Cardinal Closes at Cougars

No. 16 Stanford (20-9, 14-3)
at Washington State (10-19, 3-14)
Sunday, Feb. 25 • 1 p.m.
Beasley Coliseum • Pullman, Wash.
Television • Pac-12 Bay Area/Pac-12 Washington
Radio •GoStanford.com
Live Statistics • WSUCougars.com
Complete Release (PDF)
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THE GAME: No. 16 Stanford (20-9, 14-3) closes out its regular season at Washington State (10-19, 3-14) on Sunday, Feb. 25 at 1 p.m. Greg Heister and Elise Woodward have the call on Pac-12 Networks and Kevin Danna will handle the radio broadcast on GoStanford.com.
 
THE RUNDOWN: Stanford won its 500th conference game as a member of the Pac-12 on Friday night and has won at least 20 games for 17 consecutive seasons ... Stanford is 15th in the RPI and has played the nation's seventh-toughest schedule ... It appeared as the No. 16 overall seed in the committee's final reveal on Feb. 20 ... Kiana Williams' 26 points against Cal on Feb. 15 were the highest single-game total for a Stanford freshman in nine years ... She is the Pac-12's leading freshman scorer in conference games (11.0) and her 51 made 3-pointers are third in Stanford freshman history ... Brittany McPhee leads the Pac-12 in scoring in the month of February (22.9) ... She is averaging 18.5 points per game this season, which would be the most for a Stanford guard since Candice Wiggins in 2007-08 (20.2) ... Stanford is tied for the national lead with 11 games against ranked opponents and six against top-10 teams ... The Cardinal is one of just nine schools in the country with multiple top-25 road wins ... The Cardinal is 24th in the country in field goal percentage defense (.360)  ... Alanna Smith is tied for eighth in the Pac-12 in double-doubles (6), 18th in the league in scoring (12.9), 11th in rebounding (7.3) and fourth in blocks (1.83) ... Kaylee Johnson is one of five players in Stanford history in the top 10 in school history in both career rebounds and blocks.
 
VS. WASHINGTON STATE: Stanford is 63-0 all-time against Washington State and 29-0 against the Cougars on the road. Nineteen of the last 20 wins have come by double-digits. In its last visit to Pullman, Stanford won 76-54 on Jan. 27, 2017 behind 16 points and seven boards from Karlie Samuelson. On Jan. 12 this year at Stanford, Alanna Smith had 20 points, Kaylee Johnson a 10-point, 15-rebound double-double and the Cardinal's starting five combined for 59 points in a 70-57 victory. Stanford made 10 of its first 14 shots and opened on a 10-0 run.
 
CATCHING YOU UP »

• Brittany McPhee scored 25 points and No. 16 Stanford survived a stern test from last-place Washington on Friday night, 86-79.
• The Cardinal came out on top despite a career-high 40 points from the Huskies' Amber Melgoza. The sophomore was 14-of-26 shooting and made a career-high five 3-pointers in scoring the most points by a Pac-12 player this season.
• Washington's 52.8 percent clip from the field (28-of-53) was the best for a Stanford opponent since 2010, when DePaul made 59.6 percent (31-of-52) to beat the Cardinal by 20, 91-71.
• The Cardinal cut a double-digit deficit to two midway through the fourth quarter, but Cal hit a trio of late 3-pointers to snap Stanford's seven-game win streak on Feb. 17, 78-66.
• Brittany McPhee scored 24 and Alanna Smith had a 20-point, 10-rebound double for Stanford, but it was at the defensive end where the Cardinal came up short. Cal shot 43.9 percent from the floor and 38.9 percent from deep.
• Kiana Williams scored a career-high 26 and the Cardinal used a 13-0 run midway through the second half to beat Cal at home on Feb. 15, 74-69.
• 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 is Oregon's only home loss of the season (16-1) and the Ducks were the highest-ranked opponent the Cardinal had defeated in a true road game since beating No. 3 Rutgers, 60-58, on Nov. 11, 2007.

