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WBB: Stanford 64 Colorado 51 - 81alum - 02-09-2017

Preliminary:

We shall see if Tara can use a homestand against Colorado and Utah to help her fix the problems that need fixing before we start a critical four game stretch against C.al, Oregon, and Oregon State.  Last time at Colorado they gave us a game.  We need to improve our perimeter defense or else we might find Colorado leading after the half again.  At least Marta's stitches should be out--hopefully she can avoid having a Colorado player sit on her this time!

http://thecardboard.org/board/index.php?topic=16453.0

Flow of the Game:

J.R. Payne has a knack for getting her teams to play effective, close, man defense--which her Santa Clara team last year used to surprise us.  Colorado came out with energy and crowded all the passing lanes, making it very difficult for us to get open looks.  Missed layups and turnovers also hurt us in the first quarter, and we crawled from 2 points to 4 points to 6 points where we stayed until there were just three minutes left in the quarter, and closed it out with 9.  Fortunately, our defense played well and Colorado was no better--the first quarter ended in a 9-9 tie.  An ugly, unattractive, tie, but it could have been worse--we could easily have been down a bundle.

The second quarter was slightly better but not by a lot.  Missed free throws compounded our scoring drought.  Britt began to make some layups, however, and the offense creaked into gear.  Kaylee, who started, was long gone from the game and Tara let the other bigs rotate in and played a fair bit of small-ball with the four guard set.  She was clearly looking for a combination that worked.  We went into half time down 24-27, and frankly I though we were lucky to have kept the game that close.

The third quarter was better.  About two minutes in Bri made a trey to tie the game.  Colorado got the lead back and stretched it out to 6 points as McKenzie Ellis kept hitting unexpected treys.  It was now clear that Colorado had sold out to stop Erica and Karlie, requiring that someone else carry the offense.  Someone did.  The Britt show began.  She made two layups and two free throws, a jumper, and a layup to wrest the lead back.  Still, the end of the third quarter was inconclusive.  Erica made a trey at the buzzer after we broke the press to give us a 46-44 lead, but that was hardly secure.

The game had really shifted, though, on Erica's trey.  It was the beginning of a 19-2 run that won the game for us.  It felt to me that Colorado just could not sustain its focus indefinitely, and our solid defense through three quarters, with Erica's three point buzzer beater, took something out of their team, leading to a 20-7 fourth quarter advantage for us. 

Performances:

Another superb game for Britt, scoring 26 points and grabbing 11 rebounds on 55% shooting.  She was aggressively driving to the basket and manufacturing opportunities, although she missed too many free throws.

Erica scored 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, but was only 4/13 shooting and a very bad 6/11 free throws.    I'm not actually sure how much of this was a result of the defense and how much of it is a slump carrying over from UCLA.  It is pretty clear that all opposing teams put their best defenders against McCall and Samuelson.

Alanna Smith checked in with 7 points and 8 rebounds and 5 blocks in 19 minutes.  She shot 3/5 and seemed highly effective on defense.  I wonder if she should be starting, giving that Nadia slowed down with Pac 12 play and Kaylee doesn't seem to be doing as well as we have come to expect.

Marta had 7 points including a made three!  If only that could be bottled and poured at will.  As has been pointed out, her 8 assists to 0 turnovers was extraordinary.

Karlie got shut down, scoring just 4 points on 2/9 and not hitting a trey in the game.  Bri was ineffective on offense, scoring 3 points.  Their lack of production really made this a tight defensive slugfest, since we could not force the game to open up.

It is time to ask if there is something wrong with Kaylee.  She started and got just 5 minutes.  Tara must have seen something that did not feel right.

Conclusion:

This performance does not inspire confidence, but better to be working on problems now than week from now.  Britt particularly deserves accolades.  On to take on Utah on Sunday.

Re: WBB: Stanford vs. Colorado Friday 8pm - CompSci87 - 02-10-2017

After a dreadful first half we are down 27-24. Colorado defense is shutting us down, not to mention turnovers and missed free throws.

Re: WBB: Stanford vs. Colorado Friday 8pm - FarmDad.01 - 02-10-2017

Having Kailee and Marta on the floor at the same time allows the other team's defense to play 5 on 3.

Re: WBB: Stanford vs. Colorado Friday 8pm - TheFarm07 - 02-10-2017

We win 64-51.

