WBB -- Stanford 77 -- UNC 71 (OT)

WBB -- Stanford 77 -- UNC 71 (OT) - Printable Version

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RE: WBB -- Stanford vs UNC (10 AM ESPN) - BostonCard - 01-04-2026

Nice win, on the road, to a ranked team.

Ogden was a beast.
Best game of the season so far from Eschmeyer, who had 10 pts in 7 minutes
As others have noted, tough game for Agara; she played only 18 minutes and got 6 points.
Tough game for Indya Nivar who someone called the best Stanford player on the court: 5 pts, 4 turnovers, and 4 personal fouls.

In the fourth quarter and OT, Stanford held UNC to 17 points while scoring 27. Clutch. With 1:33 left in the game, UNC had a 65-61 lead and with a Clardy miss, EsPN gave UNC a 94% chance of winning. But Ogden got the offensive board and made a 7 foot jumper. UNC didn’t score again in the quarter and we tied the game and had a chance to win it (and yet still the coaches came under criticism on this thread).

Until MV72018 reluctantly praised the coach Payr, the tenor of this thread was [something bad happens] “omg, the coaches are horrible”. [something good happens] “props to the players”. I mean, I’m glad we aren’t throwing 20-year-olds under the bus, but it was funny to read this thread as a whole, as the game developed.

As someone noted, the defense continues to be ahead of the offense, but bear in mind that UNC is one of the best defensive teams in the ACC (second only to Duke and ahead of NC State). As such, 45% shooting, 35% from 3 was… not bad. But the key to the game was outrebounding UNC 40-28, including collecting 11/32 boards on our offensive end. Also, free throw shooting (85%) was excellent, and we had assists on 17 of our 27 made field goals, which is great and had been an issue all year. While frustration with the offense is understandable, this was, all told, a step forward.

BC

RE: WBB -- Stanford vs UNC (10 AM ESPN) - triangle2 - 01-04-2026

(01-04-2026, 01:37 PM)Jskass Wrote: Coach deserves extra credit for not losing her mind and cool when UNC's Toomey pushed off but was NOT called for her fifth foul.

I think Paye has to have been on beta blockers to survive Chuck in a big game. I mean, when he fouled out Agara, I thought her head was going to explode.

(01-04-2026, 01:55 PM)BostonCard Wrote: Nice win, on the road, to a ranked team.

Ogden was a beast.
Best game of the season so far from Eschmeyer, who had 10 pts in 7 minutes
As others have noted, tough game for Agara; she played only 18 minutes and got 6 points.
Tough game for Indya Nivar who someone called the best Stanford player on the court: 5 pts, 4 turnovers, and 4 personal fouls.

In the fourth quarter and OT, Stanford held UNC to 17 points while scoring 27. Clutch. With 1:33 left in the game, UNC had a 65-61 lead and with a Clardy miss, EsPN gave UNC a 94% chance of winning. But Ogden got the offensive board and made a 7 foot jumper. UNC didn’t score again in the quarter and we tied the game and had a chance to win it (and yet still the coaches came under criticism on this thread).

Until MV72018 reluctantly praised the coach Payr, the tenor of this thread was [something bad happens] “omg, the coaches are horrible”. [something good happens] “props to the players”. I mean, I’m glad we aren’t throwing 20-year-olds under the bus, but it was funny to read this thread as a whole, as the game developed.

As someone noted, the defense continues to be ahead of the offense, but bear in mind that UNC is one of the best defensive teams in the ACC (second only to Duke and ahead of NC State). As such, 45% shooting, 35% from 3 was… not bad. But the key to the game was outrebounding UNC 40-28, including collecting 11/32 boards on our offensive end. Also, free throw shooting (85%) was excellent, and we had assists on 17 of our 27 made field goals, which is great and had been an issue all year. While frustration with the offense is understandable, this was, all told, a step forward.

BC

It's usually a pleasure to get Debbie Antonelli doing the color commentary on TV. True again today. For all the folks who have been complaining about the offense, Antonelli was quick to observe that Stanford went to the double high-post "horns" set when NC was overplaying the elbow and causing turnovers on the split action. The coaches get credit for that second half adjustment. Eschmeyer's terrific 3-point play was set up on the horns set pick and roll. Antonelli also observed that when we went 5-out and tried to set up the split action in the 4th quarter, the ball movement stalled.

Nivar looked, well, exactly like she did as a freshman - can't shoot free throws, can't hit the 3, makes some aggressive defensive plays but decision making shaky.

