01-26-2018, 07:01 AM
Preliminary:
You know the season is not going well when there is considerably more excitement about recruiting than about the next critical game. Nevertheless, we play a season-defining game tonight, a rematch with Arizona State. ASU beat us last time at their home, despite losing all their premiere inside players to graduation. Next week the trip to Oregon and Oregon State will be brutal, and so this--and maybe Cal--is one of a dwindling number of plausible chances in the regular season to earn a win against a very good team. My write-up for the last game is here:
http://thecardboard.org/board/index.php?topic=18502.0
Since they beat us things have not gone well for ASU. They dropped both their games on their Oregon trip--although they were competitive with OSU down to the last basket. Then, shockingly, they lost to Utah at home after leading by 11 in the fourth. Or maybe it is not a shock--Utah is turning out to be better than expected this year. Then ASU got its act together to defeat Colorado at home.Â
In conference play Kiana Ibis has become more dominant, not less, at 16.5 ppg, and Ryan Robbi Robbi Ryan has emerged with 10.5 ppg. But the real key to beating ASU is figuring out how to run a half court offense against their solid defense--and in particular how to beat them inside. We lost the last game because a shorter less talented team out rebounded us by a large margin. In any case, we do not seem to be doing a very good job with our inside game lately, and ASU has multiple blueprints to choose from in how to stop us. While we beat ASU twice last year, we lost to them twice the previous season, including that ignominious game when we scored 31--still constituting the most painful Stanford WBB game I have ever watched.
Overview:
It seems the season is far from over. We led wire to wire in dominating fashion, shooting 49% overall and 33% from three point range, equaling ASU's free throw point total, leading in rebounds, winning the turnover margin, and inflicting 11 steals. The offense looked crisp most of the game, with Sniezek getting the ball inside to McPhee who finished around the basket. You would have thought McPhee was a center. And the defense was suffocating. Ibis was hounded and doubled, largely by Smith who picked up three fouls doing it, and was reduced to 2 points for the game. The night was further gladdened by the announcement that McPhee had surpassed 1000 points--becoming the 39th Stanford player to do that.
Flow of the game:
The tenor of the game was set by the opening tip off. Alanna tipped the ball forward to a streaking McPhee who laid it in for an unmolested basket. Not once this year have our opening tips been forward rather than back, but the coaches saw something in the way ASU was tipping off and installed this play. We opened up a 6-0 lead on Sniezek and Smith layups and continued to get to the rim, but around the 5 minute mark, after a time out, ASU settled down and closed the lanes, which helped them cut our lead to 11-10. But unlike other recent games we had some timely three point shooting--Williams hit one and Carrington entered the game and hit two in succession, and we finished the quarter strong to lead 17-12. Also of note, ASU was turning the ball over much more than we were--6 to our 2 in the first quarter.
The beginning of the second quarter was largely where the game was won, with an 8-0 run leading to a 25-12 lead that stayed intact the rest of the game. ASU was playing man--it probably offends CTT to have to play zone--and our offense seems to have been quite effective against one of the best man defenses we shall play against. Five different players scored in the first five minutes of the quarter, including Marta, who was off to a career high in points.  We also finished out the half expertly, draining the clock and converting a Carrington basket with 2 seconds left to give us a 24 point quarter and a 41-26 lead. Carrington with 12 and Marta with 9 led the way at halftime.
Our scoring in the third quarter began with a Marta steal and a fast break layup. A little later she assisted Williams to a fast break layup too. Williams sank another three and McPhee actually made her free throws, and that was enough to keep ASU from digging out of their hole. During the quarter ASU briefly tried out a zone and I thought it was modestly effective, but they did not stick with it. This was our worst offensive quarter and ASU actually outscored us 14-13, although once again we closed it out with a layup as the clock ticked down. Our end-of-quarter offense certainly looked better than it had all year. Smith and Johnson kept picking up fouls, however, and were cycled to the bench for substantial stretches.Â
We dominated the fourth quarter 20-10, and that includes time with the third string. Marta repeatedly drove into the paint and looked for McPhee to pass to, and McPhee made several acrobatic shots around and under the basket through taller defenders. And when ASU defended McPhee, Sniezek took it to the rim herself. After an orgy of such shots, our lead had ballooned to 67-42, and while ASU continue to fight and scrap, they were clearly broken and their production dwindled away. CTT complained a bit too much to the refs for a call, and she got a T called on her. I noticed she calmed down the test of the way.
