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No. 14 Stanford (18-8, 12-2)
vs. California (17-8, 8-6)
Thursday, Feb. 15 • 7 p.m.
Maples Pavilion • Stanford, Calif.
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Television • Pac-12 Bay Area
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THE GAME: Winners of six straight and in a tie for first in the Pac-12, No. 14 Stanford (18-8, 12-2) hosts Cal (17-8, 8-6) on Thursday, Feb. 15 at 7 p.m. Kate Scott and Mary Murphy have the call on Pac-12 Bay Area and Tim Swartz will handle the radio broadcast on GoStanford.com.
 
PINK GAME PRESENTED BY STANFORD MEDICINE: Stanford women's basketball is supporting the fight against breast cancer by raising awareness throughout the game.

THE RUNDOWN: Stanford has won a season-high six consecutive games ... The Cardinal is 14th in the RPI and has played the nation's fifth-toughest schedule ... Stanford is 8-0 at home in conference and outscoring its opponents by nearly 20 points per game ... Brittany McPhee is averaging 23.5 points on 58.5 percent shooting and 7.0 rebounds in the month of February ... Stanford leads the nation with 11 games against ranked opponents and six against top-10 teams ... Stanford is one of just seven schools in the country with multiple top-25 road wins ... The Cardinal is ninth in the country in field goal percentage defense (.350) and third in field goal percentage defense at home (.315) ... The Cardinal averaged 16.3 turnovers in its first 20 games of the year but is at 9.8 in the last six ... Kiana Williams is the Pac-12's third-leading freshman scorer in conference games (9.9) and had a stretch of 99 minutes without a turnover snapped against Colorado on Sunday ... Brittany McPhee became the program's 39th 1,000-point scorer on Jan. 26 against ASU and is currently 34th (1,119) ... Alanna Smith is eighth in the Pac-12 in double-doubles (5), 18th in the league in scoring (12.7), 11th in rebounding (7.2) and third in blocks (1.96) ... Kaylee Johnson is eighth in program history in rebounds (927) and sixth in blocked shots (152).
 
VS. CAL: Stanford is 68-19 all-time against Cal, 31-8 against the Bears on The Farm and has won five straight and 18 of the last 20. The first four of Stanford's five consecutive wins were decided by a combined 19 points (4.8 average) and its most recent victory on Feb. 19, 2017 came by 18 (72-54). In last season's wins, Alanna Smith averaged 22.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.5 blocks. 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 »

• Brittany McPhee had 25 points and 12 rebounds for her second double-double in the last four games and Stanford beat Colorado 62-53 on Sunday to extend its season-high win streak to six.
• McPhee scored 18 points and the Cardinal beat Utah 70-49 on Friday night to up its record to 23-0 all-time against the Utes. Marta Sniezek made all three of her shots from behind the arc and scored 11 points with four assists and Nadia Fingall added 10 points and six rebounds off the bench for Stanford.
• Stanford vaulted itself back into the national conversation and swept a pair of ranked opponents on the road the first weekend in February, beating No. 16 Oregon State 60-57 and No. 6 Oregon 78-65.
• It was the Cardinal's first conference road trip against two top-25 opponents as a member of the Pac-12 and the program's first since 1983 when it played Western Collegiate Athletic Association away games at No. 10 Long Beach State on Feb. 15 (L, 95-60) and No. 11 Arizona State on Feb. 18 (L, 79-53).
• Brittany McPhee scored 31 of her career-high 33 points in the second half to lead Stanford over No. 6 Oregon 78-65 on Feb. 4. She scored each of the Cardinal's final 19 points and single-handedly outscored the Ducks in the second half, 31-24. McPhee shot 13-of-18 from the floor in the second half, including 9-of-11 in the final quarter. Her 31 second-half points topped her previous game high by three.
• It was Oregon's first home loss of the season after 14 consecutive wins and the Ducks were the highest-ranked opponent the Cardinal had defeated in a true road game since beating No. 3 Rutgers on its home floor, 60-58, on Nov. 11, 2007.
• DiJonai Carrington stole Oregon State's inbounds pass with seven seconds remaining and helped dribble out the clock to preserve Stanford's 60-57 victory over the No. 16 Beavers on Feb. 2.
• Stanford had 17 offensive rebounds and outscored the Beavers 21-8 in second-chance points.
• Brittany McPhee posted her second career double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds and Kaylee Johnson pulled down 11 boards, one of nine times this season in double figures in that category.
• McPhee's double-double was her first since she went for 26 and 11 against Colorado on Feb. 10, 2017.

