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WBB: Stanford 76 Oregon State 54 - 81alum - 02-26-2016

Overview
Stanford WBB got its 1000th win tonight.  Our defense was its usual stout self, but we had one of our best offensive showings of the year and it came against the nations #1 defense and it came without one of our offensive stars.  McCall's range and accuracy were superb, and she drained 25 points including 3/5 from from three point range.  She killed Oregon State tonight in almost the same way that Devin Hunter killed us when we played in Corvallis.  Strangest stat of the night:  Karlie Samuelson with a double double, 13 points and a whopping 12 rebounds!  Brittany McPhee was on fire offensively and shot 6/7 before going out with a possible injury late in the game. 

Prelim:

Well, this is as significant as it could possible be.  We haven't yet beaten a single team that is currently ranked in the top 25.  The opportunities for marquee wins is dwindling.  Having them at home is key.  The game is being billed as the nation's best two defenses playing.  How I hope that our offense can get on track!  I will have a late write-up after getting back from the game.

Pregame

Kate spoke before the game.  The most interesting insight was that Oregon State would be giving us lots of mid range jumpers.  Hamblin in the center is enough to defensively dominate the post which allows them to press the perimeter and shut down three point shots.  The shots that are left open with that defense are mid range jumpers.  That is when they are in man.  Zone of course killed us late in the game in Corvallis, but we have since practiced attacking the zone extensively and are much better prepared.  Kate also noted McCall's improved range, and both observations proved prophetic for the course of the game.  Lili, sadly, was away at funeral services for a relative and would not play tonight.

[i]Flow of the Game[/i]

This game was entirely a matter of self-confidence--us having it and Oregon State losing it.  With Lili away, Tara started Bri at the 1, Karlie at 2, Britt at 3--playing Karlie and Britt simultaneously from necessity, rather than because the Cardboard has been recommending it all year!  It worked brilliantly, if we do say so ourselves.

The first quarter was tight, and when Oregon State started off with an 8-2 run, and Lili's absence was apparent, the game might have gone bad.  But McCall kept us in it and Brittany began to make some plays.  She blocked a shot, then Karlie made a trey, and then Brittany made a spectacular layup-and-one to tie the game at 10.  That play, which brought the boisterous and anxious crowd to its feet, seemed to instill the confidence that we needed to compete, and for the rest of the half we shot lights-out while holding Oregon State to the low 30 percent range. 

The second quarter was a breakout.  We started with a 21-19 edge, and outscored OSU 20-8 for the quarter.  Hamblin got her points, but the defense controlled the rest of their team.  Bri and Marta alternately hounded Sydney Wiese all over the floor, who visibly tired as the game ground on.  Wiese wound up 2/8 for the game.  Weisner was even worse at 1/8.  Our defense seemed inspired all game, with hands in faces, double teams when needed.  We gave up a couple of open treys and when Hamblin got the ball down low she could not be stopped--but those were relatively rare occasions. 

We came out of halftime with a 41-27 14 point lead.  Of course, the meltdown in Corvallis was on everyone's mind.  I was also worried that we could not sustain our hot shooting, which had been in the upper 50% range.  In particular, McCall had been routinely hitting mid to long range jumpers--an entirely different look from a year ago.  But she did not cool off, and she kept draining those longish jumpers.  Oregon State was entirely unprepared to stop those McCall jumpers, and this proved to be the key to unlocking the rest of their defense--exactly as Kate has told us before the game.  The game plan, in this case, worked to perfection.

By the end of the third quarter the lead had swelled to 23, capped off by treys by Karlie and Erica.  Then in the fourth quarter we mostly coasted.  Oregon State tried a few new things but was unable to provoke another meltdown like last time.  With about 4 minutes left Devin Hunter sent McPhee sprawling, and McPhee came up limping.  She made a couple of free throws and another layup a minute later, but came out of the game and the trainer was working on an ankle, I believe.  I have no idea if this might be serious or merely a tweak.  We will probably know on Sunday.  At the very end there were a few substitutions but not wholesale, and we found ourselves possessing a surprisingly solid win over a top-ten team.