Performances:
McPhee is back! She was an astounding 9/11 today, many of which were quite difficult or even improbable shots. She also made 5/6 free throws, which should be enough to warm the hearts of Stanford fans. Add 2 assists, 1 phenomenal crowd pleasing block, 3 rebounds, a steal and 0 turnovers (that's ZERO) and you have someone who could be the heroine of the day.
But I pronounce Sniezek the heroine of the game. She played 39 minutes and probably was on the floor a dozen times. Her drives to the basket are sometimes reckless, her passes into the paint are sometime overly ambitious, but today she scored on a trey, a couple floaters from the paint, and several layups and became a legitimate offensive threat, breaking her career high with 13 points. She also dished 6 assists to only 3 turnovers despite handling the ball for nearly the entire game and in the face of a hounding defense. Her defense was also energetic and she generated 2 steals. But her scrappiness and hustle plays really set the tone and leadership for the team.
Carrington also had 13 points, on very good 5/7 shooting. She had 8 rebounds, which is amazing for a guard and a player who saw only 19 minutes. Pound for pound she is our best rebounder.
Smith had 8 points and 9 rebounds, but 3 fouls kept her to 29 minutes.Â
Williams had 8 points, an assist and a steal in 28 minutes of play.
Johnson fouled out with just 25 minutes, 5 points and 5 rebounds.
Fingall played 12 minutes and missed two shots, at least one from the elbow against the zone. No one else played double digit minutes.
As a team, we shot a terrific 49% while holding them to 37%. We had 9 turnovers for the entire game--a gargantuan improvement over nearly every other game this year. We outrebounded ASU in both categories--a decided reversal from our first game. And while our free throw shooting was not good, at least McPhee's was substantially improved. We scored 42 points in the paint to their 20.
Conclusion:
It is still possible to have a terrific season, if we can keep playing this well against all future opponents. We have to hope that this is an indication that our team has fixed the most substantial of its earlier problems, and not a one game aberration. Provided we take care of business on Sunday, the road trip to the two Oregon schools the following weak will be very meaningful.
You know the season is not going well when there is considerably more excitement about recruiting than about the next critical game. Nevertheless, we play a season-defining game tonight, a rematch with Arizona State. ASU beat us last time at their home, despite losing all their premiere inside players to graduation. Next week the trip to Oregon and Oregon State will be brutal, and so this--and maybe Cal--is one of a dwindling number of plausible chances in the regular season to earn a win against a very good team. My write-up for the last game is here:
http://thecardboard.org/board/index.php?topic=18502.0
Since they beat us things have not gone well for ASU. They dropped both their games on their Oregon trip--although they were competitive with OSU down to the last basket. Then, shockingly, they lost to Utah at home after leading by 11 in the fourth. Or maybe it is not a shock--Utah is turning out to be better than expected this year. Then ASU got its act together to defeat Colorado at home.Â
In conference play Kiana Ibis has become more dominant, not less, at 16.5 ppg, and Ryan Robbi Robbi Ryan has emerged with 10.5 ppg. But the real key to beating ASU is figuring out how to run a half court offense against their solid defense--and in particular how to beat them inside. We lost the last game because a shorter less talented team out rebounded us by a large margin. In any case, we do not seem to be doing a very good job with our inside game lately, and ASU has multiple blueprints to choose from in how to stop us. While we beat ASU twice last year, we lost to them twice the previous season, including that ignominious game when we scored 31--still constituting the most painful Stanford WBB game I have ever watched.
Overview:
It seems the season is far from over. We led wire to wire in dominating fashion, shooting 49% overall and 33% from three point range, equaling ASU's free throw point total, leading in rebounds, winning the turnover margin, and inflicting 11 steals. The offense looked crisp most of the game, with Sniezek getting the ball inside to McPhee who finished around the basket. You would have thought McPhee was a center. And the defense was suffocating. Ibis was hounded and doubled, largely by Smith who picked up three fouls doing it, and was reduced to 2 points for the game. The night was further gladdened by the announcement that McPhee had surpassed 1000 points--becoming the 39th Stanford player to do that.
