Ending a home stand on top of the Standings
Stanford continues to hang its hat on its defense. Oregon State and Oregon came into Maples looking to get themselves back into the Pac-12 race. Those aspirations were blocked by Cameron Brink. Cam warmed up with six blocks against Oregon State, then followed with a school record 10 blocks against Oregon. Those ten blocks were part of a rare triple-double -- 10 BLOCKS, 11 rebounds, and 16 points (plus 3 assists). The Brink block party anchored an excellent Stanford defense. For the weekend, Stanford held both Oregon teams below their season averages primarily due to smothering team defense. But, of course, it was Cameron's historic triple-double that will likely make the headlines.
Stanford 63 - Oregon State 60
The Oregon State game was a grind game -- with six lead changes and multiple ties. Stanford's largest lead was only seven points. The CARD never trailed in the fourth quarter, but the score was tied multiple times, with the three-point victory not secure until Lepolo grabbed and smothered Oregon State's inbound pass with two seconds left in the game.
Oregon State is one of the teams in the Pac-12 that can match up with Stanford in the height column. They have 6'9 Mitrovic, 6'4 Beers, and 6'3 Gardiner -- but the CARD out rebounded the Beavers and outscored them in the paint. OSU played strong defense, contributing to an uncharacteristically low percentage from the three-point range (25%). The Beaver defense was not enough to hold down the offense of Cameron Brink (21 points) and Haley Jones (17 points). Five other Cardinal players scored, and several players -- especially Fran Belibi -- did the "little things" like setting great screens to make it possible for other players to score. Seven players grabbed rebounds, led by Brink (13) and Jones (8) as Stanford outrebounded the Beavers. Still, Cardinal fans breathed a sigh of relief when Lepolo wrapped up that steal of OSU's inbound attempt.
Stanford 62 - Oregon 54
The Sunday afternoon Oregon game was also a battle, but not as intense as the Oregon State game. Stanford took a 4-3 lead early in the first quarter and never trailed again, extending their lead to 16 points with under four minutes in the fourth quarter. Given that Oregon has great shooters even a 16-point lead is not totally secure, but the Stanford defense was up to the challenge. An Oregon 3-pointer with two seconds left in the game prevented the final margin from being in double digits, but it was a solid win. The Cardinal's defense was again smothering, holding an Oregon team averaging over 45% from the floor to only 25%! Some of that was, of course, due to Cam's awesome shot-blocking-extravaganza. But, the rest was due to the sticky presence of Stanford defenders as they followed Ducks around the court, mostly preventing the open looks Oregon shooters are accustomed to seeing.
Oregon is another team with impressive height, particularly Phillipina Kyei, a 6'8 sophomore from Canada. It is a testament to Brink's shot blocking artistry that several of her blocks were on shots by Kyei. One wonders if practicing against 6'7 Lauren Betts has increased Cam's confidence against taller players. Kyei was the game's top rebounder, on a rare night when the CARD was outrebounded. She had 17, one more than Haley's impressive 16 rebounds (along with 8 points, 4 assists, a steal, and a block).
As with Oregon State and most other Pac-12 teams, Oregon focused on keeping Hannah Jump contained. However, against Oregon several of Stanford's other three-point shooters started taking and making their shots. Nothing stops teams from sagging off on players better than when those plyers start making those threes. The three-point barrage was led by Brooke Demetre who was 3-for-3 from three, scoring nine points in her eight minutes on the floor. The CARD also benefited from Talana Lepolo returning to full speed after her ankle injury. Talana had six assists and only one turnover along with her five points and four rebounds. The bench showed up for this one, with sophomores Elena Bosgana joining Brooke Demetre in showing off continued improvement and freshmen Indya Nivar and Lauren Betts reminding us that the future is bright.
Questions
1. How will Stanford do on the road?
We've reached the past the mid-point of the Pac-12 season with the CARD on top at 9-1, followed by Utah at 8-2, Colorado at 7-3, and a gang of 3 at 6-4. Stanford's 9-1 record has only included one two-day road trip and a "road trip" across the bridge to Berkeley. The only loss came on the second game of a true road trip. In the next four weeks the CARD have three weekend road trips including a potentially brutal one to the mountains -- playing two ranked teams at altitude with a long bus ride in-between. They follow that with the Pac-12 tournament. The only home games will be against nationally ranked UCLA and USC, the team that beat us in Southern CAL. This stretch will be a major test -- preparing the team for a deep run in the NCAA tournament. If the CARD come through that gauntlet unscathed it will likely be next stop Dallas....
2. Which teams will earn the four Day One byes in the Pac-12 Tournament?
The top four teams in the Pac-12 teams don't need to play on the first day. If the season ended today, that would be Stanford, Utah, Colorado, and either UCLA, Arizona, or USC. But, those three are followed by two teams at 5-5. With eight games to go on the Pac-12 schedule, any of those teams could theoretically earn a first day bye. It's beyond difficult to believe that the CARD could lose enough games to drop out of the top four...but who will join them resting on the first day is an open question.
3. Will you notice that I'm not here?
Tomorrow the Stanford Fan Girl will be leaving on an international trip where I may not have access to the games -- or to the internet. That means no blogs until our next home game weekend.
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