Cardinal Hosts Cougs FridayCardinal Hosts Cougs Friday
Jacob Snow/Icon Sportswire
Women's Basketball

Cardinal Hosts Cougs Friday

Stanford (9-7, 3-1)
vs. Washington State (8-8, 1-3)
Friday, Jan. 12 • 6 p.m.
Maples Pavilion • Stanford, Calif.
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Television • Pac-12 Bay Area/Pac-12 Washington
Radio •GoStanford.com
Live Statistics •GoStanford.com
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THE GAME: Stanford (9-7, 3-1), tied for third in the Pac-12 through four games, hosts Washington State (8-8, 1-3) on Friday, Jan. 12 at 6 p.m. Kate Scott and Ros Gold-Onwude have the call on Pac-12 Bay Area and Pac-12 Washington and Tim Swartz 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 returner on the roster that has averaged over 20 minutes per game in her career ... Stanford fell out of the AP poll for the first time since 2001 on Dec. 25, re-entered at No. 24 on Jan. 1 and is out again after splitting its two games last week ... The Cardinal has seven losses through 16 games for the first time since 2000-01 ... Stanford leads the nation with seven games against ranked opponents, including five top-10 ... The Cardinal has used seven different starting lineups in its 16 games ... Kiana Williams was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week on Monday after averaging 13.0 points per game at Arizona and Arizona State ... In her five games since returning from injury, Brittany McPhee is averaging 18.8 points ... She was named espnW National Player of the Week on Jan. 1 ... The Cardinal has had a full contingent of healthy bodies just six times this season ... Stanford is 9-0 when holding its opponent under 70 points ... Alanna Smith is 16th in the Pac-12 in scoring (13.5), tied for seventh in rebounding (8.0) and second in blocks (2.3) ... Kaylee Johnson is 10th in program history in rebounds (844) and seventh in blocks (143) ... Marta Sniezek is averaging 5.3 assists in the past six games.
 
VS. WASHINGTON STATE: Stanford is 62-0 all-time against Washington State and 30-0 against the Cougars at home. Eighteen of the last 19 wins have come by double-digits. In the teams' lone regular-season meeting in 2017, Stanford won 76-54 in Pullman behind 16 points and seven boards from Karlie Samuelson and 12 points and four blocks from Alanna Smith. Samuelson scored 21 points and Stanford scored the game's first 21 to beat WSU in the Pac-12 Tournament quarterfinals, 66-36. Brittany McPhee added 12 points and a career-high six assists in that win.
 
WHERE WE STAND »

  • The Cardinal's 9-7 record is its worst through 16 games since it was also 9-7 at the same point in 2000-01. Stanford would eventually get to 14-7 before finishing that year 19-11 overall and advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
  • Stanford entered conference play with a 6-6 mark, the program's first time heading into league action with at least six losses since 1998-99. Stanford was 4-7 in its regular-season nonconference slate in that season, which was also the last time the Cardinal lost multiple regular-season, nonconference home games as it has this year with results against Western Illinois and Tennessee.
  • The Cardinal dropped out of the AP poll for the first time in 17 years on Dec. 25 after those two losses, but worked its way back a week later at No. 24 following its home victories over UCLA and USC.
  • Stanford avoided dropping three consecutive games at home for the first time since 1985-86 with its win over UCLA on Dec. 29.
  • The one-week respite was the first time Stanford had been unranked since 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.
  • Stanford is out of the polls again this week after it split games at Arizona and Arizona State.
  • The Cardinal has been in 522 AP polls, tied for the third most all-time with Georgia, and had its stretch of 312 in a row snapped when it was unranked Dec. 25. Stanford's streak is tied for the third longest in the history of the poll. Tennessee had the longest run at 565 weeks, Connecticut has an active 460-week streak and Duke also appeared in 312 consecutive rankings.
  • Stanford is 29th in the NCAA RPI and has played the nation's fourth-toughest schedule.

SETTING THE STAGE »

  • Since 2007-08, the Cardinal owns a conference road record of 80-12 and a Pac-12 home record of 86-6.
  • Stanford has the most conference wins of any team the past 11 years with 166. Connecticut is second (164), Marist third (163) and Green Bay fourth (162).
  • Stanford's all-time Pac-12 record is 489-73 and 154 wins clear of the next closest team (UW - 335).
  • The Cardinal is 9-0 this season when holding its opponent under 70 points and has used seven different starting lineups in its 16 games.