Flow of the game:
The tenor of the game was set by the opening tip off. Alanna tipped the ball forward to a streaking McPhee who laid it in for an unmolested basket. Not once this year have our opening tips been forward rather than back, but the coaches saw something in the way ASU was tipping off and installed this play. We opened up a 6-0 lead on Sniezek and Smith layups and continued to get to the rim, but around the 5 minute mark, after a time out, ASU settled down and closed the lanes, which helped them cut our lead to 11-10. But unlike other recent games we had some timely three point shooting--Williams hit one and Carrington entered the game and hit two in succession, and we finished the quarter strong to lead 17-12. Also of note, ASU was turning the ball over much more than we were--6 to our 2 in the first quarter.
The beginning of the second quarter was largely where the game was won, with an 8-0 run leading to a 25-12 lead that stayed intact the rest of the game. ASU was playing man--it probably offends CTT to have to play zone--and our offense seems to have been quite effective against one of the best man defenses we shall play against. Five different players scored in the first five minutes of the quarter, including Marta, who was off to a career high in points.  We also finished out the half expertly, draining the clock and converting a Carrington basket with 2 seconds left to give us a 24 point quarter and a 41-26 lead. Carrington with 12 and Marta with 9 led the way at halftime.
Our scoring in the third quarter began with a Marta steal and a fast break layup. A little later she assisted Williams to a fast break layup too. Williams sank another three and McPhee actually made her free throws, and that was enough to keep ASU from digging out of their hole. During the quarter ASU briefly tried out a zone and I thought it was modestly effective, but they did not stick with it. This was our worst offensive quarter and ASU actually outscored us 14-13, although once again we closed it out with a layup as the clock ticked down. Our end-of-quarter offense certainly looked better than it had all year. Smith and Johnson kept picking up fouls, however, and were cycled to the bench for substantial stretches.Â
We dominated the fourth quarter 20-10, and that includes time with the third string. Marta repeatedly drove into the paint and looked for McPhee to pass to, and McPhee made several acrobatic shots around and under the basket through taller defenders. And when ASU defended McPhee, Sniezek took it to the rim herself. After an orgy of such shots, our lead had ballooned to 67-42, and while ASU continue to fight and scrap, they were clearly broken and their production dwindled away. CTT complained a bit too much to the refs for a call, and she got a T called on her. I noticed she calmed down the test of the way.
Performances:
McPhee is back! She was an astounding 9/11 today, many of which were quite difficult or even improbable shots. She also made 5/6 free throws, which should be enough to warm the hearts of Stanford fans. Add 2 assists, 1 phenomenal crowd pleasing block, 3 rebounds, a steal and 0 turnovers (that's ZERO) and you have someone who could be the heroine of the day.
But I pronounce Sniezek the heroine of the game. She played 39 minutes and probably was on the floor a dozen times. Her drives to the basket are sometimes reckless, her passes into the paint are sometime overly ambitious, but today she scored on a trey, a couple floaters from the paint, and several layups and became a legitimate offensive threat, breaking her career high with 13 points. She also dished 6 assists to only 3 turnovers despite handling the ball for nearly the entire game and in the face of a hounding defense. Her defense was also energetic and she generated 2 steals. But her scrappiness and hustle plays really set the tone and leadership for the team.
Carrington also had 13 points, on very good 5/7 shooting. She had 8 rebounds, which is amazing for a guard and a player who saw only 19 minutes. Pound for pound she is our best rebounder.
Smith had 8 points and 9 rebounds, but 3 fouls kept her to 29 minutes.Â
Williams had 8 points, an assist and a steal in 28 minutes of play.
Johnson fouled out with just 25 minutes, 5 points and 5 rebounds.
Fingall played 12 minutes and missed two shots, at least one from the elbow against the zone. No one else played double digit minutes.
As a team, we shot a terrific 49% while holding them to 37%. We had 9 turnovers for the entire game--a gargantuan improvement over nearly every other game this year. We outrebounded ASU in both categories--a decided reversal from our first game. And while our free throw shooting was not good, at least McPhee's was substantially improved. We scored 42 points in the paint to their 20.
Conclusion:
It is still possible to have a terrific season, if we can keep playing this well against all future opponents. We have to hope that this is an indication that our team has fixed the most substantial of its earlier problems, and not a one game aberration. Provided we take care of business on Sunday, the road trip to the two Oregon schools the following weak will be very meaningful.
