A favorite cliche in sports media is “two teams going in different directions”. You can’t say that about #4 Stanford and #8 Utah, who play tonight in Maples, but they are two teams in different places.
The Cardinal counted on a 1-2-3 in Brink, Jones, and Jump, I think we can agree. Look at how their results in six games correspond to Jump’s 3-point shooting and scoring:
| Date | Opponent | 3FG | P | Score |
| 12/23 | Cal | 5-9 | 17 | 90-69 |
| 12/31 | Arizona St. | 6-10 | 20 | 101-69 |
| 1/2 | Arizona | 4-13 | 13 | 73-57 |
| 1/8 | at Cal | 2-4 | 7 | 60-56 |
| 1/13 | at UCLA | 2-8 | 8 | 72-59 |
| 1/15 | at USC | 0-3 | 1 | 46-55 |
In their first three Pac-12 games, Jump scored 50 points with 15 made threes. The worst of those was vs. Arizona, but no one saw a problem, because Arizona is a far better defensive team than Cal or Arizona St.
In the three games since, including their first loss in conference, 16 points and 4 made threes.
Am I saying “As goes Hannah Jump, so go the Stanford Cardinal”? No, but the senior was supposed to be an integral part, especially when it comes to picking up what they lost when Lexie Hull graduated. In Stanford’s last three wins in the NCAAs before elimination by Connecticut, Hull averaged 25. In the 5-point loss to UConn, she shot 2-for-12.
Sophomore forward Kiki Iriafen, a starter, averaged 10.3 points and 5.5 rebounds in non-conference play, then 6.7 and 3.7. You expect numbers to decrease team-wide once you get past the Florida Gulf Coasts and Cal State Northridges, and begin facing the Arizonas and UCLAs, but do you agree that Stanford’s shot selection and ball care has diminished in a rather startling way?
You know how these team slumps that coincide with individual slumps go: When Jump resumes shooting well, they’ll all get better for the additional options and floor space.
Utah, on the other hand, seems to know where the pieces fit. I wondered how the loss of Gylten, Maxwell, and Martin would affect the group, and how the addition of Pili might flavor an unstable mix. As it turns out: ‘hardly noticeable’, and ‘key ingredient’.
The Utes’ win over Arizona showed that the bounces are going their way, while the Cardinal’s loss to USC showed them in a rough patch. The stars might be in alignment, and maybe aligned stars will hit some threes for Utah tonight. That, and perhaps Utah will create more chances for themselves to run. Both teams are good at that, so whichever gains an advantage there will, um, have an advantage.