SETTING THE STAGE »

• At 14-3, Stanford is alone in second in the Pac-12, one game behind No. 8 Oregon and a game ahead of No. 12 Oregon State and No. 10 UCLA.
• The Cardinal will be no worse than the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Pac-12 Tournament and still has chance to grab the top seed with a win at Washington State and an Oregon loss at Arizona.
• Stanford's win at Washington on Friday was its 500th conference victory as a member of the Pac-12. No other school has more than 400. It also secured the program's 17th consecutive 20-win season. The Cardinal has won double-digit conference games for 31 straight years.
• 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 »

• Stanford's defense has been uncharacteristically porous in its last two games. California and Washington combined to average 78.5 points on 47.9 percent shooting (57-of-119), including 42.6 percent from deep (23-of-30).
• In its first 20 games of the season, Stanford was averaging 16.3 turnovers per game and had an assist-to-turnover ratio of 0.85. In the last nine it has cut its turnover number down to 10.9 with a 1.32 assist-to-turnover ratio.
• 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.
• Marta Sniezek has a 2.8 assist (66) to turnover (24) ratio in the month of February the past two seasons. The junior's career assist-to-turnover ratio is 1.8.
• Stanford's defense in conference is some of the best in the nation. The Cardinal is giving up just 59.5 points on 36.9 percent shooting in its 17 Pac-12 games.
• Among Power 5 conference teams in league play, that opponent points per game number is seventh in the country and the field goal percentage defense is fifth.
• Mississippi State is surrendering an average of 55.9 points in SEC contests, Louisville is at 56.1 in ACC games, Baylor is giving up 56.4 points per game in Big 12 matchups, North Carolina State 56.8 in its ACC matchups, St. John's 58.5 in the Big East and Georgia 59.3 in the SEC. In terms of field goal percentage defense in conference games, Baylor leads in that category (.331), Georgia is second (.349), Lousville third (.368) and Oregon State fourth (.368).

SCOUTING REPORT »

• Prior to Friday, Stanford had done a good job of limiting the efficiency of its opponent's top offensive threat in Pac-12 play. Overall, the leading scorers below have combined to shoot 32.3 percent (71-of-220) from the floor and average 12.9 points. Before Amber Melgoza, they had combined to shoot just 29.4 percent (57-of-194) from the floor and average 11.2 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 deep and 40 percent from the floor.
• 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 their fourth-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.

BRACKET REVEAL/NATIONAL RANKINGS »

• With just three weeks remaining until Selection Monday, Stanford appeared in the top-16 reveal by the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Committee for the first time this season on Feb. 20. The Cardinal were slated at No. 16 overall and the No. 4 seed in the Albany Region. The nation's top 16 teams host first and second rounds.
• 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 at No. 16 this week. It had climbed 10 spots in the two weeks from Jan. 29 to Feb. 12 and its seven-place jump from Jan. 29 to Feb. 5 was the largest in program history.
• The Cardinal is 15th in the RPI and has played the nation's seventh-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 466-week streak and Duke also appeared in 312 consecutive rankings.

BAPTISM BY FIRE »

• Stanford is tied with Oregon and South Carolina for the national lead in games against top-25 teams with 11. The Cardinal, which has won multiple games against top 25 opponents for each of the last 16 seasons, is 4-7 in those games and has won three in a row. California, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Tennessee and USC have each played 10 ranked teams.
• The Cardinal is also tied for the lead in games against top-10 teams with six, including five from the nonconference portion of its schedule. Kentucky, Oklahoma State and Connecticut have also played six top-10 squads. 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 AP Top 25 games, six have been true road contests. Stanford has two top-25 road wins, one of just nine schools in the country with multiple road victories over ranked opponents. Notre Dame has four, Connecticut, Baylor and Purdue three and Oregon, Tennessee, Mississippi State and South Carolina two each.
• Stanford, 7-8 against the RPI top 50, is one of 11 teams in the country with at least seven top-50 RPI wins along with Notre Dame (12), Connecticut (11), Mississippi State (11), Oregon (11), Louisville (10), UCLA (9), Ohio State (9), Oklahoma (8), Iowa (7) and South Carolina (7).

TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS »

• Stanford finished as the only Pac-12 team undefeated at home in conference with a 9-0 record.
• The Cardinal surrendered 55.0 points on 33.5 percent shooting at home, including 24.7 percent from behind the arc. Only three teams (UCLA, USC, Cal) scored more than 57 in their losses on The Farm.
• Stanford's defense allowed opponents to shoot 32.1 percent in Maples Pavilion this year, the fifth-best home mark in the country behind Baylor (.311), Green Bay (.315), Central Arkansas (.316) and Norfolk State (.320).

