Stanford vs. UConn: Best and Worst

by Scott Allen on Nov 21, 2025 7:42 PM PST

Here's a look at the best and worst from Stanford's 68-58 loss at UConn tonight.

Best Tributes: UConn players wore OSU patches on the front of their jerseys, Stanford players had orange shoe laces and hair ties, and coaches from both teams sported orange ribbons to honor the memories of Oklahoma State women's basketball head coach Kurt Budke and assistant Miranda Serna, who died in a plane crash last week.

Worst Start: The game was scoreless until Chiney Ogwumike made a free throw more than 3 minutes in. UConn, which shot 70.7% in a recent win against Pacific, missed its first 10 shots, while the Cardinal started 2-for-11. Stanford led 5-4 with 12:38 to play in the first half.

Best Freshmen: Stanford's Jasmine Camp was very impressive off the bench, pouring in 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range. UConn's Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis stole the show, scoring a game-high 25 points and grabbing 8 rebounds in 33 minutes.

Worst Foul Trouble: Nneka Ogwumike picked up her second foul with more than 12 minutes to play in the first half and spent all but 6 minutes of the first half on the bench. Thanks to UConn's ice cold shooting, the Cardinal trailed only 32-26 at the break. Nneka scored a team-high 22 points in only 23 minutes, including 6 as part of a 10-2 Stanford run at the start of the second half that gave Stanford a 36-34 lead. She played the last 9 minutes with four fouls.

Best Screen: Sarah Boothe, who played 19 minutes with Nneka hampered by foul trouble, set a mean screen at halfcourt in the second half. She finished with 8 points on 4-of-5 shooting.

Worst Stat: The Cardinal has struggled on the East Coast against quality opponents over the last 11 years.

Best Block Party: UConn blocked nine shots, including five in the first 10 minutes of the game.

Best Duo: Chiney had a cold night shooting (3-for-12) and committed 5 turnovers, but she did grab 12 rebounds. The Ogwumike sisters were overshadowed by Mosqueda-Lewis and Bria Hartley, who combined for 44 of the Huskies' 68 points. Hartley shot 8-for-16 from the field and also added 4 assists, 3 steals, and 3 rebounds.

Worst Ballhandling: Stanford committed 16 turnovers, while the Huskies committed 7.

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Wasn’t watching in the first half (watched part of the 2nd), but the you-must-sit-a-star-with-2-fouls-for-the-rest-of-the-first-half unwritten rule of coaching drives me absolutely up the wall. The idea should be to maximize the number of minutes played by your star, even if its not at the end of the game. When she plays 23 minutes and doesn’t foul out, you haven’t done that.

long live the jd.

by jksnake99 on Nov 21, 2025 11:33 PM PST reply actions

Yeah

I wonder if Tara might’ve put Nneka back in if the Huskies threatened to pull away in the first half. I generally agree that coaches are too quick to sit a player with 2 fouls — Johnny Dawkins does this too much for my liking — but last night I think it was defensible. She didn’t foul out, but she played the final 9 minutes of the game with 4 fouls. That limited her effectiveness, particularly on defense.

by Scott Allen on Nov 22, 2025 5:49 AM PST up reply actions

I was thinking the same thing

I think Nneka sat too long. Of course, UConn was pretty cold for most of the first half, but their run to end the first half really hurt us, and I think Nneka could have played through a few more minutes rather than waste away on the bench.

by CardiGrl on Nov 22, 2025 6:31 AM PST up reply actions

The argument for playing Nneka with 2 fouls in the first half

is bolstered by the fact that she’s only fouled out once in her Stanford career, and that came during her freshman year. (One could also argue that that’s because Tara tends to sit players for extended periods of time when they get in early foul trouble.)

When she picked up her fourth foul, the announcers said, “Now we get a chance to see how smart Nneka Ogwumike can be.” She’s a pretty smart player, obviously. Maybe Tara won’t be so quick with the hook in the future.

by Scott Allen on Nov 22, 2025 6:53 AM PST up reply actions