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 returner on the roster that has averaged more than 20 minutes per game in her career (Marta Sniezek - 22.7).

BAPTISM BY FIRE »

  • Stanford leads the nation with seven games against ranked teams and is 1-5 in those contests, notching its first win of the year against No. 11 UCLA in its conference opener, 76-65. In beating the Bruins, Stanford snapped a six-game losing streak against ranked foes.
  • Kansas State has played six top-25 teams and eight teams - Connecticut, Kentucky, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, UCLA - have played three ranked opponents.
  • The Cardinal has played five top-10 teams in No. 5 Ohio State (Nov. 10), No. 1 UConn (Nov. 12), No. 9 Ohio State (Nov. 25), No. 9 Baylor (Dec. 3) and No. 7 Tennessee (Dec. 21). No other school has more than three games against top-10 opponents this season.
  • For comparison, Stanford played five top-10 opponents all of last year, which was the program's most since 2010-11 (7).
  • Dating back to last season, 12 of Stanford's past 22 games have been against ranked opponents, including eight in the top 10 and four in the top five.
  • "We can schedule it so that we are 12-0 or 10-2, but this team went to the Final Four last year and that's the level that we have to get to," Tara VanDerveer said of her team's nonconference schedule. "We need our tough schedule to pay off for us, but it only pays off if we build on it. Don't get frustrated. Get mad and go to work. We are looking up at people right now. We need people to look up at where we need to be and embrace that challenge."
  • Stanford was 8-4 against ranked teams last season and has won multiple games against top 25 opponents for each of the last 15 seasons.

OFFENSE/DEFENSE »

  • The Cardinal's shooting woes place it in the bottom half of the country from the floor, behind the arc and at the line. Stanford is shooting 40.2 percent overall (185th in the country), 29.8 percent (237th) from deep and 64.2 percent (296th) from the free throw line.
  • The program's all-time lows in those categories are 42.6 percent from the field (2015-16), 31.1 percent on 3-pointers (2011-12) and 64.8 percent on free throws (1978-79).
  • Stanford's turnover margin (-3.81) is also 316th in the nation.
  • At the other end of the court the Cardinal is 25th in the country in field goal percentage defense (.351), 15th in blocks per game (5.8) and 14th in rebounds per game (44.56).

BRITT'S BACK »

  • Brittany McPhee came back on Dec. 21 against No. 7 Tennessee after missing the previous nine games recovering from a right foot injury. In five games since, McPhee is averaging 18.8 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.8 assists.
  • On Jan. 1, McPhee was named espnW National Player of the Week after averaging 23.5 points on 54 percent shooting, 7.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists in Stanford's home victories to start conference play.
  • She totaled 26 points, seven rebounds and four assists in a 76-65 victory against the No. 11 Bruins and followed that with 21 points, eight rebounds, two blocks and two steals in a 72-65 win against the Trojans. At her best when it mattered most, 22 of McPhee's 47 points in the two games came in the fourth quarter.
  • McPhee has scored 20+ in four of her seven games this season and is averaging 18.1 points per game to go with 5.9 rebounds. Because she missed so much time, McPhee won't appear in the national statistical rankings until the NCAA Tournament should Stanford advance to play 36 total games this season.
  • Of McPhee's 13 career 20-point games, six have come against ranked teams and her four highest-scoring performances have come against top-15 foes. She scored a career-high 28 against No. 8 Texas on Nov. 14, 2016 and also dropped in 27 in the Elite Eight against No. 2 Notre Dame on March 26, 2017 in addition to her 27 and 26-point efforts against No. 7 Tennessee and No. 11 UCLA.
  • In fact, eight McPhee's last 11 games dating back to last season have come against top-25 teams and she is averaging 19.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.9 assists in those ranked contests.
  • McPhee, an All-Pac-12 performer as a junior and candidate for this year's Ann Meyers Drysdale, Naismith, and Senior CLASS 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.
  • She made her USA Basketball debut this summer at the U24 Four Nations Tournament in Tokyo. McPhee 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.
  • A human biology major with a 3.73 cumulative GPA, McPhee was also honored at the 2017 Final Four as women's basketball's Elite 90 award winner, which is presented to the student-athlete with the highest grade point average participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA's 90 championships.

