The Mountain Schools Road Trip: What Can Stanford Learn?

Warren Grimes

Stanford returned from what on paper should be its roughest road trip of the season with one victory and one loss. 

Stanford hung on to defeat Utah 66-64.  Utah was the preseason selection for #1 and is the best three-point shooting team in the conference.  Against Stanford, Utah played without its best three-point shooter and without its starting point guard.   Still, Utah made things tough, shooting 40.6% from distance.  The game was tied 7 times until Stanford took the lead in the second quarter.  Utah rallied in the fourth and the game went down to the wire.  Kiki Iriafen led Stanford with 25 points and 16 boards.

In Boulder, Stanford could not overcome Colorado’s aggressive focus and lost 71-59.  Particularly harmful was Colorado’s 22-11 third quarter point margin.  Colorado’s aggressive and physical defense disrupted the Stanford offense with 11 steals and 28 points off 18 Stanford turnovers.  Kiki Iriafen was once again Stanford’s leader with 19 points and 19 rebounds.  Stanford won the rebounding battle and shot 100% from the charity stripe, but too few fouls were called against Colorado’s physical defense. 

Colorado is now the only undefeated team in the conference, while Stanford, UCLA, and USC have one defeat each.  Utah, the preseason favorite, now has 3 losses and sits in sixth place behind Oregon State’s two losses.  Next weekend should be interesting with the LA schools visiting Colorado and Utah.  Colorado’s road to the championship remains a challenge, with 2 games each against UCLA and USC.

So what lessons can Stanford learn from the weekend? 

Let’s begin with Cameron Brink, who remains critical to the team’s offense and defense.  Brink got into first half foul trouble in both mountain games, playing just 27 minutes against Utah and 24 minutes against Colorado.  In four conference games, Brink is averaging just 24 minutes and 12.5 points.  Her fouling ways are not just due to defensive blocks – Brink has learned how to swat shots while minimizing physical contact.  Instead, in recent games, offensive fouls have put Brink on the bench.  Opponents have learned to step in front of Brink’s post moves, generating offensive fouls.  Against Utah, in a questionable call, Brink drew another offensive foul for setting up a screen.  With the proper focus, Brink’s first half game strategy should be able to minimize physical contact on offense, at least until the team has a sense of how the referees are calling the game.  Brink has fall back jumpers or other interior moves that are less likely to generate fouls.

Talana Lepolo, who had put up lots of points in earlier conference games, scored only 4 points against Utah and 2 points against Colorado.  On multiple occasions, Lepolo would dribble into the key, see a clogged middle, then dripple out again.  If Lepolo could make the pull up jumper part of her arsenal, she could score more points and perhaps unclog the middle for an assist to an interior player.

Turnovers in the back court are particularly harmful because they often generate uncontested layups by an opponent.  That happened too often against Colorado.  A pass to the interior may be stolen or go out of bounds but would be less likely to facilitate an opponent’s fast break offense.

Jzaniya Harriel has seen more minutes since the conference games began, and for good reason. In four conference games, she’s 5-8 (62.5%) from distance.  Harriel could be even more valuable if she demonstrates creativity off the dribble, perhaps a pull up jumper. 

Indeed, can anyone hit a pull up jumper?  This is one area in which Haley Jones is sorely missed.  Against a team like Colorado, a bit more creativity could enhance Stanford’s offense.  Iriafen’s fall back shots have become a critical part of the offense and explain why she has been the team’s leading scorer since conference play began.

The team will have extra motivation this weekend to put Coach VanDerveer atop the list of all-time winningest coaches.  But a steady focus will be required for every single upcoming conference game.  It’s going to be a brutal season with the conference winner likely, my hunch, to have 2 or more conference losses.