These kids are tough and they believe. The players and coaches both get big props for swallowing the horrible NC State loss and coming right back for a quad 1 win on the road. #WeBelieve

RE: WBB -- Stanford vs UNC (10 AM ESPN) - BillBradley - 01-04-2026

Great W for the ladies! Congratulations to both players and coaches.

FWIW, this team has a much higher ceiling than today's performance. I really didn't think we played all that great. We were fortunate in that UNC went 3-14 from 3 and 18-30 from the line. There's ample room to clean up sloppy play (22 TO's), slot selection, stagnation, etc. and we could be really good. Been saying it all season - the talent is there for this to be a Top-20 team.

Not that Alex's play was the sole reason for the win, but OMG - can we please get her on the court? Broken record...

RE: WBB -- Stanford vs UNC (10 AM ESPN) - ljw63 - 01-04-2026

(01-04-2026, 02:11 PM)BillBradley Wrote: Great W for the ladies! Congratulations to both players and coaches.

FWIW, this team has a much higher ceiling than today's performance. I really didn't think we played all that great. We were fortunate in that UNC went 3-14 from 3 and 18-30 from the line. There's ample room to clean up sloppy play (22 TO's), slot selection, stagnation, etc. and we could be really good. Been saying it all season - the talent is there for this to be a Top-20 team.

Not that Alex's play was the sole reason for the win, but OMG - can we please get her on the court? Broken record...

When playing NC State the team looked very tense and almost intimidated. Why? Against N Car they did not seem intimidated. Obviously, they are a young team and intimidation would not be unexpected. Agara and Ogden seemed a little less intimidated than the others but even they were tight. I can think of perhaps a dozen reasons and a couple of them are coaching related. I do not have the answer, and I do not want to blame the coaches without knowing more. However, I do blame the coaches for some of the issues.
What is KP thinking when she plays Lepolo and Stephenson at the same time and this happened for at least a quarter of the game. Neither will shoot (Lepolo will until she misses) and they both play mediocre defense. This move puts tremendous pressure on the other three. Eschmeyer is very efficient in her 7 minutes but all it gets her is a quick hook. At least KP recognized that Shay changes the game and left her in. She may well have won the game for us. The referring was horrendous – 26 fouls on us to 18 on UNC. (FTs were i8 for us to 30 which indicates they called even more shooting fouls against us.) Clardy was probably fouled on the last play of regulation and if it had been UNC on offense it would certainly have been called. It seems like the ACC referees resent Stanford being in their conference.
We could be a very good team (15-20 nationally) with the proper allocation of minutes, but it seems like we are destined to be a somewhat better than average team who can occasionally win a big game.

RE: WBB -- Stanford vs UNC (10 AM ESPN) - Nobadeer - 01-04-2026

Should be a fabulously happy flight back to the Bay Area!

RE: WBB -- Stanford vs UNC (10 AM ESPN) - WBB fan - 01-04-2026

Yes, Shay was a real sparkplug in this game, but I'm surprised that no one has commented on Clardy's contribution. We did not have her on Thursday, and that really hurt. Today, she was back, and played 31 minutes, had 13 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists and two steals. FWIT, for me, she was the player of the game, and the real difference maker.

RE: WBB -- Stanford vs UNC (10 AM ESPN) - martyup - 01-04-2026

Clardy was solid, but gave up 5 turnovers. Lepolo had 7 assists to 1 turnover.

RE: WBB -- Stanford vs UNC (10 AM ESPN) - old spanish trail - 01-04-2026

(01-04-2026, 02:26 PM)Nobadeer Wrote: Should be a fabulously happy flight back to the Bay Area!

Exactly.

RE: WBB -- Stanford vs UNC (10 AM ESPN) - 2006alum - 01-04-2026

(01-04-2026, 02:16 PM)ljw63 Wrote:
(01-04-2026, 02:11 PM)BillBradley Wrote: Great W for the ladies! Congratulations to both players and coaches.

FWIW, this team has a much higher ceiling than today's performance. I really didn't think we played all that great. We were fortunate in that UNC went 3-14 from 3 and 18-30 from the line. There's ample room to clean up sloppy play (22 TO's), slot selection, stagnation, etc. and we could be really good. Been saying it all season - the talent is there for this to be a Top-20 team.

Not that Alex's play was the sole reason for the win, but OMG - can we please get her on the court? Broken record...

