Advertisement
basketball Edit

Q&A with the Cardinal after earning No. 1 ranking

Stanford won the Victoria Invitational a week ago despite missing starter DiJonai Carrington and still waiting on the return of center Maya Dodson. And yet, the Cardinal defeated No. 10 Mississippi State in the tournament championship after beating then No. 18 Syracuse in the second game.

Nadia Fingall earned tournament MVP honors and Haley Jones finished the Miss. State game at point guard when Kiana Williams went down with an injury. Williams is fine and was back practicing this week.

Cardinal Sports Report caught with head coach Tara VanDerveer, Fingall and Jones after a practice this week to discuss where Stanford stands as the new No. 1 ranked team in the country.

Tara VanDerveer

What did you see from Nadia Fingall in the tournament for her to take home the MVP award?

“I think it started with the Cal Baptist game and Nadia had 18 points. We just got the ball inside and was just what I call ‘Big Mama’. She posted up big, scored and I think she was something like 8-for-12 or something like that, a really good percentage. We went inside and finished and it was fantastic to see that.

“Mostly the rest of the way (against Syracuse and Mississippi State) she played great defense and rebounded. She kept them off the glass. We outrebounded Mississippi State by 20 and a big part of that was her boxing out. We boxed out really well and kept them off the glass.

“She played within herself and didn’t try to do too much. Less is more. She just knew what her job was and she did it. She was kind of the facilitator. Other people made some shots, but she was just steady and she talks really well in there, too. She was an excellent leader for our team.”

She said she’s probably about 85 to 90 percent back. To see her working through and produce like that, what did it show you?

“It’s exciting because it has been really hard for her to be out and be hurt. Everyone was so happy for her. It was really exciting to see her play so well, and our team to win, (and) her leadership, her competitive drive and the fact that she didn’t try to do too much.”

Her level of play, did it put less pressure on Ashten Prechtel and Fran Belibi to play? (Both freshmen had limited minutes in the tournament.)

“Both Ashten and Fran did very well, but it was a different type of game. It was that every possession counted. Ashten and Fran are getting there and they both contributed, but we need all of them.”

Haley Jones played point guard at the end of the Mississippi State game when Kiana Williams got hurt. What did you see from her before that in the tournament and with her at point guard?

“Amazing growth in just three games. Haley is really comfortable with what she’s doing and she’s running our offense. She’s our backup point guard. She handled the ball and she made really good decisions. Honestly, Ki struggled in that game -- she had eight turnovers -- and Haley made big plays. It was really exciting to see Haley step up and do what she did. She knocked down big shots and was fearless. She’s a competitor.”

How much closer do you feel like you are now to playing a full game at the level you want?

“Oh, we’re a long way away. We have a lot of work to do with our defense and our offense, our rebounding. I think the best thing we have going for us is that honestly people have to do the right thing when they’re out there. They have to play really hard and they have to know what they’re doing because they are keeping each other accountable.

“Like even with Ki, one person isn’t going to take the whole team hostage. Nadia plays and that’s great. I think Alyssa (Jerome) played really well the whole tournament, too. She was really steady and made some big, big plays. Everyone who played did some good things. We needed minutes from Anna (Wilson) and we needed minutes from Jenna (Brown) and they gave us some good minutes.

“Now, we need better minutes but they gave us good minutes. Then we’ve got Lexie (Hull) and Lacie (Hull). Lacie had some big plays. Hannah Jump was huge in the Syracuse game.

“I kind of use an analogy of an orchestra. It’s going to be a different solo every night. Yeah, we have a great concert master with Ki and we have maybe a great pianist with Haley, but it’s going to be different solo every night. And this was without (DiJonai Carrington) and hopefully Di can come back and help us.”

Nadia Fingall

Can you describe the satisfaction of that tournament for you?

“I think it was great for our team. We had a tough first game but we always battled back. Tara said when we got into the bus that we showed a lot of grit throughout the entire tournament. It’s something that our team has continued to grow into. This tournament was a really good showing for the entire team.

“Winning the MVP was just icing on the cake. I wouldn’t have been there without my teammates and coaches putting me in position. It was nice.”

How would you describe your physical development right now with feeling comfortable after recovering from your knee injury?

“The past almost year has been a continual development. Right now, I feel like I’m about 85 to 90 percent. Two months ago I didn’t think I would be here and that’s kudos to our strength coaches and Katelin (Knox), our trainer. Thinking about where I’m going to be in the next two months, just physically and being able to trust my body, I think that’s something that’s come a little bit slower to know I’m Ok and that I can go out there and do the things I’ve done before.”