SETTING THE STAGE »

• At 12-2, Stanford is tied atop the Pac-12 with No. 7 UCLA and No. 9 Oregon and two games ahead of No. 15 Oregon State. By virtue of its wins in Gill Coliseum and Matthew Knight Arena, the Cardinal will own tiebreakers over both the Ducks and Beavers for Pac-12 Tournament seeding purposes.
• With one more victory Stanford will clinch a first-round bye in the conference tournament.
• Currently, the Cardinal's 18-8 record is its worst through 26 games since it was 16-10 at the same point in 2000-01. Stanford would eventually finish that year 19-11 overall, tie for first in conference with a 12-6 mark and advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
• Stanford entered conference play with a 6-6 record, 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.

OF LATE »

• In its first 20 games of the season, Stanford was averaging 16.3 turnovers per game. In the last six it has turned the ball over just 59 times (9.8 per game). The Cardinal was under 10 in each of the first four games of that stretch, something it hadn't done in 18 years (records back to 1999-00).
• The Cardinal's starting lineup didn't turn the ball over once and combined for 15 assists against Arizona on Jan. 28. Stanford assisted on 27 of its 30 made baskets, its highest the best the Cardinal has done in conference since at least the year 2000, surpassing the 88.5 percent it assisted on (23-of-26) in a win at No. 23 Arizona on Dec. 29, 2002.
• In the last six games, which includes three ranked opponents, Stanford has 89 assists and just 59 turnovers and is 19th in the nation with a 1.51 assist-to-turnover ratio.
• Stanford's defense in conference is some of the best in the nation. The Cardinal is giving up just 56.1 points on 35.0 percent shooting in its 14 Pac-12 games.
• Among Power 5 conference teams in league play, that opponent points per game number is fourth in the country and the field goal percentage defense is second.
• Baylor is surrendering an average of 55.4 points in 13 Big 12 contests, North Carolina State is at 55.8 in 13 ACC games and Mississippi State is giving up 56.0 points per game in 12 SEC matchups. In terms of field goal percentage defense in conference games, Baylor leads in that category (.325).

SCOUTING REPORT »

• Stanford has done a good job of limiting the efficiency of its opponent's top offensive threat in Pac-12 play. The leading scorers below have combined to shoot just 29.0 percent (51-of-176) from the floor and average 11.4 points.               

• Stanford's defense came up big in its road trip to Oregon. The Cardinal held Oregon State, which entered that game first in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage (.415) and fifth in the country in field goal percentage (.490), to just 6-of-22 shooting (27 percent) from beyond the arc and 40 percent from the floor overall.
• Stanford was also able to limit the Beavers' top two scorers – Marie Gülich and Kat Tudor – to a combined seven points on 3-of-11 shooting. It was the first time all season Gülich was held to single-digits scoring and Tudor, who was averaging 19.2 points in her previous five games, was held scoreless.
• Tudor, who was fourth in the Pac-12 in 3-point field goal percentage, attempted just two shots and neither were from deep. She had been making 44.5 percent of her 3-pointers on 146 attempts.
• All seven of Gülich's points came in the first half. She attempted only two field goals in the third and fourth quarters and missed both. Gülich and Tudor entered the game averaging a combined 30.4 points on 57.5 percent shooting.
• Oregon came into that game fourth in the nation in field goal percentage (.494), sixth in 3-point field goal percentage (.400) and 10th in scoring (83.3). 
• Stanford held the Ducks to its third-lowest scoring performance of the season (65) on 40.4 percent shooting (23-57) and 31.6 percent from deep (6-19). Oregon scored just 24 second-half points and shot 28.0 percent across the third and fourth quarters.
• Ruthy Hebard, who scored 16 in the first half, played all 20 minutes in the second half, but did not score and only attempted one field goal. Oregon didn't score over the game's final 5:08.
• Stanford has finished in the top 15 nationally in field goal percentage defense 10 of the last 11 years.

