Davis Comes Down to MaplesDavis Comes Down to Maples
Women's Basketball

Davis Comes Down to Maples

No. 7 Stanford (0-0)
vs. UC Davis (0-0)
Wednesday, Nov. 7 • 7 p.m.
Maples Pavilion • Stanford, Calif.
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THE GAME: With Tara VanDerveer beginning her 40th season as a collegiate head coach, No. 7 Stanford starts its 2018-19 campaign on Wednesday, Nov. 7 when it hosts UC Davis at 7 p.m. Jordan Watkins and Joaquin Wallace have the call on GoStanford.com's live stream and Tim Swartz will handle the radio broadcast also on GoStanford.com.
 
THE RUNDOWN: Stanford returns 77 percent of its minutes played from 2017-18, the fourth most among top 25 programs at the end of last season according to Her Hoops Stats' overall rating, which takes strength of schedule into account ... The Cardinal is 32-12 all-time in season openers and has won 19 home openers in a row ... Stanford is in the preseason AP poll for the 19th consecutive season and at No. 7 is one of three Pac-12 teams in the top 10 ... The Nov. 7 season opener marks the earliest start to a season in program history ... Last season the Cardinal surrendered 56.1 points on 33.0 percent shooting at home ... Its field goal percentage defense in Maples was the seventh-best home mark in the country ... Alanna Smith, the team's leading returning scorer and rebounder, is on the preseason All-Pac-12 team as well as watch lists for the Wooden Award and the Katrina McClain Award, which recognizes the nation's best power forward ... Kiana Williams is on the Wooden Award Watch List and the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award Watch List, which is given to the country's best shooting guard ... Smith (Australia), Jenna Brown (United States) and Alyssa Jerome (Canada) all represented their countries in international competition this summer.

VS. UC DAVIS: Stanford is 11-7 all-time against UC Davis and undefeated (9-0) under head coach Tara VanDerveer. All seven of the Cardinal's losses in the series came in its early years, as the Aggies won seven of the first eight from 1974-1978. Since Davis' last win on Feb. 7, 1978, Stanford has won 10 straight. The teams' last met in the first game of the 2015-16 season, a 74-45 Cardinal win in Davis. Senior Alanna Smith had 13 points on 6-of-11 shooting it what was her collegiate debut.
 
MORE AGAINST DAVIS »

  • Alanna Smith's 13-point performance at Davis on Nov. 13, 2015 was the highest scoring output for a Cardinal freshman in a season opener since Amber Orrange had 14 at Texas on Nov. 11, 2011.
  • In the Aggies' last visit to Maples, Stanford won 71-59 behind a career-high 30 points from Bonnie Samuelson. She was 8-of-13 from the floor, 6-of-10 from deep and became the first Stanford player not named Ogwumike to score 30 in a game since Jeanette Pohlen poured in 31 against Connecticut on Dec. 30, 2010.
  • It was Samuelson's first of 26 starts that season and the sixth of her career. Samuelson also started alongside her younger sister Karlie for the first time.

SNAPSHOT »

  • Stanford returns 77 percent of its minutes played from 2017-18, the fourth most among top 25 programs at the end of last season according to Her Hoop Stats' overall rating, which takes strength of schedule into account.
  • Arizona State returns 97 percent, Virginia Tech 91 percent and Louisville 82 percent. South Carolina also welcomes back 77 percent of its minutes played.
  • The Cardinal made its 11th consecutive trip to the Sweet 16 last season, posting a 24-11 overall record and a 14-3 mark in Pac-12 play. Stanford won at least 20 games for the 17th straight season and 29th overall and had double-digit Pac-12 victories for the 31st consecutive year.
  • Stanford is ranked No. 7 in preseason polls from both the Associated Press and USA TODAY. It's the Cardinal's 19th consecutive appearance in the preseason rankings.
  • Stanford was picked to finish second in the Pac-12 preseason coaches' poll. The Cardinal totaled 107 points and one first-place vote. Oregon was the leading vote getter, receiving 11 first-place votes and collecting 121 points while Oregon State was third (104 points).
  • Three Pac-12 teams are in the top 10 of the preseason AP poll for the first time in Oregon (No. 3), Stanford (No. 7) and Oregon State (No. 8).

SEASON OPENERS »

  • Stanford is 32-12 all-time in season openers. The Cardinal's loss last Nov. 10 at No. 5 Ohio State (85-64) snapped the program's 16-game winning streak in season openers and was its first defeat since dropping a contest at Saint Mary's on Nov. 17, 2000 (75-64).
  • The Cardinal has won 19 consecutive home openers. Stanford hasn't dropped its first game of a season in Maples since falling to No. 24 Illinois, 76-58, on Nov. 19. 1998.

