katy Steding, who grabbed 864 from 1986-90.
  • Johnson's 815 rebounds are third among active Pac-12 players behind UCLA's Monique Billings (912) and Utah's Emily Potter (881).
  • Her 7.4 career rebounds per game average would be eighth in Stanford history. Johnson has pulled down 10 or more 36 times in 110 career games and owns a pair of 22-rebound outings as a freshman.
  • She is also seventh in school history with 139 career blocks.

SO INTERNATIONAL »

  • Prior to Alanna Smith's arrival in 2015, Stanford had not recruited an international prospect to The Farm and now has three on its 2017-18 roster in Smith and a pair of Canadians (Brewer/Jerome).
  • This summer, Smith was a late add as an injury replacement to the Opals' roster, Australia's senior national team, for the FIBA Asia Cup in Bangalore, India. She showed well at the program's selection camp in Phoenix in late June and didn't disappoint in her first action at the senior level, finishing second on the team in scoring and field goal percentage and third in rebounding.
  • One of two Opals to score in double figures for the tournament, Smith averaged 10.8 points on 58.3 percent shooting and 5.3 rebounds. Australia took home silver and qualified for the 2018 FIBA World Cup by virtue of its top-four finish.
  • Jerome captained Canada to bronze at the U19 World Cup in Udine and Cividale del Friuli, Italy, its first podium finish at the event. In her fourth FIBA tournament, Jerome averaged 7.6 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 26.3 minutes per game.
  • Brewer was invited to Canada's U19 National Team tryouts in July 2017 for the FIBA U19 World Cup, but elected to remain on campus to prepare for her sophomore season.

NEW LOOK ON THE BENCH »

  • On April 13, Amy Tucker stepped away from coaching following an illustrious career spanning more than 30 years at Stanford. She remains with the program in an administrative role.
  • Tucker arrived on The Farm with Tara VanDerveer in 1985-86 and helped guide the Cardinal to an 889-183 (.829) overall record. She was promoted to associate head coach prior to the 1996-97 season.
  • When VanDerveer was tabbed to lead the USA Basketball National Team during the 1995-96 campaign and for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Tucker was named interim head coach. Stanford's 29-3 season, which included the program's fifth NCAA Final Four appearance of the 1990's, earned Tucker UPI (United Press International) National Coach of the Year and Pac-12 Coach of the Year honors.
  • Tucker began coaching soon after completing her successful playing career at Ohio State. She joined VanDerveer on Ohio State's bench as a graduate assistant in 1983-84 and a year later was promoted to assistant coach.
  • The season opener at Ohio State was the first college game since March 12, 1980 that Tara VanDerveer coached without Tucker involved as either a player or assistant. Cal State LA beat VanDerveer's Idaho team that day, 84-81, in the AIAW Tournament.
  • Stanford hired alumna Lindy La Rocque to fill Tucker's coaching role. La Rocque, who spent the past two seasons on staff at Belmont, played in 138 career games for Stanford, the eighth most in program history. She was instrumental in helping the Cardinal compile a 137-12 record during her four years, including a 71-1 mark in conference. Stanford appeared in the Final Four each season during her undergraduate career and advanced to the national title game in 2010.

#TARA1K »

  • In her 32nd season on the bench at Stanford, Hall of Famer Tara VanDerveer has accumulated a 1,018-236 record in her 38+ years as a collegiate head coach and an 866-185 mark on The Farm.
  • 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, 2017 she joined her good friend Pat Summitt as the second NCAA women's basketball coach with 1,000 career wins.
  • Summitt (1,098) along with Mike Krzyzewski at Duke (1,082) and Herb Magee at Philadelphia University (1,062) on the men's side, and Connecticut's Geno Auriemma (1,000) and North Carolina's Sylvia Hatchell (1,000) are the only college basketball coaches at any division with 1,000 wins.
  • VanDerveer has more career wins than 341 of the country's 349 Division I programs.

PROGNOSTICATIONS »

  • Stanford is No. 18 in the Associated Press women's basketball poll released on Monday.
  • It has been ranked 521 times out of 736 total polls since 1977 (70.8 percent), with an average positioning of 7.3. It's been in the past 312 polls, the second-longest active streak behind Connecticut (457).
  • The Cardinal's 521 all-time appearances in the AP top 25 are fourth behind Tennessee (704), Texas (527) and Georgia (522).
  • Stanford was last unranked in the 2001 season, when a 72-54 loss at No. 20 Oregon on Jan. 13 knocked the No. 24 Cardinal out of the polls. It wouldn't get back in until opening the next season at No. 9.