With foot injury in past, McPhee has had hot hand
Points flow out of Brittany McPhee’s hands. She could roll out of bed and sink baskets before breakfast.
The Stanford guard missed nine games this season with a foot injury before coming back Dec. 21 against No. 7 Tennessee. After taking part in just two full practices, she scored 27 points in 28 minutes in a losing cause. Then she dropped 26 points on then-No. 11 UCLA and 21 on USC.
She was named espnW National Player of the Week on Monday, although not Pac-12 Player of the Week, an honor that went to Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu for the fifth time already. Of course, the sophomore from Miramonte-Orinda was deserving, too, breaking the NCAA’s triple-double record with the eighth of her career.
Until McPhee came back, the No. 24 Cardinal (8-6, 2-0 Pac-12) were missing the key weapon in their arsenal. When they needed a basket most against UCLA and USC, she provided it, scoring a combined 22 points in the fourth quarter. This season she is averaging 21.4 points and 5.6 rebounds.
“She’s one of our most aggressive players,” forward Alanna Smith said. “People have to be aware of where she is on the floor. That definitely opens the offense for the rest of us as well.”
McPhee wasn’t happy waiting on the bench. “You could just see it in her eyes,” Smith said.
Stanford, tied with three teams for first place in the Pac-12, heads to the desert to play Arizona (4-9, 0-2) on Friday, then No. 25 Arizona State (11-3, 2-0) on Sunday afternoon.
The Cardinal have excellent depth, and they have been toughened by a brutal nonconference schedule that included five games against top-10 teams. But they’d better cut down on their 16.2 turnovers per game.
“We’re really working on our passing,” head coach Tara VanDerveer said. “We have so many areas that we want to improve on, and that’s one of them.”
Another is foul shooting. At 64.7 percent, they ranked 287th out of 345 Division I schools entering Thursday. McPhee is among the chilly foul shooters, hitting a career-low 66.7 (12for-18) in the five games she has played.
On the other hand, she has been excellent in every other department. In the two games last week she had 15 rebounds and seven assists, besides playing tough defense.
“She’s so competitive,” VanDerveer said. “She works both ends of the floor. She’s a very smart player. She scores, rebounds, plays defense. I’ve got to get her a little more rest.”
Not that McPhee thinks she needs a break after missing six weeks.
“Some things come back like riding a bike,” she said. “Other things, ‘Oh shoot.’ Sometimes we forget about how much pressure the defense puts on in a game. You’re not used to it when you’re sitting there watching.”
McPhee made her USA Basketball debut this summer playing for the under-24 team, which won gold at the Four Nations Tournament in Tokyo. The U.S. swept its three games against Australia, Canada and Japan. She spent a week in tryouts followed by a week of practices, then the tournament in August, during which she averaged 9.3 points.
She said she didn’t think the extra work contributed to her injury in November. In any case, she’ll need to stay healthy for the Cardinal to make a run at their 23rd regular-season Pac-12 title under VanDerveer.