EXHIBITION RECAP »

  • Stanford scored the game's first 15 points and never looked back, routing visiting Vanguard 87-36 in its exhibition on Nov. 1.
  • The Cardinal used 13 players and 12 scored. Freshman Lexie Hull started and led the Cardinal with 11 points and five assists, Maya Dodson chipped in 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting to go with a game-high four blocks and Nadia Fingall took care of the glass with 10 rebounds.

EARLY START »

  • The Nov. 7 season opener marks the earliest start to a season in program history. The Cardinal had previously played its first game on Nov. 9 four times (2006-07; 2007-08; 2012-13; 2013-14).

HOME COOKIN' »

  • Last season, Stanford finished as the only Pac-12 team undefeated at home in conference with a 9-0 record. Following two home losses to conclude nonconference against Western Illinois and Tennessee Stanford finished by winning 11 straight in Maples Pavilion.
  • The Cardinal surrendered 56.1 points on 33.0 percent shooting at home all season, including 23.9 percent from behind the arc.
  • Stanford's field goal percentage defense in Maples Pavilion was the seventh-best home mark in the country behind Baylor (.313), Green Bay (.315), Central Arkansas (.322), and Liberty (.327), Norfolk State (.327) and Texas Southern (.329).

SO INTERNATIONAL »

  • Alanna Smith, Jenna Brown and Alyssa Jerome all represented their countries across the globe in various tournaments this summer.
  • Smith, the program's first international student, became the sixth Stanford player to appear in a FIBA World Cup in helping Australia to a silver medal in late September. The senior was one of two Stanford players at the tournament in Tenerife, Spain along with alumna Nneka Ogwumike (United States) and was a late arrival to campus for the fall quarter. Classes started on September 24.
  • It was the 22-year-old's second go-around with her country's Senior Women's National Team. She made her debut and won silver at last summer's FIBA Asia Cup in Bangalore, India and was one of two Australian players to score in double figures for the tournament, averaging 10.8 points on 58.3 percent shooting and 5.3 rebounds.
  • Brown and the USA Basketball U18 National Team won gold at the FIBA Americas U18 Championship in Mexico City in early August. The freshman averaged 7.5 points on 57.1 percent shooting, 2.8 assists and 2.3 rebounds in six games. She had her best performance in the semifinals against Colombia, going for a team-high 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting, including hitting three of her four 3-point attempts.
  • In her first taste of FIBA competition two years ago, Brown took home bronze alongside current Cardinal Maya Dodson at the 2016 FIBA U17 World Cup in Zaragoza Spain.
  • Jerome was the youngest player on Canada's Senior Women's National Team roster that participated in a four-game exhibition series in China and Japan from August 1-7.

SUMMERS OFF THE FLOOR »

  • Senior center Shannon Coffee spent her summer interning with the Stanford Center for Clinical Research, working on a study to address growing concerns over concussions in sports through research and data collection.
  • The project involved mouthguards developed by engineers at Stanford with the ability to track impact, force and more in collisions between high school football players.
  • Senior guard Alexa Romano was in Peru all summer as part of an archaeological excavation and research team led by Stanford professor Dr. John Rick at a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Andes.
  • It was Romano's second academically-oriented international trip with Stanford. Two summers ago she spent three weeks in India as part of The Rubenstein-Bing Student-Athlete Civic Engagement Program, serving as a coaching assistant for sports activities, taught English as a second language courses and promoted computer literacy initiatives for youth at a community center in Dakshinpuri, New Delhi.

FROM DOWN UNDER »

  • Alanna Smith is on the watch list for the Wooden Award and Katrina McClain Award,  which recognizes the top power forward in women's college basketball, and also was selected to the preseason All-Pac-12 Team as voted on by the media who regularly cover the conference.
  • An All-Pac-12 performer last season, Smith is Stanford's leading returning scorer and rebounder. She started all 35 games and averaged 13.5 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.77 blocks in 28.4 minutes.
  • Smith finished eighth in the league with seven double-doubles and became the Cardinal's 40th 1,000-point scorer (1,004) in the season's final game against No. 3 Louisville.
  • She is eighth in Stanford history with 147 career blocks.