Performances:

Erica McCall's progress has been good all year, but the last few games have been a truly remarkable transformation.  The new range to her shot makes her impossible to defend and gave us a viable scoring option in the weak hole of the Oregon State defense.  Her rebounding seems to have suffered by playing out so far on offense and also by playing around Hamblin when on defense.

McPhee is rapidly ascending my scale of praiseworthiness.  She contributed 15 points on 6/7 shooting, but that was only a fraction of her contribution--probably not even the most important part.  She had 4 assists, 4 rebounds, and 3 blocks.  Her defense was also very valuable--she has surprising length, as the blocks attest, but for every block there were more altered shots and solid defense.  She was assigned to Weisner most of the time, and Weisner was the key to Oregon State's win last time we played them.  Tonight, Weisner was almost a non-factor.  As we have said before, she needs to be starting--and tonight she did. 

Karlie was highly efficient on offense, scoring 13 points on 4/5 shooting, including 3/4 from three point range.  She also had a couple of assists and a steal, reflecting her usual scrappy play.  But somehow or another she came up with 12 rebounds--3 o-boards and 9 defensive.  I was not paying careful enough attention to notice as she racked up what has to be her personal rebounding record--perhaps this was part of our defensive scheme, but somehow it worked.  We wound up out rebounding OSU 32-27.

Kaylee started but played only 17 minutes.  She had an efficient 8 points on 4/7 shooting. 

Bri started and it was clear that she and Marta were going to take turns harassing Weiss and trying to wear her down.  Bri went 2/2 and also contributed 3 assists and 3 turnovers.

Marta played 22 minutes and did not contribute a point, going 0/1 and 0/2 free throws.  But she did have 4 assists and 0 turnovers, plus that hounding defense.

Alanna played 13 minutes and acquitted herself well, with 5 points on 2/4 shooting.

Kailee got 22 minutes despite her 4 fouls.  She was 0-2, and she was also only 3/8 from the foul line, and also grabbed only 2 rebounds.  She had 2 steals--snagging high passes out of the air in both cases. 

As at team, we shot 57% to their 34%.  That is the main difference.  Our defense lived up to its billing, theirs did not.  In particular our 8/14 treys were daggers.  Most other categories were fairly even.  We had 17 assists on 30 made baskets.

Conclusion:

Vindication of the Cardboard!  We have argued all season that our offense needs more mid range jumpers, and that Britt and Karlie need to be playing together to open up the offense.  Both of our wishes came true tonight, and we got our best win of the season.  Now, we need to polish off poor Oregon, playing without their four year star, and set ourselves up for a terrific Pac-12 tournament.



Re: WBB: Stanford vs. Oregon State 8pm Pacific - Papa John - 02-26-2016

For what it's worth, Stanford's top-100 RPI wins are:

#28 UW
#31 Tennessee
#41 George Washington
#42 U$C
#50 Chattanooga
#57 Purdue
#61 Oregon
#72 Dayton
#78 WSU
#80 Utah (2x)
#91 Missouri State
#97 C.al (2x)

Losses are to #6 Texas, #7 OSU, #8 (ASU 2x), #9 UCLA and #66 Santa Clara.

Stanford's RPI is 10 and the SOS is 6.

Go Stanford!


Re: WBB: Stanford vs. Oregon State 8pm Pacific - JJJ - 02-26-2016

Apparently, the program has 999 wins right now! Go Stanford!

Quote: The Cardinal is 999-310 (.763) all-time since its first varsity season in 1975. Stanford would join an exclusive list with one more win. Tennessee, Louisiana Tech, James Madison, Old Dominion, Texas and Stephen F. Austin are currently the only Division I institutions with 1,000 victories. Stanford will be the third-fastest to that mark, behind Louisiana Tech (1,210) and Tennessee (1,232). The Cardinal has reached 999 wins in 1,309 games.