When playing NC State the team looked very tense and almost intimidated. Why? Against N Car they did not seem intimidated. Obviously, they are a young team and intimidation would not be unexpected. Agara and Ogden seemed a little less intimidated than the others but even they were tight. I can think of perhaps a dozen reasons and a couple of them are coaching related. I do not have the answer, and I do not want to blame the coaches without knowing more. However, I do blame the coaches for some of the issues.
What is KP thinking when she plays Lepolo and Stephenson at the same time and this happened for at least a quarter of the game. Neither will shoot (Lepolo will until she misses) and they both play mediocre defense. This move puts tremendous pressure on the other three. Eschmeyer is very efficient in her 7 minutes but all it gets her is a quick hook. At least KP recognized that Shay changes the game and left her in. She may well have won the game for us. The referring was horrendous – 26 fouls on us to 18 on UNC. (FTs were i8 for us to 30 which indicates they called even more shooting fouls against us.) Clardy was probably fouled on the last play of regulation and if it had been UNC on offense it would certainly have been called. It seems like the ACC referees resent Stanford being in their conference.
We could be a very good team (15-20 nationally) with the proper allocation of minutes, but it seems like we are destined to be a somewhat better than average team who can occasionally win a big game.

I think we don't match up well with NC State in general (they are almost always fast and physical), and Wes Moore is one of the best at creating a scout to disrupt the other team. Our personnel are much more similar to UNC's and I don't think Banghart does an incredible job taking away the other team's best weapons.

(01-04-2026, 02:38 PM)WBB fan Wrote: Yes, Shay was a real sparkplug in this game, but I'm surprised that no one has commented on Clardy's contribution. We did not have her on Thursday, and that really hurt. Today, she was back, and played 31 minutes, had 13 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists and two steals. FWIT, for me, she was the player of the game, and the real difference maker.

Totally agree. Clardy is the only player on our team who can go toe to toe NC States guards, so it was a particularly disastrous game for her to miss. And I think she's quietly actually the most crucial player to our team, even though she's coming off the bench, because none of our other guards can reliably do it all - including three point shooting. Her speed, versatility, and shooting are critical to creating spacing for our offense to work.

RE: WBB -- Stanford vs UNC (10 AM ESPN) - BostonCard - 01-04-2026

Maybe I read too much into the word “some”. But would it have been too much to say “Coach Paye deserves credit”? Nobody would have confused that statement with “Coach Paye deserves all the credit”. Instead it read like you felt like you had to caveat it by saying “Coach Paye deserves some credit.” Sorry if I read into that one word too much. Regardless, I was glad that someone gave the Coach at least some credit.

BC

RE: WBB -- Stanford vs UNC (10 AM ESPN) - Spiny_Norman - 01-04-2026

KP had to play Stevenson for some period of time today given the foul trouble on Somfai and Agara. Also neither Somfai nor Agara were very effective at defending UNC's bigs, especially Harris who drew 8 fouls in the game and it seemed scored at will in the 2nd half. Coach Paye tried Stevenson as well who was really no better than her teammates.

I have not seen anyone observe yet that Swain was not in the game for most of the 4th quarter and the OT. She played less than 2 minutes in the 4th quarter and not at all in OT. Ijiwoye took her minutes and I don't think any of us would question that decision. Swain had a +/- of -9.

Loved the way this team fought. Every time it felt like UNC was going to pull away, Stanford would get a clutch score. They kept the game within striking distance throughout the 2nd and 3rd quarters and then executed and hustled better than the Tar Heels down the stretch. It was also more enjoyable to watch the offense work better than in past games with 17 assists on 27 FGs.

Success breeds success (we hope). Now get ready for Wake Forest and (especially) Duke at home. Duke handled Notre Dame today.

RE: WBB -- Stanford vs UNC (10 AM ESPN) - OCcardinal - 01-04-2026

This was only the 6th top 25 road victory this early in the season since 2013-14. And 30 points were scored by freshman, by far the highest of any ranked road win this early in the season over that period.