IN THE POLLS »

• The Cardinal dropped out of the AP rankings for the first time in 17 years on Dec. 25, worked its way back a week later at No. 24 following its home victories over UCLA and USC and dropped out again for three consecutive polls after it lost at No. 25 Arizona State on Jan. 7 (73-66).
• Stanford is back and up to No. 14 this week. It has climbed 10 spots in the past two weeks and its seven-place jump from Jan. 29 to Feb. 5 was the largest in program history.
• The Cardinal is 14th in the RPI and has played the nation's fifth-toughest schedule.
• Stanford hadn't been unranked since 2001, 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.
• The Cardinal has been in 525 AP polls, the fourth most all-time, 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 465-week streak and Duke also appeared in 312 consecutive rankings.

BAPTISM BY FIRE »

• Stanford leads the nation with 11 games against top-25 teams, is 4-7 in those games and has won three in a row. Kansas State, Oklahoma and Oregon have played 10 ranked teams and Notre Dame, South Carolina and Tennessee have played nine.
• The Cardinal also leads in games against top-10 teams with six, including five from the nonconference portion of its schedule. For comparison, Stanford played five top-10 opponents all of last year, which was the program's most since 2010-11 (7).
• Of those 11 games against AP Top 25 teams, six have been true road contests. Stanford has two top 25 road wins, one of just seven schools in the country with multiple road victories over ranked opponents. Notre Dame has four, Connecticut three and Oregon, Tennessee, Mississippi State and Purdue two each.
• Dating back to last season, 16 of Stanford's past 32 games have been against ranked opponents, including nine in the top 10 and four in the top five.
• Stanford is one of 16 teams in the country with at least 10 top-100 RPI wins (Baylor, Florida State, Louisville, Maryland, Mississippi State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oregon, Rutgers, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, UCLA, UConn).

TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS »

• Stanford is the only Pac-12 team that is undefeated at home in conference with an 8-0 record.
• Stanford is averaging 71.8 points on 45.9 percent shooting, including 35.7 percent from deep in league games at Maples Pavilion.
• At the defensive end the Cardinal is surrendering 53.3 points on 32.6 percent shooting, including 23.3 percent from behind the arc. UCLA and USC each scored 65 in their losses on The Farm and are the only teams to score more than 57. In fact, in its last five conference home games Stanford's defense is giving up just 47.8 points.
• On the year, Stanford's defense is allowing opponents to shoot 31.5 percent in Maples Pavilion, the third-best home mark in the country behind Baylor (.310) and Central Arkansas (.312).

OFFENSE/DEFENSE »

• After shooting just 39.3 percent in the nonconference, Stanford has hit 43.6 percent in Pac-12 play.
• Overall, the Cardinal is shooting 41.5 percent from the field (121st in the country), 30.1 percent (232nd) from deep and 61.9 percent (330th) 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 (-1.7) is also 252nd in the nation.
• At the other end of the court the Cardinal is ninth in the country in field goal percentage defense (.350), 18th in blocks per game (5.42) and 21st in rebounds per game (43.1).

McBUCKETS »