Entering this season, the Cardinal was fourth in the NCAA over the last five years by both wins and percentage. From 2011-15, Stanford went 160-22 (.879). Connecticut was 182-12 (.938), Baylor was 173-14 (.925) and Notre Dame was 174-18 (.906).

http://www.gostanford.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=210743098&DB_OEM_ID=30600

Re: WBB: Stanford vs. Oregon State 8pm Pacific - BobK - 02-26-2016

https://mobile.twitter.com/macsmith413/status/703378628587827200

Alleyne ACL

Re: WBB: Stanford vs. Oregon State 8pm Pacific - BostonCard - 02-26-2016

Wow.  Tough loss for the ducks.  That sucks.

Bc

Re: WBB: Stanford vs. Oregon State 8pm Pacific - BobK - 02-26-2016


No Lili tonight.  Brit starts. Lili's grandfather died this week.

Re: WBB: Stanford vs. Oregon State 8pm Pacific - TheFarm07 - 02-26-2016

We led 21-19 after one quarter. For the Pac-12's top two defensive teams, the combined FG% of both teams was 16-28 (57.1%), so clearly both teams' offenses were off to a hot start.

Interestingly, we did not get a defensive rebound off a missed Oregon State field goal attempt until after more than halfway through the quarter with all of these offensive possessions early on resulting either in a made shot, a turnover or at the free throw line.

Re: WBB: Stanford vs. Oregon State 8pm Pacific - TheFarm07 - 02-26-2016

We lead 41-27 (20-8 in the second qtr) off of Erica's first two made 3-pointers of the season. I like that she has added this extra range to her game, but I don't want her to completely fall in love with the jumper and forget scoring in the paint.

Free throw shooting is a concern (2-6 FT) and fouls (Erica, Alanna, Kailee all have 2 each), but to score 41 points in the first half against Oregon State on 60.7% shooting is a great start. The commentors were mentioning how the Beavers might switch to a zone defense in the 2nd half. If they do, hopefully we won't freeze up against them, as even though we scored 41 points and had a really high percentage, we still made a couple of sloppy turnovers and a couple of offensive possessions looked a little stagnant.

Defensively, Kailee forced a couple of turnovers herself and we more than halved what Oregon State scored against us in the first quarter.

Let's keep this up in the second half and got this win!

Re: WBB: Stanford vs. Oregon State 8pm Pacific - TheFarm07 - 02-26-2016

We lead 63-40 (22-13 in the 3rd qtr) after 3 quarters.  After scoring only 4 points through roughly the first half of the 3rd quarter as the Beavers' zone defense was starting to confound us again, we scored 18 points in the last 5 minutes punctuated by Erica's 3rd made 3-pointer of the game.

You can't ask much more from our offense, shooting just south of 60% overall and making 8/12 from 3-point range. We are shooting worse from the free throw line (5/10) than from the field.



That's 1,000 - BobK - 02-26-2016

For Stanford WBB

Re: WBB: Stanford vs. Oregon State 8pm Pacific - TheFarm07 - 02-26-2016

We win 76-54 (13-14 in the 4th qtr) for the program's 1,000th victory. We ended sloppily even before we sent in the scout team, but that was mostly due to burning clock time.

What is more important is that we blew out a top 10 team for the first time this season without one of our best players Lili Thompson.

McCall was a jump-shot machine, I don't remember her scoring from the paint at all this game, with 5 three-point attempts and 3 made. I don't want her to forget her post moves, but if she can pick and choose when to battle it down low and when to shoot the jumper, I think she will have a big rest of the season and her senior year next year might be one that fits in with being the #11 recruit (ESPN Hoopgurlz) in the country.

Karlie got her first double-double of her career with 13 points and 12 rebounds and she didn't miss her only shot until the fourth quarter.

Brit was so forceful and aggressive for 15 points. The only thing concerning was she rolled her left ankle early in the fourth. She played on for a couple more minutes after the next whistle (noticeably slower) and then out for the rest of the game. Hopefully, it's just a minor injury and she'll be good to go for Sunday and the rest of the season.

Kailee's horrific free throw shooting continues (3/8), but she made her impact through the defense.  Our poor FT shooting (8/16) was the only bad offensive statistic against a very good Oregon State defense, in which we shot 57.7% from the field and 57.1% from 3-pt range.