Stanford WBB Top 25 Road Wins on or before January 5th (freshman points scored)
2025-26 77-71 @#16 North Carolina (30, 13 Somfai, 10 Eschmeyer, 7 Swain)
2024-25 N/A
2023-24 N/A
2022-23 N/A
2021-22 74-63 @#7 Tennessee (10, all Iriafen)
2020-21 61-49 @#10 UCLA (10, all Brink), 81-54 @#6 Arizona (11, all Brink)
2019-20 N/A
2018-19 96-85 @#9 Tennessee (17, 14 Lacie Hull, 3 Jenna Brown, Lexie DNP)
2017-18 N/A
2016-17 64-57 @#18 Arizona State (13, 8 Nadia Fingall, 5 Dijonai Carrington)
2015-16 N/A
2014-15 N/A
2013-14 N/A

I'm pretty happy with this result and the development of our frosh.

RE: WBB -- Stanford vs UNC (10 AM ESPN) - PVTree - 01-04-2026

I'll pile on BC's comment that Ogden was a beast today. Her mid-range shot has been reliable, and she's become one of our top scorers.

RE: WBB -- Stanford vs UNC (10 AM ESPN) - Card10Fan - 01-04-2026

(01-04-2026, 05:39 PM)PVTree Wrote: I'll pile on BC's comment that Ogden was a beast today. Her mid-range shot has been reliable, and she's become one of our top scorers.

Agreed. Really Ogden needs to be our go-to player. We are at our best when she's hunting shots and looking to score. I thought the pace of the offensive in the 2nd half was much better. We also played in transition more. Let's keep improving the offense please.

RE: WBB -- Stanford vs UNC (10 AM ESPN) - jonnyss - 01-04-2026

some have commented that kate hasn't adapted mid-game.

early in the game today, the announcers noted that the tight perimeter defense nc employed would make them vulnerable to back-door cuts. that's exactly what kate went to; got us a bunch of assists as well.

RE: WBB -- Stanford vs UNC (10 AM ESPN) - old spanish trail - 01-04-2026

(01-04-2026, 06:49 PM)jonnyss Wrote: some have commented that kate hasn't adapted mid-game.

early in the game today, the announcers noted that the tight perimeter defense nc employed would make them vulnerable to back-door cuts. that's exactly what kate went to; got us a bunch of assists as well.

Exactly

RE: WBB -- Stanford 77 -- UNC 71 (OT) - BosCard - 01-04-2026

Dear Courtney Ogden. You might just be the best player on our team this year. Your 58% FG% is much much better than Agara, Swain, Clardy and Somfai yet they have all taken more shots than you. Your mid range jumper looks great and you are tall enough / athletic enough to get it off over most defenders. Please be more selfish and shoot the ball more.

RE: WBB -- Stanford 77 -- UNC 71 (OT) - chimera - 01-04-2026

Ogden is the go to player we need. She can create her own shot when need be and can score with drives, threes or mid-range stuff. When she is on she is very hard to stop. We don't need to make a tricky pass down low to get her the ball either, just hand it to her on the perimeter. Agara and Clardy are also capable of taking and making tough shots with the game on the line. Options!

I was very pleasantly surprised they pulled this game off. Ijiwoye and Eschmeyer getting key minutes late in the game and coming through was a great sign. Both made crucial plays late. Expanding the rotation to add in Ijiwoye has helped the team. Giving Eschmeyer more minutes should also help. We definitely need her size inside against most of these ACC teams. If nothing else she can help keep Agara and Somfai out of foul trouble. If she plays like today, big boost.

I would agree with those who praised the coaching in this game. They had the team ready and made good adjustments and personnel moves. Good to see. I haven't always felt good about the coaching. Seeing this one eased my mind somewhat on that score. The fact that this was a road win is a big deal.

RE: WBB -- Stanford 77 -- UNC 71 (OT) - bl82 - 01-04-2026

Not only that, but for a most of the game, Nivar was guarding Ogden. Nivar got her 4th foul with 4:48 to go in regulation. I was sure we were going to clear out one side and let Ogden go one-on-one vs. Nivar, but it seemed as if we were not trying to take advantage of a hot Ogden being guarded by an unusually cautious Nivar. A missed strategic opportunity.

RE: WBB -- Stanford 77 -- UNC 71 (OT) - amytmueller - 01-04-2026

After the poor showing against NC State (re-read all the negative posts), who would have thought that we could play so well and beat NC? Very impresesed that they

- Studied film and came out with a game plan for NC
- Put the loss behind them and came out strong and confident
- Executed plays (nice back doors), played tough defense, rebounded well
- Worked all second half to keep it close, never gave NC a big run

Many players that you all have mentioned stepped up in the clutch.

But big kudos to Kate Paye and staff who obviously prepared the team both X's & O's and emotionally to believe that they could win.