WATCH WILLIAMS »

  • Kiana Williams is one of 20 players on the watch list for the 2019 Ann Meyers Drysdale Award, given to the nation's top shooting guard.
  • Williams had a standout freshman campaign in 2017-18, was named All-Pac-12 honorable mention and also landed on the Pac-12 All-Freshman and Pac-12 All-Tournament teams. Twenty-six players were voted either All-Pac-12 or all-conference honorable mention last season and Stanford's dynamic playmaker was the only freshman among them.
  • The 5-foot-8 Williams played in all 35 games a year ago and averaged 10.4 points on 41.4 percent shooting (128-of-309), including a 38.4 percent clip from deep (71-of-185), 1.7 rebounds and 1.9 assists. She was fourth in the conference in 3-point percentage (.384) and fifth in makes (71). Her 71 made triples are the second most for a Stanford freshman in program history.
  • Williams improved by leaps and bounds as the season wore on and after averaging 3.1 points and shooting 20.7 percent (6-of-29) in her first seven collegiate games, she upped those numbers to 12.2 points on 43.6 percent shooting (122-of-280) in the final 28. She scored in double figures in 19 of the season's last 28 games and averaged 13.3 points per game in the NCAA Tournament, which was third among the country's freshmen.
  • In the final nine games of the season, Williams led the nation by hitting 56.9 percent from deep (29-of-51) and had a number of memorable performances including a 26-point effort against Cal (Feb. 15), a 24-point outing on 6-of-7 shooting from behind the arc against Arizona State (March 3) and a 21-point, NCAA Tournament debut against Gonzaga (March 17).
  • A two-time Pac-12 Freshman of the Week selection, Williams was also voted to the Pac-12 All-Tournament Team after averaging 17.7 points on 70.4 percent shooting (19-of-27), including 72.2 percent on 3-pointers (13-of-18), in three games in Seattle.

CARRINGTON EMERGES »

  • After averaging 2.5 points and 2.3 rebounds as a freshman, sophomore DiJonai Carrington emerged as Stanford's fourth-leading scorer (8.8 ppg) and third-best rebounder (5.6 rpg) last season.
  • She started seven games during the nonconference portion of the schedule and came off the bench the rest of the way 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 had a strong case. In 25 games as a substitute she averaged 8.2 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.5 steals. Those steal numbers lead the conference's non-starters and she was second in rebounding and fifth in scoring.

THE ART OF THE ASSIST »

  • Marta Sniezek has handed out five or more assists in 42 of her 108 career appearances and with 428 career assists, she needs nine more to tie Kate Starbird (1993-97) for 10th in program history.
  • The senior is currently sidelined with a thumb injury.

HOME OF CHAMPIONS »

  • Stanford is the only school with at least one national championship in football, baseball, men's basketball and women's basketball and one of six programs with at least one national championship in football, baseball and men's basketball.
  • Stanford is one of seven schools to earn Division I Academic Progress Rate (APR) Public Recognition Award each of the past four seasons.
  • Stanford won the 2017-18 Division I Learfield Sports Directors' Cup, extending its streak to 24 years of capturing the award presented to the most successful intercollegiate athletic department in the nation.
  • Stanford, which sponsors 36 varsity sports, has won at least one NCAA team title in each of the past 42 academic years, representing the longest streak in NCAA history.
  • The Cardinal leads the NCAA with 117 team titles.
  • Stanford claimed five national team championships during the last academic year, increasing its overall total to 142, including 117 NCAA titles.

STANFORD UNIVERSITY »

  • Stanford requires students to declare a major before their junior year. Among the team's upperclassmen, six majors are represented. Majors are: human biology, art practice, psychology, American studies, African and African-American studies and anthropology.
  • Stanford's inner campus includes about 1.1 million square feet of shrubs, 143,000 linear feet of groundcovers, 43,000 trees, 25 fountains and more than 800 different species of plants.
  • Stanford's faculty includes two Presidential Medal of Freedom winners.
  • Stanford's faculty includes four Pulitzer Prize winners.
  • The top five undergraduate majors at Stanford include: computer science, engineering, human biology, management science and engineering, and mechanical engineering.
  • The Stanford community includes 17 Nobel laureates.
  • As of 2017, Stanford's endowment eclipsed 24.8 billion.
  • Stanford faculty have won the Nobel Prize 31 times since the university's founding.
  • Stanford's 8,180-acre campus is large enough to contain 96 Disneylands.
  • About 97 percent of all eligible undergraduates live in campus housing.
  • The 700-acre Stanford Research Park, created in 1951, is home to over 150 companies.
  • There are more than 625 registered student organizations at Stanford.
  • There are about 700 buildings on Stanford's campus that incorporate approximately 15.4 million square feet.
  • Of the 47,450 applicants -- the largest application pool in school history -- for Stanford's class of 2022, only 2,040 were admitted. The admitted students came from all 50 states and 63 countries.
  • There are an estimated 13,000 bikes at Stanford daily.