Escaping Las Vegas
When the 7-0 Cardinal arrived in Las Vegas Wednesday the team was riding high -- Lara Somfai had just been named National Freshman-of-the-Week and Nunu Agara, having been named ACC Player-of-the-Week was runner-up for National Player of the week. Looming a week away was a nationally televised game against #14 Tennessee at Maples. But first there was the Resorts World Classic with games against the 1-2 Florida Gulf Coast Eagles followed by a showdown with the undefeated Colorado State Rams.
Turkey Hangover
On paper the Florida Gulf Coast game looked to be a blowout. The Eagles had won one game, a blowout over Ava Maria, and lost by big margins to Davidson and George Mason. Unfortunately, games aren't decided on paper. Stanford began by scoring the first four points. But in the next four minutes, the CARD were called for three fouls and scored zero points. The first quarter ended with Stanford up by one point -15 to 14. The second quarter was a disjointed low scoring affair. Stanford scored ten points on four baskets and two free throws. The Eagles scored 14 again. The Cardinal went into half-time trailing by three, 28 to 25. Cardinal fans expected the team to come out from half-time with intensity. But if anything, it was the Eagles that came out with fire. By three minutes gone in the 3rd, Stanford was down by seven points and had only scored four. As the 3rd quarter wound down, FGCU was up by 11, 52-41! At that point it seemed to dawn on the CARD players that they might actually lose the game and their intensity, which had been lacking, ramped up. Stanford outscored FGCU seven to two in the last minute and thirty-five seconds of the quarter. FGCU responded with their own burst of intensity and Stanford did not score again until almost four minutes were gone in the fourth quarter and the CARD was down by 11 again! Once again Stanford ramped it up and outscored the Eagles but could not get closer than three points. Chloe Clardy made two layups and a three-pointer in the last 22 seconds of the game, but the Eagles hit enough of their free throws to win the game by four points.
It is hard to know how much the outcome of the game was due to the Cardinal's lack of intensity. However, the quickness of the small FGCU players did expose some defensive weaknesses in the Cardinal lineup. Help wasn't always there when it seems likely it was supposed to be. Although some of FGCU's threes were good shooters making contested shots, too many FGCU players got free easy three-point opportunities. For the game Stanford had nearly twice as many turnovers (18) as assists (10). It was also a low scoring affair with over 60% of Stanford's scoring coming from Nunu (22 pts, nine rebounds) and Chloe (16 points, 5 steals). Hailee Swain was the next highest scorer with 7 points on an inefficient 2-of-12 shooting night. Lara Somfai was limited by foul trouble, only scoring 6 points and collecting 8 rebounds. Overall the Cardinal looked disjointed.
Another Close Call
Stanford's second game in Las Vegas was expected to be a battle. Instead of a matchup between two undefeated teams it was a game between the seven-and-one Cardinal and the seven-and-zero CSU Rams. This was another low scoring game. The Stanford led 14 to 10 at the end of the first quarter but was behind 23 to 25 at the half. The deficit would have been even greater, but Carly Amborn hit a three with forty-one seconds left in the half to pull the CARD within two.
The Cardinal players appeared to be thinking too much and trying too hard not to make a mistake. The ball moved well but players kept passing up decent shots, going deep into the shot clock before throwing up a less than good shot or, on several occasions committing a shot clock violation! Stanford managed to tie the game several times during the 3rd quarter, but never was able to take the lead. The 4th quarter was much the same with CSU going up by eight points by the middle of the 4th. Then the CARD got going. Mary Ashley hit two free throws to cut the lead to six, followed by a block by Chloe. Courtney Ogden did a mini-game take-over scoring the next seven points facilitated by a Clardy steal, a Somfai rebound, and an Agara assist. It was as if the CARD decided to play instead of thinking about playing. Ogden's three pointer with 3:10 to play gave the CARD its first lead of the second half, 54 to 53. Somfai and Clardy added to that lead with layups, putting the Cardinal ahead by five with 1:38 to play. But CSU wasn't done. They tied the game at 60 with seven seconds remaining. Following a time out to advance the ball, Stanford inbounded the ball to Clardy who drove to the basket for a game winning layup with .2 seconds left on the clock.
Not the Play We Expected
Stanford players played well -- just not as well as we expected. For the two games Nunu was her usual impressive self, scoring 40 points (22 and 18). Somfai was limited by foul trouble against FGCU but pulled down 16 rebounds to go with 9 points, an assist, and two blocks against CSU. Courtney Ogden only scored five points (on 2 of 4 shooting) against FGCU, but her 15 against CSU were game changing. Carly Amborn continued to be perfect from the floor with a made three and a running flip shot against CSU -- although she proved that she is human when she missed her two free throws. Chloe Clardy's 16 points against FGCU made her the Cardinals' second leading scorer. Chloe also had five assists and only one turnover in the two games. Against CSU she only hit 3 of her 10 shot attempts but none was bigger than her game winning layup.
While CSU is no slouch and a win is a win, overall Stanford's play in this Las Vegas event was not up to the standard the Cardinal had set in the first seven games of the season. The officiating in the FGCU game didn't help. Several calls against Stanford were charges that appeared, at least to this biased observer, to be blocking fouls. The venue also didn't help. Games were played in a tent on a floor laid over carpet. Players and coaches sat on banquet chairs, spectators across the floor on banquet chairs placed on risers. The marginally adequate setting may have contributed to the players' tentativeness. However, it appeared that they were over-thinking their moves, playing not to make a mistake rather than the joyful "going for it" mood of other Stanford games. It's important to remember that the goal of "running offense" is to score, not just "run offense." Stanford will be playing Tennessee on Wednesday night. The Volunteers will be coming in motivated as they lost to UCLA by 22 points on Sunday. A loss to us might even knock Tennessee out of the top 25! A win for us, despite the disappointing loss to FGCU, would probably put Stanford back in the top 25.
Questions:
1. Will the comfortable confines of Maples allow the CARD to get back to playing to win instead of playing not to make a mistake?
There is no need to worry about Stanford's intensity against Tennessee, but the tentativeness and overthinking the team demonstrated against CSU would be deadly against Tennessee.
2. How much will the loss to the now 2 and 4 FGCU team hurt the CARD in the eyes of the pollsters?
Stanford was on the cusp of breaking into the top 25 before that loss. Will the win over CSU redeem the CARD or will we still be "outside looking in?"
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