The good:

- McPhee's 26 points carried the day as she saved our stagnant offense through her heroics in the 3rd quarter again, replicating her earlier feats in the same quarter at the game in Colorado. Apparently, tonight was also her first collegiate double-double as she grabbed 11 rebounds as well
- Thanks largely to Brit, we were able to score 40 points in the second half after only scoring 24 in the first half
- Our defense was consistently there despite our offensive woes, limiting the Buffaloes to 51 points and only 7 in the fourth quarter
- I loved our hustle in gathering our missed shots, though I do not like the fact that we had so many missed shots to get offensive rebounds from. Our 18 offensive rebounds allowed us to overcome a poor shooting night, run down the clock and wear down the Colorado defense
- Sniezek had a great point guard night, racking up 8 assists without a single turnover
- Alanna also contributed heavily in that third quarter as Erica was on the bench. In limited minutes, she not only had 7 points, but grabbed 8 rebounds and blocked 5 shots. McPhee will rightly get the headlines, but don't overlook Smith's contribution
- We avoided the upset bug tonight that affected 2 of our biggest competitors for the conference title. U.SC went into Corvallis and handed Oregon State a big second loss 70-50, while Oregon showed how dangerous they can be by handling UCLA 84-75. Thanks to these results, we are in a three way tie for first with UW (who demolished Arizona) and Oregon State and UCLA drops 2 games back.

The bad:

- Erica also had a double-double and incidentally she was the only other player for us in double figures tonight, but she struggled to get her 15 points (she was only 6-11 from the free throw line and 4-13 from the field, missing some easy layups), though her buzzer beating 3 pointer at the end of the third quarter gave us momentum going into the fourth quarter in a still very tight game
- Karlie was held in check offensively, missing her only 2 three point attempts as she went 2-9 from the field
- Our free throw shooting woes continue, making just half of our attempts (10-19). That's too many free points that we are not capitalizing on. This is especially important as the misses came from our two players who go to the line the most often (Brit - 3/6 and Erica - 6/11)
- Our first half offense was atrocious, with turnovers and poor offensive possessions. Though we were able to survive and keep it close with good defense against a solid, but not great Colorado team, we wouldn't get away with it against a better team. We need to play 40 minutes of offense, not 20 or 30, especially against top competition
- After starting the game, Kaylee was largely kept on the bench for most of the game, only contributing 2 points and 4 rebounds
- Bri was also cold going 1-7 from the field


Re: WBB: Stanford 64 Colorado 51 - TheFarm07 - 02-11-2017

One more good note amongst a bad note:

Even though Karlie scored just 4 points tonight, it was enough for her to reach the 1,000-point mark in her Stanford career, becoming the 38th player in school history to achieve this milestone. Congrats to her!

Re: WBB: Stanford 64 Colorado 51 - CompSci87 - 02-11-2017

A game with tight, physical defense like this is really made for Brit. It's great seeing her take it to the basket and finish despite contact, grabbing rebounds and scrapping for the ball.

Re: WBB: Stanford 64 Colorado 51 - BigEasyCard - 02-11-2017

With this victory, UCLA's loss at Oregon, and USC's upset of Oregon State, the Cardinal move into a three-way tie for first place.  UCLA is now two games back.

http://pac-12.com/sport/womens-basketball

Geaux Cardinal!

Re: WBB: Stanford 64 Colorado 51 - BobK - 02-11-2017

Being In First place is great.  Thank you Brit

Glad some of us stayed late to give her a standing ovation as she gave out of the locker room to greet her parents.

For all the bad Brit was awesome.    Not just 11 rebounds but keeping the ball alive so many times for others to rebound. 

11 tournovers in the first half to 2 in the 2nd made a brobdingnagian difference 😳

Re: WBB: Stanford 64 Colorado 51 - winflop - 02-11-2017

(02-11-2017, 01:04 AM)CompSci87 link Wrote:A game with tight, physical defense like this is really made for Brit. It's great seeing her take it to the basket and finish despite contact, grabbing rebounds and scrapping for the ball.

This is why she's my favorite player on the roster and one of my favorites of all time.  She plays it tough like few who have put on the uniform, doesn't take any crap, and dishes out her fair share.

Re: WBB: Stanford 64 Colorado 51 - chimera - 02-11-2017

Yeah, Brit changed the game in the second half.  Frustrating game to watch.  CO is not very good.  They play hard.  They play pretty tough defense, but nothing particularly special or harder to deal with than we've seen before.  But they have very little inside game.  Somehow we let them take and make threes in the first half when helping off shooters.  Why?  We should have been able to drive on CO a lot, but only Brit really did it.  I thought we looked tired.  Lots of shots came up short.  Still a hangover from the emotion of the UW win and the 1000 wins?  Marta played well, made a nice three (more, please!).  Alanna played well.  I'm not sure why Bird is struggling so much now finishing.  Hope it is just a slump and not a sign she is worn out or dinged up in some way. 

The big mystery, where was Brewer, who was not on the bench?  Ill?  Family emergency?  Decided she had seen Tara win 1000 already so no point in seeing any more?  Abducted by aliens?  Won a free trip to Cabo?