Our defense also deserves recognition. Though Hamblin had 14 points on 7/11 shooting, we held the Beavers' 3 main guards Weisner, Wiese and Hanson to a collective five made field goals on 5/26 shooting (19.2%). The Beavers shot 34.4%, but only 5/20 from 3-pt range.

Re: WBB: Stanford vs. Oregon State 8pm Pacific - BostonCard - 02-26-2016

Peaking at the right time, I hope.

BC

Re: WBB: Stanford 76 Oregon State 54 - TheFarm07 - 02-26-2016

GoStanford has the 1,000th program victories feature already up:

http://gostanford.com/fls/30600/Feature/Beyond1000/

Re: WBB: Stanford 76 Oregon State 54 - meos - 02-26-2016

Congrats on a very nice win playing a fairly complete game with focus and sustained aggressive effort throughout.
Everyone who played contributed and seemed to play within themselves and the game plan.
Special kudos to Erica for taking the shots available and making quite a few.

Hopefully the coaches learned something from the unfortunate absence of Lili. Against many opponents the Stanford team may be better off with just one small guard on the court most of the time. Much better balance of defense and offense and rebounding.

Re: WBB: Stanford 76 Oregon State 54 - BobK - 02-26-2016

Great crowd and of course really into the game as we played so well.  Great D and probably the best ball movement all year.   

Re: WBB: Stanford 76 Oregon State 54 - TheFarm07 - 02-27-2016

(02-26-2016, 03:26 PM)81alum link Wrote:With about 4 minutes left Devin Hunter sent McPhee sprawling, and McPhee came up limping.  She made a couple of free throws and another layup a minute later, but came out of the game and the trainer was working on an ankle, I believe.  I have no idea if this might be serious or merely a tweak.  We will probably know on Sunday. 

The replay on tv showed McPhee rolling over on her left ankle as she was falling. It's never good to have an injury concern this late in the season to such a key player. I am hoping that since she was able to play for a couple more minutes, that she just tweaked it. Hopefully, at the most, she'll be held out against Oregon on Sunday for precautionary reasons, but be ready for postseason play.

Re: WBB: Stanford 76 Oregon State 54 - 81alum - 02-27-2016

The Pac 12 tournament is beginning to come into focus, but a lot depends on the ASU/UCLA game on Sunday.  We need to win over Oregon on Sunday and we should hope for ASU to polish off UCLA on Sunday, as that will make us the 3 seed.  As the 3 seed we would play the winner of the 6/11 game, which will likely be Oregon/Arizona or Colorado. All of those possibilities sound favorable. The alternative as the 4 seed is to likely have to play Washington in Seattle, which is not so favorable.


Re: WBB: Stanford 76 Oregon State 54 - M T - 02-27-2016

The OSU game had 3 really outstanding offensive performances, and more than 5 outstanding defensive performances.  The defense had them reeling.

By the way, with our offensive performance tonight, OSU's opponents' FG% is now 31.7% while ours is 32.2%.  (Before the game, it was 30.8% vs 32.1%)

(02-27-2016, 12:55 AM)81alum link Wrote:We need to win over Oregon on Sunday and we should route for ASU to polish off UCLA on Sunday, as that will make us the 3 seed.  As the 3 seed we would play the winner of the 6/11 game, which will likely be Oregon/Arizona or Colorado.

More importantly, if top seeds win up to the semis, the #3 seed will play #2 OSU in the semis, while the #4 seed will play #1 ASU.  I'd like another win against OSU before facing ASU.  CTT always has a good game for Stanford.  Against OSU, we've won 3 of 4 halves.

While I feel we should expect to win Sunday and the first game of the conf. tourney, we've had some bad games this year.  Oregon could come out with a lot of emotion on Sunday.

Re: WBB: Stanford 76 Oregon State 54 - winflop - 02-27-2016

I was at the game, courtesy of the Buck/Cardinal Board which I may be joining - and then I will hit all of you up to donate :), and if you already do, I will hit you up to donate more :)

But seriously, that was a complete effort at both ends of the floor across the board.  Pretty clear they were playing for their missing teammate.  OSU got completely flustered in the front court.  The only play they had all night was dumping it low in the post.  Dribble penetration was really kept to a minimum, and there were not a lot of clean looks.