OFFENSE/DEFENSE »

• After shooting just 39.3 percent in the nonconference, Stanford has hit 43.3 percent in Pac-12 play.
• Overall, the Cardinal is shooting 41.6 percent from the field (113th in the country), 30.7 percent (209th) from deep and 62.9 percent (326th) 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 (-1.2) is also 236th in the nation.
• At the other end of the court the Cardinal is 24th in the country in field goal percentage defense (.360), 30th in 3-point field goal percentage defense (.282), 20th in blocks per game (5.34) and 31st in rebounds per game (42.2).

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 in its win over No. 25 Arizona State on Jan. 26 and is currently 30th on the Cardinal's all-time scoring list with 1,185.
• 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+ nine times this season and is averaging 18.5 points per game to go with 5.2 rebounds. She is is one of 10 Power 5 conference guards in the country averaging 18.0 points and 5.0 rebounds (Loryn Goodwin - Oklahoma State; Arike Ogunbowale - Notre Dame; Victoria Vivians - Mississippi State; Kenisha Bell - Minnesota; Sabrina Ionescu - Oregon; Allazia Blockton - Marquette; Bridget Carleton - Iowa State; Dionna White - Georgetown; Kaila Charles - Maryland).
• No Stanford guard has averaged more than 15 points in a season since Candice Wiggins scored 20.2 as a senior in 2007-08. Wiggins averaged better than 16.9 points per game all four years.
• 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 leads the Pac-12 in scoring in the month of February, averaging 22.9 points and 6.0 rebounds.
• 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 10 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 ninth nationally and second in the conference behind Oregon's Sabrina Ionescu (21.0 ppg in 11 games).
• A human biology major with a 3.71 cumulative GPA, McPhee was voted to the CoSIDA Academic All-District first team on Feb. 22 and is now eligible to earn academic All-America honors.

WATCH WILLIAMS »

• Kiana Williams set or matched career highs against Cal on Feb. 15 with 26 points, four steals and five 3-pointers. The 26 points were the most for a Stanford freshman since Nneka Ogwumike had 27 in the NCAA Tournament against San Diego State on March 23, 2009.
• It's also the second-highest total by a Pac-12 freshman in a conference game this season, trailing the 29 Tori Williams of Utah scored against Washington on Feb. 18.
• A two-time Pac-12 Freshman of the Week, Williams has scored in double figures in 14 of her last 22 games and leads Pac-12 freshmen in scoring in league games, averaging 11.0 points. Oregon's Satou Sabally is second (10.3) and Arizona's Sam Thomas third (10.1).
• Williams averaged 3.1 points and shot 20.7 percent (6-of-29) in her first seven collegiate games. In the last 22 she's scoring 11.3 per game on 40.2 percent shooting (88-of-219). She is making 50.0 percent of her two-point baskets (41-of-82) during those last 22 games.
• She had a career-high seven assists in the win over Arizona on Jan. 28 and has 26 assists and 12 turnovers in her last nine games. Before she coughed it up late in the first quarter against Colorado on Feb. 11, Williams hadn't turned it over in 99 minutes.
• Williams' 51 made 3-pointers are the third most for a Stanford freshman in program history behind Jamie Carey (81; 1999-2000) and Lindsey Yamasaki (65; 1998-99).

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 six double-doubles are tied for eighth in the Pac-12 and she is 18th in the league in scoring (12.9), 11th in rebounding (7.3) and fourth in blocks (1.83).
• Of her seven career games with 20+ points, four have come this season. She is also eighth in Stanford history with 138 career blocks.

GETTING ON THE GLASS »

• Kaylee Johnson's 953 career rebounds are eighth in program history. Next on the list is Erica McCall, who grabbed 976 from 2013-17. She is seventh in the Pac-12 this season at 7.7 per game.
• Johnson's 953 rebounds are third among active Pac-12 players behind UCLA's Monique Billings (1,099) and Utah's Emily Potter (1,013) and her 158 blocked shots are fourth behind Potter (268), Billings (214) and Oregon State's Marie Gülich (185).
• She is the seventh Stanford player with 150 blocks in a career joining Jayne Appel (273), Chiney Ogwumike (202), Val Whiting (201), Erica McCall (200), Kristen Newlin (163) and Joslyn Tinkle (150).
• Her 7.4 career rebounds per game average would be eighth in Stanford history. Johnson has pulled down 10 or more 42 times in 128 career games and owns a pair of 22-rebound outings as a freshman.
• She has 10 double-digit rebound games already this season after just three last year.
• Johnson is one of five players in Stanford history in the top 10 in school history in career rebounds and blocks along with Jayne Appel, Chiney Ogwumike, Val Whiting and Erica McCall.