There seems to be a separate category for gritty wins. There’s win/loss/it-wasn’t pretty-but-it-was gritty. You’ve had a couple of those already this season. What’s the added value of pulling those out?

“It shows that our team is, even though we are young, we are mature and that we can go out there and pull out tough wins against really good team. Like Tara says, we had a pretty good stretch in the beginning of our season, but bossing teams by 45 points and not getting challenged isn’t going to help us get where we want to be.

“We want to be playing the tough teams, the top-10 teams, at the end of the tournament. And we want to pull those out. Playing the gritty games, that’s what is going to help us in the long run.”

Thinking of those gritty games, was there anything that stands out to you that you saw the team was able to do during high-stress situations?

“I think the first thing is probably our cohesiveness on the floor. In those moments, maybe you couldn’t see it from the outside, but people really stepped up and were leaders in that time to calm things down and get control back outside of the coaching staff. I think that’s something that’s really important going forward because we’re not going to win without leaders. That was one thing.

“I think our attention to detail to get down into the nitty-gritty in the close moments of the game -- we know certain players and what their tendencies are, so we’re going to try to take those away. We know what we need to do on offense -- we’re going to make some mistakes; I’m not saying we’re completely perfect -- but making sure we know what we’re supposed to do and our attention is something that came out in the end of a couple of those games.”

A lot has been put on the freshmen already and, to reference one of those games we just talked about, to close out the Gonzaga game there were two freshmen always on the court. What growth have you seen from them when they’ve been in those situations?

“I am so proud. I am so proud of our younger players. They have really stepped up to the plate when challenges come. Our coaches are putting them in those positions and they’re delivering. My freshman year, I was not put in those positions and rightfully so. They’re ready and they’re really putting in the work. They’re getting help from the upperclassmen but they’re putting a lot of the responsibility on themselves to be ready for those situations. The program is only going to go up from here.”

What leadership role do you take on with them?

“Going back to my ACL injury I was out for a long time and that really gave me a chance to step back and see the game from almost a coach’s perspective. I studied a lot of film in the offseason. I would talk to our coaches and be on the bench watching certain things.

“Although I wouldn’t wish an ACL injury on anybody and wouldn’t go through that experience ever again, but having that experience really helped from a leadership standpoint. I know what we’re doing. I’m able to know what other people on the floor are supposed to be doing. I’m working really hard to be a leader on the team and be somebody who people can come to with questions and help people learn.”

Haley Jones

I hear it was a bit like being thrown into deep water when Kiana went down and you took over at point guard. So, how did you swim?

“Ok. I think I would have drowned if I didn’t have my teammates with me. I think also watching Kiana play for so long and just seeing what she did against that pressure, and me playing in the backcourt with her, I decided that it’s better to pass against it and get it up the court first.

“I think I did pretty well. I didn’t turn it over too many times, but you can always do better and I’ll learn with more pressure situations like that. I think I’m pretty happy with the performance and I just needed my teammates to calm under the pressure and talk with me through and be there if I’m ever really drowning in the backcourt.”

Where do you feel you are right now learning to play point guard for Tara compared to even a few weeks ago?

“I think I’m just so much further along with it. I’m still learning the system and as we go on we’re still adding things, but I think the main difference is the confidence and just knowing the system more has given me more confidence to play loose and not as timid with the ball.

"That helps because it’s D-I basketball and people smell blood in the water, so they’re going to come for you. Being more confident has helped me a lot with taking care of the ball and learning what my teammates do. Being the point guard and knowing what my teammates do and how to put them in the best situation helps know what to do to get them there.”

On the flip side of it being different in college, I have to imagine that passing to Hannah Jump in the Syracuse game and watching her make eight three-pointers felt like a flashback to playing with her in Cal Stars?

“It did. It felt like a flashback to AAU. Playing with her for two years was so much fun (because) you pass to her and you just expect it to go in. You still have to go in for the rebound but you’re expecting not to get one. It was really fun. When she gets hot, she’s hot. It was fun just to find her and everyone was kind of hot that game. Finding Hannah: drive, pitch and I love to create for other people by driving and pitching. Doing anything I can to get her open because it’s fun to find the hot hand.”

Stanford is ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll. Does that mean anything to you guys right now and, if it does, how would you describe it?

“I think it’s nice, but it’s definitely not a focus. We’re still going to go just as hard, probably even harder now, with it in practice every day. It’s only December. The ranking really doesn’t mean very much in December. It matters what’s happening at the end of March and the beginning of April. We still have Pac-12 play to go through, which is one of the best conferences. We have lots of time to have that ranking and hopefully keep it. It’s another thing to keep us going.”

Advertisement