INJURY WOES »

  • McPhee is back and so is sophomore DiJonai Carrington, who had missed Stanford's final three nonconference games after taking an elbow in practice. The Cardinal has had its full roster available six times all season, the last four games and the first two of its season at No. 5 Ohio State and against No. 1 UConn.
  • After averaging 2.5 points and 2.3 rebounds as a freshman, Carrington has emerged as Stanford's third-leading scorer (10.7 ppg) and its third-best rebounder (6.8 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, 2010, 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 just finished his career as a wide receiver at Utah and was a two-time All-Pac-12 second teamer. 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.

LEARNING ON THE FLY »

  • New faces at Stanford 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 was named MVP of the West Team after scoring a game-high 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting.
  • The two have both in the starting lineup in four of the past five games. Stanford hadn't started a pair of freshmen since Erica McCall and Briana Roberson at UCLA on Feb. 23, 2014.
  • The Cardinal hasn't consistently started two freshmen since Jillian Harmon and Ros Gold-Onwude did so 16 times together in the 2005-06 season.

WATCH WILLIAMS »

  • Kiana Williams received the first honor of her career when she was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week on Monday after leading Stanford in scoring at Arizona and Arizona State with an average of 13.0 points per game.
  • She scored 12 on 4-of-8 shooting, including 3-of-6 from deep, in Stanford's 61-46 win at Arizona on Friday night and followed that up with at 14 on 6-of-12 shooting in her team's 73-66 loss at ASU on Sunday afternoon.
  • Williams has scored in double figures in seven of her last nine games and is second in scoring among Pac-12 freshmen in league games, averaging 10.8 points in four conference contests.
  • Williams has been Stanford's third-leading scorer in its past nine, averaging 11.6 points.
  • 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 Dec. 18.
  • She put up four combined points against Tennessee (Dec. 21) and UCLA (Dec. 29), but regained her stroke and scored 13 against USC (Dec. 31), 12 at Arizona (Jan. 5) and 14 at Arizona State (Jan. 7).
  • 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.

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 Las 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 31 games, Smith is averaging 13.8 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.2 blocks in 27 minutes.
  • 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.
  • Her five double-doubles are tied for fourth in the Pac-12 with Ruthy Hebard (Oregon). UCLA's Monique Billings has eight, Oregon's Sabrina Ionescu has seven, including four triple-doubles, and Oregon State's Marie Gulich has six double-doubles.
  • Smith is averaging 13.5 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game this season, one of just 17 players in the country putting up 13/8/2. In the Pac-12 it is just Smith and Gulich with those averages.
  • The Australian is 16th in the Pac-12 in scoring, tied for seventh in rebounding and second in blocks.

GETTING ON THE GLASS »

  • Kaylee Johnson's 844 career rebounds are 10th in program history. Next on the list is Katy Steding, who grabbed 864 from 1986-90.
  • Johnson's 844 rebounds are third among active Pac-12 players behind UCLA's Monique Billings (958) and Utah's Emily Potter (915).
  • Her 7.3 career rebounds per game average would be eighth in Stanford history. Johnson has pulled down 10 or more 37 times in 115 career games and owns a pair of 22-rebound outings as a freshman.
  • She is also seventh in school history with 143 career blocks.

THE ART OF THE ASSIST »

  • Marta Sniezek had nine assists and just one turnover on Dec. 21 against No. 7 Tennessee, her fourth career game with at least nine assists.
  • She has handed out five or more assists in 36 of her 89 career appearances and is 10th in the Pac-12 averaging 4.7 assists per game this season. No Stanford player has averaged 5.0 assists in a season since Nicole Powell in 2000-01 (6.3).
  • The 5-foot-8 Sniezek was Stanford's leading rebounder against USC on Dec. 31, pulling down a career-high 10 to go with eight points, six assists and only one turnover.
  • On Sunday at Arizona State she made a career-high three 3-pointers and scored 10, her fifth time in double figures and second this season.
  • Sniezek has 37 assists (5.3 apg) to go with 5.1 points and 4.7 rebounds in the last six games.
  • Her assist rate is in the top three percent of the country. Sniezek assists on 31 percent of her teammates' field goals when she's on the floor.
  • Sniezek, also scoring 4.8 points per game and grabbing 4.8 rebounds per game, is one of five players in the Pac-12 averaging 4.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game (Sabrina Ionescu - Oregon; Jordin Canada - UCLA; Mikayla Pivec - Oregon State; Mikayla Cowling - Cal).

NONCONFERENCE PERFORMANCES »

  • 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).
  • In an 81-57 loss at No. 9 Baylor on Dec. 3, Shannon Coffee scored a career-high 14 points and was 4-of-8 on 3-pointers.
  • 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.
  • 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).

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.