Duke WBB hosts Stanford on Sunday 1/19 at 1pm ET on ESPN2 (
streaming link,
listen,
live stats)
After putting on a defensive clinic that stymied #18 California's high-scoring starters, the #16 Blue Devils will play host this weekend to the other team in the ACC's new West Coast outpost. The Stanford Cardinal arrive in Cameron for a Sunday afternoon game, airing live on ESPN2. The Duke WBB program is also promoting
National Girls & Women in Sports Day:
"Celebrate the achievements of women in sports with Duke Athletics, and join a special dance clinic for elementary and middle school students. Registration details coming soon!" Defensive clinic, dance clinic... what can't this team do?
Duke and Stanford are new conference buddies now, but according to GoDuke's
team history page, they've played 6 times before, between 1988-2023. Longtime Cardinal coach Tara VanDerveer was on the sidelines each time, and her teams have led the series 4-2. She retired at the end of last season, much like the Pac-12.
Former associate head coach Kate Paye was soon promoted, and she got a headstart on this season by taking the team on a trip to Italy in late August, getting in the ten NCAA-authorized early practices and playing three exhibition games against second- and third-tier Italian pro teams. As always, I recapped their experience and posted it
here. Some talking points, in case you don't feel like clicking over:
- Coach Paye was born in Stanford Hospital, and stuck around for an undergraduate degree, a JD/MBA degree, and most of her coaching tenure. (I'll add now that her parents and siblings also attended Stanford.)
- The Cardinal team that hosted and beat Duke in overtime last season looks less familiar now: aside from Coach VanDerveer retiring, their three leading scorers are gone, but the other two starters have returned, along with 7 reserves.
- New additions include three top 100 freshmen, and two transfers from Purdue and Santa Clara who combined for about 30 points per game last season.
The Cardinal are 10-7 overall (2-4 in the ACC). They are 9-1 on their home floor in Maples Pavilion and 1-6 anywhere else. According to their team website,
"In home games, Stanford is scoring 83.3 points per game on 49.5 percent shooting, including 42.2 [percent] from deep. In its seven road and neutral games away from Maples, the Cardinal is averaging 67.7 points on 40.5 percent shooting and 33.8 percent on 3-pointers." That one win away from home was in their most recent game against Wake Forest (74-71:
recap,
box score,
highlights,
full replay).
One of their two returning starters, Talana Lepolo, went out with a knee injury 5 games into the season, and I didn't come across any timetable for a return. With that kind of vagueness, Stanford should fit just fine in the ACC. Mary Ashley Stevenson (from Purdue) and Tess Heal (from Santa Clara) are the program's first incoming undergrad transfers since Duke's Brooke Smith in 2003. Here's a
roster breakdown.
PROBABLE STARTERS
6-2 sophomore forward
Nunu Agara #3 (17.6 pts, 8.1 reb, 2.2 ast)
6-2 senior guard
Elena Bosgana #20 (13.5 pts, 7.2 reb, 2.3 ast, 1.8 stl)
6-3 senior forward
Brooke Demetre #21 (11.4 pts, 4.8 reb, 1.9 ast, 1.2 blk)
5-9 sophomore guard
Chloe Clardy #13 (7.6 pts, 2.5 reb, 1.9 ast, 1.1 stl)
5-6 freshman guard
Shay Ijiwoye #6 (2.6 pts, 1.8 reb, 1.0 ast)
TOP RESERVES
5-10 junior guard
Tess Heal #34 (8.8 pts, 2.3 reb, 1.4 ast)
5-10 redshirt junior guard
Jzaniya Harriel #32 (7.1 pts, 2.9 reb, 1.3 ast)
6-1 sophomore forward
Courtney Ogden #40 (3.5 pts, 1.9 reb, 0.7 ast)
6-2 sophomore forward
Mary Ashley Stevenson #22 (3.3 pts, 3.1 reb, 0.9 ast)
BENCH PLAYERS
6-4 freshman center
Kennedy Umeh #45 (2.8 pts, 2.1 reb, 0.2 ast)
6-3 freshman forward
Harper Peterson #15 (0.8 pts, 0.6 reb, 0.5 ast)
5-11 junior guard
Stavi Papadaki #24 (0.4 pts, 0.2 reb, 0.2 ast)
5-8 junior guard
Lauren Green #31 (0.3 pts, 0.3 reb, 0.0 ast)
INJURED/OTHER
5-7 junior guard
Talana Lepolo #10 (2.6 pts, 1.0 reb, 1.6 ast)
-- knee injury, timetable for return unknown
As a team, Stanford presents a different kind of 3-point challenge than California. Where the Golden Bears are among the nation's leaders in attempted and made threes, the Cardinal hit 39.1 percent of their outside shots, 4th best in Division I. By volume, the two biggest individual threats on the team are starters Brooke Demetre (34-of-77, or 44.2 percent) and Elena Bosgana (31-of-90, or 34.4 percent), but if you consider accuracy, then also worry about Tess Heal (21-of-37, or 56.8 percent) and Jzaniya Harriel (22-of-50, or 44 percent). Leading scorer Nunu Agara and Chloe Clardy are dangerous as well; each hit about 36 percent from beyond the arc.
For more team stats, consult the comparison table below, which relies on
Sports Reference and other identified sources.
Bart Torvik sees this game ending with a 78-63 Duke victory.
Category | Stanford (10-7, 2-4 ACC) | Duke (14-4, 5-1 ACC) |
Points Scored | 76.9 (41st nationally) | 76.8 (43rd) |
Points Allowed | 66.8 (246th) | 59.8 (82nd) |
Scoring Margin (NCAA.com) | 10.1 (76th) | 17.0 (37th) |
Bench Points (NCAA.com) | 20.6 (132nd) | 32.9 (8th) |
Total Rebounds | 40.5 (52nd) | 40.6 (49th) |
--- Offensive Rebounds | 11.3 (204th) | 15.4 (19th) |
--- Defensive Rebounds | 29.2 (17th) | 25.2 (170th) |
Assists | 14.4 (123rd) | 17.4 (28th) |
Assist/Turnover Ratio (NCAA.com) | 1.04 (65th) | 1.07 (58th) |
Steals | 6.9 (289th) | 11.6 (29th) |
Blocks | 3.6 (93rd) | 4.2 (56th) |
Turnovers | 13.8 (46th fewest) | 16.2 (163rd fewest) |
Personal Fouls | 15.2 (77th fewest) | 17.2 (206th fewest) |
Field Goal Percentage | 45.8% (41st) | 45.7% (45th) |
2-Point FG Percentage | 49.7% (82nd) | 49.6% (83rd) |
3-Point FG Percentage | 39.1% (4th) | 35.2% (40th) |
Free Throw Percentage | 71.3% (162nd) | 65.1% (313th) |
NET Ranking (NCAA.com) | #42 | #9 |
--- Strength of Schedule | 22nd | 4th |
--- Quad 1 record | 0-5 | 3-3 |
--- Quad 2 record | 1-1 | 3-1 |
--- Quad 3 record | 2-1 | 4-0 |
--- Quad 4 record | 7-0 | 4-0 |
T-Rank (Bart Torvik) | #43 (T-Page) | #10 (T-Page) |
In October, the NCAA published a
PDF file of frequently asked questions for the NET in women's basketball. Quadrants are defined on page 4:
Quadrant 1: Home 1-25, Neutral 1-35, Away 1-45
Quadrant 2: Home 26-55, Neutral 36-65, Away 46-80
Quadrant 3: Home 56-90, Neutral 66-105, Away 81-130
Quadrant 4: Home 91-362, Neutral 106-362, Away 131-362