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WBB: Stanford 80 ASU 56 - Printable Version

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WBB: Stanford 80 ASU 56 - 81alum - 01-20-2014

Overview

Stanford pulled away in the second half after the team struggled a bit in the first when Chiney was in foul trouble.  Tonight there were only three treys, as the ASU perimeter defense was sharp and we moved the ball inside instead (49 points in the paint).


Flow of the Game:

ASU has turned out to be a surprisingly strong team this year.  Picked by knowledgeable folks to finish 10th in the Pac-12 this year, CTT has gotten the most out of her team and two outstanding frosh players.  They have knocked off North Carolina, Miami, Syracuse, US.C, and most recently C.al.  And so this game, played at their place, had all the hallmarks of a very tough road test.

And that is how it started out.  ASU played excellent player defense and denied us passing lanes, challenging way out beyond the arc.  This seems to have discombobulated our offense at the start.  ASU  took a 6-8 lead by 6 minutes into the game.  Ruef started a run by making two layups, followed by a layup by Chiney and a pretty three by Taylor Greenfield, and it looked like we were off to the races again, leading 15-8.  The lead increased to 12, then Chiney picked up her second foul and sat out the last 7 minutes of the half.  Without Chiney, we looked disjointed on offense again, but our defense was still reasonable.  Still, with our offense doing nothing,  ASU crawled back to within four before Taylor and Karlie made a basket and some free throws to painfully close out the half, giving us a seven point lead. 

In the first half, we only attempted 3 three pointers.  Chiney was 5/6 for 12 points in the half, but her absence in the last 7 changed the game.   

In the second half, with Chiney back, the lead rapidly built again.  Particularly pretty were the high-low passes from Chiney to Taylor Greenfield, who showed that she can do layups quite handily when fed by Chiney.  The lead continued to build as Chiney finally began to rack up her usual numbers--30 points and 16 rebounds tonight as the aggressive ASU defense began to tire out.  This is one of the first games I can remember this year in which we scored more points in the second half than in the first.

Performances

Chiney had another brobdingnagian game and is keeping right on pace to take the all time Stanford scoring lead.  30 points and 16 rebounds doesn't tell the whole story.  It was obvious in the first half that we could only get open three point shots when she was in the game.  When she went out, our attempts at treys stopped.  Her inside threat synergizes with the outside shooting.

Mikaela had 9 points, 11 rebounds, and perhaps most importantly--5 assists and 0 turnovers.  Chiney had 5 turnovers, which is not unusual for an inside player.  Ruef's contributions are proving to be very important this year.  I had incorrectly forecast that one of the frosh "bigs" might supplant her by this point in the season, but Ruef has nailed down her spot.

Taylor Greenfield is coming into her own this year.  Her first two years she was reliable on defense, and sometimes shot the three very well, but at other times her offense went completely dormant.  This year she just seems to be playing with joy.  Her threes have confidence, and it is so nice to see her getting Chiney-esque layups under the basket from time to time.  Fourteen points and four assists for her today.

Karlie Samuelson is earning herself more and more time.  She shoots the three as well as anyone, but she is not a specialist.  She has shown moves to the basket and plays good defense.  Today she only made 2 baskets--and missed 0, but collected 6/7 free throws.  This is a new dimension to her game we have not seen before, and it bodes well.  11 points for her.

Lili Thompson is doing an extraordinary job for a frosh.  11 points, 4 assists, 0 turnovers, 2 steals.  Good defense and she bounced back even when she was hit in the face.  Her energy on the court is obvious.

Amber Orrange had one of the quietest games I have seen from her.  I am not sure if it was the scheme or if there was something the matter.  In any case, she had 0 points and took only 4 shots.  She never attempted a three pointer, even though she leads the Pac-12 in three point percentage.  On several occasions she had open looks from beyond the arc and she passed them up.  It was as if she had been instructed not to shoot.  She had 2 assists and 2 turnovers.  I wonder if the rise of Lili and Karlie has changed Amber's role in some way.  It is worth watching.

I'm not sure what to say about Sara James.  She keeps starting every game, but gets fewer and fewer minutes.  She was down to 5 minutes this game.  Tara has talked about the players "holding each other accountable" and that if one player has an off night, another will get their time.  Well, Sara has started consistently but she consistently gets significantly less than half the minutes at that spot.

Erica McCall got 10 minutes, mainly during the long spell when Chiney was on the bench.  She was 1/3 for two points.  She has the athleticism of someone like Chiney, but not the soft hands.  She and Kailee Johnson are going to be playing a lot more next year with Chiney and Ruef graduating, and yet they don't seem to be over the freshman hump quite yet.  In the last thirty seconds, with the bench playing, Erica had a massive block that reverberated.  That was exciting.

Parting Thoughts

This was an impressive, if not an altogether aesthetic win.  It showed that we could win even when the other team makes a concerted effort to take away our three point shooting.  It also showcased Taylor Greenfield and showed her inside talents more than I can remember.

As for the negatives--I was pretty unhappy with the way we played with Chiney on the bench.  Clearly our offense just doesn't know how to function without her.  There is no plan-B.  If she gets into foul trouble, injured, and of course when she graduates--we have a long ways to go to be effective.


