Little Things from a Deep Roster – A Winning Formula

Opposing coaches know about Stanford’s top three scorers: Cameron Brink, Kiki Iriafen and Hannah Jump.  If these are the only defensive challenges that Stanford poses, Stanford could still win against lesser opponents, but it would lose many a game against top-ranked opponents.  When Brink and/or Iriafen are on the bench, someone else must step up to provide the points.  And Stanford’s defense loses a great deal.  Indeed, the lack of credible interior defense played a role in the loss to Gonzaga when Brink and Iriafen played only a combined 35 minutes.  

 

The loss against Gonzaga and the win against Cal presents an interesting contrast.  In both road games, Stanford scored 78 points, losing to Gonzaga by 18 points and defeating Cal by 27 points.  The defensive difference is striking.  Gonzaga managed 98 points against Stanford, almost twice Cal’s 51 points.  To be sure, Gonzaga’s offensive potential was doubtless greater (Gonzaga shot three balls at a 41.7% clip while Cal was a miserable 12.9% from distance).  Still, Stanford’ perimeter defense is better when Brink and/or Iriafen can guard the interior.   For more than half of the 80 minutes against Cal, Brink, Iriafen, or both were in the game.

 

On offense, Stanford must threaten with a more diversified scoring.  To achieve this, starters such as Elena Boscana and Talana Lepolo must command the defense’s attention.  Players off the bench such as Brooke Demetre, Nunu Agara, Courtney Ogden, Jzaniya Harriel, and Chloe Clardy must be offensive threats.

Below, I take a look at each of these seven players who can make a difference, each of them averaging 12 minutes or more per game.  I begin with the two starters, Lepolo and Boscana.

 

Talana Lepolo is averaging 25.6 minutes per game, second only to Hannah Jump’s 31.8 minutes.  She leads the team in assists with a commendable 2.26 assist to turnover ratio.  With a modest 5.3 points per game, she is only the team’s seventh highest scoring player despite her many minutes.    

But consider this.  Lepolo scored a team and career high 20 points against Cal, going 6 for 10 from the three-point line.  In the previous game against UC Davis, Lepolo made both of her three-point shots.  When left unguarded on the perimeter, it is critical that Lepolo make the opponent pay – and she did exactly that against Cal.  If opponents continue to pack the interior, Lepolo will get lots more chances.

 

Elena Boscana is fearless in driving the basket or in taking the outside shot.  She is just below 30% from the three-point line.  She is a much-improved rebounder, averaging 5.7 boards per game.   She gets assists on offense and steals on defense.  Boscana is a substantial contributor to the offensive and defensive balance that the team needs.

 

Nunu Agara is one of the first players off the bench and rightly so.  She is the team’s number four scorer (8.8 points per game).  She drives the basket strongly and creatively and draws fouls (second only to Brink in foul shot attempts).  At the line, she is 92.5%, second only to Brink’s 94.4%.  The two players’ combination of drawing the fouls and converting the shots makes Stanford the top foul-shooting team in the conference.  Agara also battles inside and averages 4.1 boards per game.

 

Brooke Demetre gets more minutes than any other bench player and averages more minutes than Boscana.  She is an interior player with a shooter’s touch, averaging 32.4% from distance.  Against Cal, she drained a three from the parking lot in the last seconds of the first quarter.  She is an assist leader and an improving rebounder as she has moved to playing post positions.  She needs to continue to shoot from inside and out.

 

Courtney Ogden is the team’s top-ranked freshman recruit and showing it with a 33% three-point shooting rate.  She is a team player and contributes assists on offense and steals on defense.  She made  13 points in the Gonzaga loss.   After missing two recent games (injury related), Ogden is on a track to success.

  

Jzaniya Harriel also missed two recent games but has shown a shooter’s touch from the distance (38.7%) and a defensive mindset, leading the team with 10 steals while averaging only 12.6 minutes per game.  She has demonstrated her value on court.

 

Chloe Clardy is the last of the three promising freshman.  Her outside shooting could improve, but Clardy does not hesitate to drive the basket.  Her quickness on both ends of the court is an asset, with 17 assists and 16 defensive boards. 

 

One or more of these seven players could make Stanford’s season.

After Gonzaga - What Next?

 

Evening talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel has repeatedly joked that Gonzaga doesn’t exist.  The Stanford women’s basketball team knows better. 

With a commanding physical presence, the Zags decisively bested then number 3 Stanford 96-78 on an early December Sunday afternoon.  When was the last time anyone scored 96 points against Stanford?  When was the last time anyone scored 32 points on Stanford in a single quarter?

The Zags did both of those things, adding 44 points in the paint (compared to Stanford’s 34) and an overall 31-29 rebounding advantage.  Gonzaga used motivation, sound preparation, and talent to play its best game of the season.

Stanford now goes on a break to focus on final exams, with its next games at home against Portland and UC Davis before the Christmas holiday.  In the meantime, the team must take what it can from this loss and regroup for the conference season.

Maybe it won’t take that much.  There were extenuating circumstances associated with the loss to Gonzaga.  Cameron Brink was ill and played only 11 minutes.  Her post mate Kiki Iriafen got in foul trouble and played only 24 minutes.  Iriafen picked up her fourth foul early in the third quarter and had to watch from the bench as the Zags outscored Stanford 32-16 in that quarter.  With the Zags holding a 20-point lead, Iriafen returned to play most of the fourth quarter but the team could reduce the margin by only 2 points.

Viewing the contest on video, my impression was that Stanford’s defensive game plan fell apart in the third quarter.  With both Brink and Iriafen out, the Zags started getting productive in the interior.  Stanford tried to bolster interior defense but, in the process, left more three-point shooters open (the Zags were deadly from inside (62%) and outside (56%) during their third quarter blitz.  If one leaves out the third quarter, the game was closely contested and could have been won by either team.

So what’s to be done about the defensive collapse?  Iriafen has run into foul trouble twice in recent games and should learn from this game the importance of staying on the floor.  Still, during a long season, there are sure to be other games in which both Brink and Iriafen have to sit for more than a few minutes.   Their substitutes, primarily Brooke Demetre and Nunu Agara, have to learn what they can about defending against strong post players.  Rebounding from these subs could also improve.  The team should prepare for a help defense that still leaves the opponent’s primary three-point shooters closely guarded. 

Stanford’s offensive performance showed promise even with Brink (and often Iriafen) not on the floor.  The three top scorers (each with 13 points) were Hannah Jump and freshmen Nunu Agara and Courtney Ogden.  Ogden was 3-6 from distance.  Brooke Demetre was 2-3.  Stanford shot threes at a 45% clip, adding 27 points to its 78-point total.  In the interior, Stanford suffered on the boards and clearly missed the scoring dominance that Brink and Iriafen typically bring.  The team’s two other shortcomings were the 53% shooting from the foul line and the 16 turnovers (the Zags had only 7).

Leaving aside neutral court games, Stanford is 1 for 2 in away games.  The road percentage must improve if Stanford is to contest the conference championship.  Despite the disappointing loss to Gonzaga, Stanford still has the talent, chemistry and motivation to win every game it plays and contest for the conference championship.