First time I'd seen a WBB game live in many years.  I'd forgotten how much more they play sound, fundamental basketball than MBB.  The passing in particular seemed really sharp, especailly off pick & rolls and a couple of straight give & go's that got Kaylee Johnson (I think) a couple of inside baskets in Q2 & Q3.

McCall was the most impressive player.  If she can hit from 15+ she's unstoppable.  Hamblin refused to step out to defend her and leave the hole open.  McPhee was my #2 star of the night.  Not only did she have some really sweet outside shots early where she took one step around a pick and let a really smooth one fly, but she was a beast on the defensive perimeter.

Re: WBB: Stanford 76 Oregon State 54 - 81alum - 02-27-2016

(02-26-2016, 11:43 PM)TheFarm07 link Wrote:GoStanford has the 1,000th program victories feature already up:

http://gostanford.com/fls/30600/Feature/Beyond1000/
A very nicely written article.  Those early Azzi days with Maples filled to the rim and fans crying after losses must have been something.  I'm sorry I graduated just a little too early to have experienced that for myself.

As I reflect on this game, I think the biggest story may not be McCall's dramatically improved range--as wonderful as that is.  I think it is McPhee's defense.  McPhee shut down Weisner--completely shut down one of the nation's best shooting guards.  And she did so while being our second most important offensive player and dishing out as many assists as our point guard.    She was  6/7 shooting the ball, she was the most effective ball distributor, and she did this all in 26 minutes.  If McPhee can continue this level of play--and it is not the first game recently where she has been this productive--then I think we have a feature player, not a role player or bench player.

Here is an interesting stat:  points-in-the-paint:  Stanford 26 Oregon State 14.  Wow.  Not bad considering Hamblin's dominance. 

Here is another:  Fast break points:  Stanford 12 Oregon State 0.

Some quotes:

Quote:All the credit to Stanford,” Oregon State coach Scott Rueck said on his postgame radio interview. “They came out with the right mindset, they executed just phenomenally well. Everybody was ready to shoot the ball and everybody did.  “I didn’t think we handled adversity as well as we needed too, obviously, in the beginning and that led to their momentum.”  “Erica McCall put on a show tonight,” Rueck said. “That was unbelievable what she did.”

Regarding Weise and Weisner:
Quote:“(Stanford) loaded up their defense against those two, really did a nice job of making it tough for them to catch the ball and then once they did catch it there were three defenders close to them,” Rueck said. “… When they did get looks, they didn’t go down for them.”
http://www.gazettetimes.com/sports/beavers-sports/basketball/osu-women-s-basketball-stanford-runs-past-beavers-at-maples/article_de3397c9-648b-56bc-8ca2-e54feda5a4ff.html

With regard to the zone that destroyed us last game:
Quote:When asked at the half if she expected to see the zone, Stanford coach Tara Vanderveer said “bring it.”
Quote:And inexplicably, the 2-3 zone that Oregon State coach Scott Rueck had employed that shut down the Cardinal in the second half in Corvallis never appeared until the second half, and then it was pulled back off only a few possessions into the third quarter.
http://www.buildingthedam.com/2016/2/26/11125320/stanford-says-not-so-fast

Quote:Oregon State coach Scott Rueck said Stanford responded to Thompson's absence.  "Maybe the pressure is taken off," he said. "They had an excuse built in" if the team lost. "They just let it fly."

Quote:It started with sophomore Brittany McPhee, who replaced Thompson (14.4 points per game). McPhee scored 15 points and added four rebounds and four assists, but also dogged Weisner to frustrate the Beavers.  "They told me to have a pit-bull mentality," McPhee said.  VanDerveer interrupted her guard.  "She really has a golden retriever personality, but brought the pit-bull aggressiveness," the coach said.
http://www.mercurynews.com/sports/ci_29569760/no-13-stanford-women-upset-no-7-oregon

Quote:Up was down, water was wine, Erica McCall hit 3-pointers and Karlie Samuelson recorded a double-double.
http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2016/02/27/victory-number-1000-special-in-many-ways-for-stanford-women