Re: WBB: Stanford 80 ASU 56 - 76lsjumb - 01-20-2014

I know the game's been over for a while, but the next LEGAL screen that ASU sets will be the first one all evening...  IIRC, the refs called maybe 2 illegal picks all game [NOT including one that decked Lili], and that was roughly 5% of the ones that ASU set.

Re: WBB: Stanford 80 ASU 56 - 81alum - 01-21-2014

(01-20-2014, 07:45 PM)76lsjumb link Wrote:I know the game's been over for a while, but the next LEGAL screen that ASU sets will be the first one all evening...  IIRC, the refs called maybe 2 illegal picks all game [NOT including one that decked Lili], and that was roughly 5% of the ones that ASU set.
Were  they all moving screens?

And here is my concern for the future:
Quote:“They are nowhere near the same team without her (Ogwumike),” Turner Thorne said. “It was great we drew those fouls and that allowed us to get back in the game. We talked about that at halftime, OK here she comes, and we didn’t do a good job on her. We’ve got a freshman who is 6-1 matching up with an All-American and we have no ball pressure. Good luck.”


Re: WBB: Stanford 80 ASU 56 - M T - 01-21-2014

(01-20-2014, 06:03 PM)81alum link Wrote:Overview
As for the negatives--I was pretty unhappy with the way we played with Chiney on the bench.  Clearly our offense just doesn't know how to function without her.  There is no plan-B.  If she gets into foul trouble, injured, and of course when she graduates--we have a long ways to go to be effective.

Actually, I was pretty happy how we played with Chiney out.  Scorewise, we pretty much held our own against the #14 team without the player-of-the-year.  Chiney with 7:25 left in the first half with the score 26-17; at the end of the half, the score was 35-28.  We only lost 2 points in that time.  And we even played Tess for nearly 2 minutes in that time.  Expand that rate to a whole game, and the score would be 49-58.

The bad side of it was that Kailee got 2 fouls while Taylor, Mikaela, and Karlie each got 1.  The season stats indicate that ASU is very good at creating fouls.  But, while we committed 5 fouls, ASU committed 4.

A good portion of that time had our other bigs dealing with a 6'5" player.  That definitely impacted our offense.  And, in my opinion, Amber's attempts at offense during this time were fraught with problems.

The TV crew (headed by Jim Watson) for this game wasn't that good tonight.  Amongst other things, it took them FIVE minutes playing time to realize that Chiney wasn't in the game.  They only figured it out during a time-out.

In the sense of "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger", I expect Chiney was reminded of her role as the main offensive player.  I saw her let ASU offensive players go free in the second half.  I also expect the other players have gained confidence that they won't be blown out with Chiney on the bench against a good team.

Jasmine was the only player who didn't play.  I didn't notice if she was suited up.  Anyone know anything?

It seems to me that Tara is getting a little soft:  I think she's leaving Chiney in longer than I would like, well after the game is decided.  Whether it is to let her have better stats for player-of-the-year or be more likely to get the all-time scoring lead, I don't know.  I'd hate to risk an injury, and a chance at a national title, for those.

For the last 2 games, Chiney was 25/31, averaging an amazing 80.6%.  Over the 2 games, she hit 25 shots but was only fouled 3 times.  She must have been so good in the Arizona game that no one could even foul her  (yeah, right). I guess the AZ players were out guarding the 3 point line.

But Chiney doesn't get PAC-12 player of the week.  You see, we only played one game (AZ) this past week.  We'll shortly get to play 3 games in a week (U$C, k.al, and, oh yea, k.al again).



Re: WBB: Stanford 80 ASU 56 - BobK - 01-21-2014

Great point on our D while Chiney was out but during that time we made one shot.  The other points were free throws

Re: WBB: Stanford 80 ASU 56 - Yellowlab - 01-21-2014

Re: the announcers, I was underwhelmed.  I was also unhappy with the camera work at times.  We were watching at a friend's house, because we don't get the PAC-12 network, and the telecast sure didn't cause me to feel desperate to get it.  (It beats listening over the radio though.)

Count me among those unhappy with our offense when Chiney went to the bench.  You expect a drop off, but not ineptitude.  That's what it looked like to me.

I have really got to hand it to Ruef.  She's like the fullback who opens holes for the RB all game long, and only gets the ball every now and then.  Also, she sees some passes that aren't really there, but she thinks she can make them anyway, and sometimes she's right!

Lili keeps impressing me.  She is one tough player.  (I agree about the screens.  ASU did do some hip checking, but what got me was when they extended their elbows.)

ASU looks like they are going to be pretty tough in the future based on what I saw of their underclassmen.  They're a decent enough team right now, and the way the Cardinal took care of business was really great to see.

I also agree with 81alum's assessment of Taylor.  She took it strong to the hoop multiple times, which got my attention.  I think that was the most aggressive I've ever seen her.

For the record, I don't think Tara is getting soft.  I don't think she factors things like player-of-the-year stats into decisions regarding playing time.  She's often left starters in too long for my taste, but I keep telling WBBfan, when I second guess Tara, that only one of us is in the Hall of Fame.

I do think she goes out of her way to pay tribute to her seniors.  I think that's why Sara James gets the starts, but not the minutes.  Also, she always found ways to get some playing time at Maples for seniors, who otherwise pretty much rode the bench. I think it is just part of who Tara is, and I like it. 

New Ogwumike video - CompSci87 - 01-21-2014

http://espn.go.com/espnw/video/10312255/name