Re: WBB: Stanford 64 Colorado 51 - 81alum - 02-11-2017

(02-11-2017, 05:10 AM)BigEasyCard link Wrote:With this victory, UCLA's loss at Oregon, and Under Stanford Control (again)'s upset of Oregon State, the Cardinal move into a three-way tie for first place.  UCLA is now two games back.

http://pac-12.com/sport/womens-basketball

Geaux Cardinal!
We have to take care of business against Utah and the two games against C.al, but that last weekend in Oregon is shaping up to be a conference decider.  We have the tiebreaker against Washington and if we win out we would be ahead of Oregon State.  But Oregon is becoming a big threat, and beating Oregon State at their house will be that much tougher than when we had them here. 

We could still finish anywhere from 1-4.

An interesting question is where do we want to finish?  I would like to finish 1st for bragging rights, but as for the seed for the Pac 12 tournament, I'm not sure.  I don't know if we should have a preference to play UCLA, or OSU, or Washington--they all seem equally challenging to me.  Probably best to avoid Washington in their home town.

Re: WBB: Stanford 64 Colorado 51 - TheFarm07 - 02-11-2017

(02-11-2017, 12:04 PM)81alum link Wrote:[quote author=BigEasyCard link=topic=16574.msg188507#msg188507 date=1486815001]
With this victory, UCLA's loss at Oregon, and Under Stanford Control (again)'s upset of Oregon State, the Cardinal move into a three-way tie for first place.  UCLA is now two games back.

http://pac-12.com/sport/womens-basketball

Geaux Cardinal!
We have to take care of business against Utah and the two games against C.al, but that last weekend in Oregon is shaping up to be a conference decider.  We have the tiebreaker against Washington and if we win out we would be ahead of Oregon State.  But Oregon is becoming a big threat, and beating Oregon State at their house will be that much tougher than when we had them here. 

We could still finish anywhere from 1-4.

An interesting question is where do we want to finish?  I would like to finish 1st for bragging rights, but as for the seed for the Pac 12 tournament, I'm not sure.  I don't know if we should have a preference to play UCLA, or OSU, or Washington--they all seem equally challenging to me.  Probably best to avoid Washington in their home town.
[/quote]

They are all tough -- do we want to face Plum, Osahor and the three point threat of Romeo? Or Canada, Billings and the three point threat of Korver? Or Wiese, Gulic and Pivec?

Playing UW in Seattle would be the toughest, but then we proved recently that we can rally in a tough environment

I think given the similarities in toughness of these teams, we should focus on improving our own play. If Smith can come off the bench and contribute the way she did last night, that would be a brobdingnagian plus for us. McCall needs to make more of those layups and post points as well.

Re: WBB: Stanford 64 Colorado 51 - 81alum - 02-12-2017

After the game, the announcers pointed out that Britt's outpouring was largely fueled by Marta's assists.  Britt reflects on this in the post-game interview:

http://pac-12.com/videos/stanfords-brittany-mcphee-coachs-halftime-advice-were-tired-losing-our-home-court

So here are her 8 assists"
1. to Smith for a layup (1st quarter)
none (2nd quarter)
2. to Roberson for trey (3rd quarter)
3. to McPhee for layup (3rd quarter)
4. to McPhee for layup (3rd quarter)
5. to McCall for trey (3rd quarter)
6. to Samuelson for jumper (4th quarter)
7. to McPhee for layup (4th quarter)
8. to McCall for layup (4th quarter)

What I notice is that all the key baskets of the game were assisted by Marta.  Roberson's trey to open the second half and tie the score up, McCall's buzzer-beater trey at the end of the third, and the string of McPhee layups in the 3rd and 4th quarters that put us ahead to stay.  Combine that with 0 turnovers and this has to go down as one of Marta's best assist games.  If she can go 8 assists to 0 turnovers every night while solving an aggressive, close defense, then we can get by with 2/4 shooting from her--especially if she hits a trey once each game to keep the defense honest. 

That is probably why Tara gave her 29 minutes at point.





Re: WBB: Stanford 64 Colorado 51 - 2006alum - 02-12-2017

Glad to see a strong game from Sniezek, especially with Karlie and Bri both a little off. As long as Marta can be a credible scoring threat as well, I agree - she doesn't need to attempt 10 shots a night, but she does need to take open shots when defenders sag on her.

And always fun to see Britt when she is on her game. More than any player on the team, she creates openings in so many different ways, and is so versatile. If she just can control the turnovers, she'll be a real threat for her senior season.

Even more so than the last two years, our team this year feels very streaky. We seem to have one or two hot players every game, and one or two surprisingly cool players. Bird rarely scores in single digits, but other than her, it doesn't seem like anyone has really stepped up to be a reliable presence game after game. It's very strange.