No. 18 Arizona looks to beat No. 2 Stanford in Palo Alto for first time since 2001

TODAY’S ARIZONA-STANFORD GAME WILL BE TELEVISED LIVE ON THE PAC-12 NETWORKS AND WILL BE STREAMED LIVE ON THE VARSITY NETWORK

Arizona has taken Stanford to the brink before at Palo Alto, Calif.

Can they overcome that brink — Cameron Brink — and fellow All-American Haley Jones and the rest of the second-ranked Cardinal (14-1, 2-0 Pac-12) on Monday at 12:30 p.m., Tucson time?

Arizona coach Adia Barnes is 1-10 against Stanford as a coach since 2016-17, and she was 1-7 against the Cardinal while playing for the Wildcats from 1994-98.

Barnes’ record at Maples Pavilion combined as a player and coach: 0-9, all against the legendary and ageless Tara VanDerveer.

Barnes lost by an average of 21.3 points at Stanford during her Arizona career.

Her five losses at Stanford as Arizona’s coach are by an average of 17.2 points, but (and it’s a significant “but”) Arizona has lost the last three games at Maples Pavilion by two, 14 and six points (average of 7.3).

The 56-54 loss at Stanford in the 2018-19 season — the closest the Wildcats have come to coming out on top in Palo Alto since winning there in the 1999-2000 and 2000-01 seasons — sticks in the mind.

The Cardinal had to overcome a seven-point deficit with less than five minutes to go in the fourth quarter, when Alanna Smith and Lacie Hull combined for nine consecutive points, on three 3-pointers, to take the final lead with 29 seconds left in regulation.

Dominique McBryde had a chance to tie the game at 54 with two free throw attempts with 17 seconds left but missed them both. She had yet another chance, either tying or winning the game on the last possession.

Despite Stanford defenders all over her, McBryde took a good shot attempt but her last second 3-point attempt went in and out of the rim.

Arizona’s players and coaches looked on in disbelief as Stanford’s players celebrated, similar to the scene when Aari McDonald’s last-second jumper in the 2021 NCAA championship game against Stanford missed off the rim.

“We escaped,” VanDerveer told reporters of the 2019 win at Maples. “That ball looked like it was going in but somehow Maples Magic took over and knocked it out.”

Barnes commented after Saturday’s win at California, improving the Wildcats to 12-1 and 2-0, that Arizona must play with the mindset of being free of pressure.

“You’re playing with house money,” Barnes said in the Varsity Network postgame show. “You’re going on the road. You’re not supposed to win. … If we lose on the road, we lose. If we win, it’s a great win. So I think there’s no pressure. We know we have to play better. I think we will. And I’m just excited.”

Arizona’s losing streak at Maples Pavilion is at 19 games.

ARIZONA NOTES

— The Wildcats lead the Pac-12 and rank eighth in the nation in steals per game (12.9).

— Arizona ranks 18th nationally in scoring, averaging 81.2 points per game and is 14th in the country in scoring margin at 22.2.

— Arizona is the lone team in the Pac-12 with four players averaging at least 11.8 points per game —Shaina Pellington (13.5), Jade Loville (12.5), Cate Reese (12.2) and Esmery Martinez (11.8).

— Loville is third in the Pac-12 in 3-point percentage, making 49.1 percent of her shots from behind the arc. That number is tied for 10th in the country.

— Martinez ranks fourth in the conference in rebounds per game at 9.4. She is one of two players in the Pac-12 averaging at least 11.8 points and 9.4 rebounds per game.

— Pellington is one of five players in the conference averaging at least 13.5 points per game with a field goal percentage of at least 56.7 percent.

— Helena Pueyo is tied for first in the Pac-12 in steals per game with 2.5.

— Arizona has shot 40.0 percent or better in all of its games.

— The win at Cal on Saturday night was Arizona’s fourth in a row over the Golden Bears and its second consecutive win in Berkeley.

— Pellington totaled 12 points (5-of-9) in the game, her eighth of the season in double digits. Reese’s 14 points marked her 10th double-digit scoring performance of the season. She added seven rebounds, two assists and a steal to her stat line. Freshman Kailyn Gilbert provided a spark for the Wildcats off the bench with 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting in just under 15 minutes of play. Pueyo tallied six points, dished out two assists and grabbed three rebounds and three steals. Fellow freshman Maya Nnaji had six points, two rebounds and a steal.

— Nnaji tried to pick up the slack for Martinez, who played only 13 minutes in the game because of foul trouble and getting inadvertently poked in the eye by Loville. Martinez finished with two points and four rebounds.

— Arizona presently leads the Pac-12 in women’s basketball attendance (a feat the Wildcats have yet to achieve in the sport). The Wildcats, who host the Oregon schools this weekend, are averaging 7,288 fans a game at McKale:

2022-23 PAC-12 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL ATTENDANCE

STANFORD NOTES

— Stanford has won 54 of its last 56 games when at least four players hit double figures in scoring, including 33 straight.

— The Cardinal returns nine players who played last season, and is the only team in the country returning two All-Americans in Brink and Jones. The duo is the first time Stanford has featured multiple All-Americans on the same team since Nneka and Chiney Ogwumike in 2011-12. Brink and Jones led the Cardinal in scoring last season, averaging 13.5 and 13.2 points per game, respectively

— Brink, a 6-foot-4 junior post player, is just 11 points away from 1,000 in her career.