• A late-season candidate for the Naismith Trophy, Brittany McPhee was the consensus national player of the week (espnW, USBWA, Naismith Trophy) following her performances at Oregon State and Oregon in which she averaged 25.5 points on 55 percent shooting.
• Her 33-point outing at No. 6 Oregon was the first 30-point game for a Stanford player on the road against a top-10 team since Candice Wiggins dropped in exactly 30 in a 73-65 win at No. 10 Arizona State on Jan. 27, 2007.
• McPhee, who missed nine nonconference games with a right foot injury, became Stanford's 39th 1,000-point scorer early in the fourth quarter of its win over No. 25 Arizona State on Jan. 26 and is currently 34th on the Cardinal's all-time scoring list with 1,119. Jill Yanke (1985-89) is next with 1,134.
• McPhee was also named espnW National Player of the Week on Jan. 1 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.
• McPhee, Louisville's Asia Durr and Florida State's Shakayla Thomas are the only players to be named espnW National Players of the Week multiple times this season.
• McPhee has scored 20+ seven times this season and is averaging 17.9 points per game to go with 5.3 rebounds. She is is one of 12 Power 5 conference guards in the country averaging 17.0 points and 5.0 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.
• She is averaging 23.5 points on 58.5 percent shooting and 7.0 rebounds in the month of February.
• McPhee has had eight career 20-point games against ranked teams and her five best have come against top-15 foes. In addition to the 33 she put up at No. 6 Oregon, she scored 28 against No. 8 Texas on Nov. 14, 2016, dropped in 27 in the Elite Eight against No. 2 Notre Dame on March 26, 2017, had 27 against No. 7 Tennessee on Dec. 21, 2017 and 26 against No. 11 UCLA on Dec. 29, 2017.
• Nine of her 17 outings this season have been against the AP Top 25 and the senior has averaged 19.8 points and 5.2 rebounds in those games. Among players that have played at least nine ranked opponents her scoring average is third behind Oregon's Sabrina Ionescu (20.8 ppg in 10 games) and Tennessee's Jaime Nared (20.0 ppg in nine games).
• 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 3.71 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

WATCH WILLIAMS »

• Kiana Williams was voted Pac-12 Freshman of the Week for the second time this season on Feb. 5.
• Williams, who was also the league's top freshman on Jan. 8, scored 14 points in each game of Stanford's road sweep at Oregon State and Oregon.
• She has scored in double figures in 12 of her last 19 games and is third among Pac-12 freshmen in scoring in league games, averaging 9.9 points in 14 conference contests, behind Arizona's Sam Thomas (10.7) and Oregon's Satou Sabally (10.4).
• Williams averaged 3.1 points and shot 20.7 percent (6-of-29) in her first seven collegiate games. In the last 19 she's scoring 10.5 per game on 38.7 percent shooting (72-of-186). She is making 50.7 percent of her two-point baskets (34-of-67) during those last 19 games.
• She had a career-high seven assists in the win over Arizona on Jan. 28 and has 20 assists and four turnovers in her last six games. Before she coughed it up late in the first quarter against Colorado on Sunday, Williams hadn't turned it over in 99 minutes.

FROM DOWN UNDER »

• 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.
• 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.
• Her five double-doubles are eighth in the Pac-12 and she is 18th in the league in scoring (12.7), 11th in rebounding (7.2) and third in blocks (1.96).
• Of her six career games with 20+ points, three have come this season. She is also tied for eighth in Stanford history with 136 career blocks.

GETTING ON THE GLASS »

• Kaylee Johnson's 927 career rebounds are eighth in program history. Next on the list is Erica McCall, who grabbed 976 from 2013-17. She is eighth in the Pac-12 this season at 7.6 per game.
• Johnson's 927 rebounds are third among active Pac-12 players behind UCLA's Monique Billings (1,066) and Utah's Emily Potter (975) and her 152 blocked shots are fourth behind Potter (261), Billings (212) and Oregon State's Marie Gülich (177).
• She is the seventh Stanford player with 150 in a career joining Jayne Appel (273), Chiney Ogwumike (202), Val Whiting (201), Erica McCall (200) and Kristen Newlin (163).
• Her 7.4 career rebounds per game average would be eighth in Stanford history. Johnson has pulled down 10 or more 41 times in 125 career games and owns a pair of 22-rebound outings as a freshman.
• She has nine double-digit rebound games already this season after just three last year.

CARRINGTON EMERGES »

• After averaging 2.5 points and 2.3 rebounds as a freshman, sophomore DiJonai Carrington has emerged as Stanford's third-leading scorer (9.1 ppg) and third-best rebounder (6.2 rpg) this season.
• She started seven games during the nonconference portion of the schedule and has come off the bench in Pac-12 play after missing Stanford's final three non-league games due to injury.
• If the Pac-12 had a Sixth Woman of the Year Award, Carrington would have as strong case. In 16 games as a substitute she is averaging 8.3 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.6 steals. Those rebound and steal numbers lead the conference's non-starters and she's fourth in scoring.
• 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 players with more.
• 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.