— Stanford has won 36 straight games vs. Pac-12 opponents, including postseason play.

— VanDerveer is the winningest coach in women’s college basketball history, with an overall record of 1,171-260. She has won 1,019 games at Stanford.

— Talana Lepolo’s 71 assists through her first 15 games are the most by any Stanford player to start their career since at least 1999-00.

— Several Cardinal earned spots on national preseason watch lists, including Jones (Cheryl Miller Award), Lauren Betts (Lisa Leslie Award), Francesca Belibi (Lisa Leslie Award) and Brink (Katrina McClain Award).

ARIZONA VS. STANFORD (14-72)
1/3/79 L at Stanford 93, UA 51
12/3/79 L Stanford 85, at UA 76
1/24/83 L at Stanford 74, UA 61
2/19/83 W at UA 70, Stanford 60
2/4/84 W at UA 58, Stanford 49
3/1/84 L at Stanford 60, UA 57
1/17/85 L at Stanford 63, UA 52
2/16/85 W at UA 59, Stanford 47
11/23/85 W UA 68, vs. Stanford 67
2/1/86 W at UA 69, Stanford 58
3/8/86 W UA 75, at Stanford 59
1/24/87 L at Stanford 87, UA 57
2/26/87 L Stanford 62, at UA 57
1/8/88 L at Stanford 101, UA 71
2/6/88 L Stanford 64, at UA 49
2/4/89 L at Stanford 94, UA 68
3/3/89 L Stanford 95, at UA 56
1/25/90 L at Stanford 92, UA 69
2/24/90 L Stanford 113, at UA 70
1/24/91 L Stanford 94, at UA 65
2/23/91 L at Stanford 116, UA 79
1/30/92 L at Stanford 92, UA 77
2/29/92 L Stanford 97, at UA 66
2/5/93 L at Stanford 69, UA 52
3/6/93 L Stanford 79, at UA 60
1/15/94 L at Stanford 87, UA 64
2/10/94 L Stanford 88, at UA 57
1/14/95 L Stanford 86, at UA 51
2/9/95 L at Stanford 100, UA 72
1/6/96 L Stanford 77, at UA 55
3/7/96 L at Stanford 77, UA 61
1/5/97 L at Stanford 91, UA 68
3/6/97 L Stanford 90, at UA 65
1/12/98 W at UA 91, Stanford 90
2/28/98 L at Stanford 108, UA 90
1/28/99 L at Stanford 79, UA 64
2/27/99 W at UA 81, Stanford 67
1/8/00 L Stanford 98, at UA 95
3/9/00 W UA 79, at Stanford 72
1/6/01 W UA 68, at Stanford 65
3/8/01 L Stanford 74, at UA 66
12/19/01 L Stanford 81, at UA 57
1/24/02 L at Stanford 76, UA 62
12/29/02 L at Stanford 82, UA 74
2/27/03 W at UA 79, Stanford 64
3/10/03 L Stanford 59, vs. UA 49
1/10/04 L at Stanford 84, UA 62
2/5/04 W at UA 88, Stanford 83
3/8/04 L Stanford 51, vs. UA 46
1/9/05 L Stanford 78, at UA 66
2/3/05 L at Stanford 91, UA 74
1/19/06 L at Stanford 82, UA 51
2/18/06 L Stanford 87, at UA 76
3/4/06 L Stanford 77, vs. UA 50
12/28/06 L at Stanford 86, UA 58
1/25/07 L Stanford 86, at UA 76
3/3/07 L Stanford 65, vs. UA 55
1/17/08 L Stanford 89, at UA 64
2/14/08 L at Stanford 69, UA 46
1/4/09 L Stanford 70, at UA 61
3/5/09 L at Stanford 70, UA 67
3/13/09 L vs. Stanford 77, UA 46
1/30/10 L at Stanford 83, UA 62
2/27/10 L Stanford 75, at UA 48
3/12/10 L Stanford 72, vs. UA 52
1/6/11 L at Stanford 87-54
2/5/11 L Stanford 91, at UA 61
3/11/11 L vs. Stanford 100, UA 71
2/4/12 L Stanford 91, at UA 51
2/8/13 L at Stanford 73, UA 43
1/17/14 L Stanford 96, at UA 52
2/16/14 L at Stanford 74, UA 48
1/16/15 L at Stanford 77, UA 47
2/8/15 W at UA 60, Stanford 56
1/2/16 L Stanford 59, at UA 34
2/12/16 L at Stanford 82, UA 58
1/1/17 L Stanford 77, at UA 55
1/20 L at Stanford 73, UA 46
1/5/18 L Stanford 61, at UA 46
1/28/18 L at Stanford 79, UA 42
1/13/19 L Stanford 78, at UA 48
2/22/19 L at Stanford 56, UA 54
2/28/20 W at UA 73, Stanford 72 (OT)
1/1/21 L Stanford 81, at UA 54
2/22/21 L at Stanford 62, UA 48
4/4/21 L Stanford 54, UA 53
1/30/22 L at Stanford 75, UA 69