No. 8 Stanford falls at No. 5 Colorado, prolonging Tara VanDerveer’s quest for all-time wins record

With Stanford's loss, Tara VanDerveer remains one win away from Mike Krzyzewski's all-time wins record

History will have to wait for Tara VanDerveer, as No. 5 Colorado denied her of her 1,202nd career win, which would have tied Mike Krzyzewski for the most ever in college basketball.

Early foul trouble limited two-time All-American Cameron Brink to seven first-half minutes, stunting Stanford’s ability to get stops and making them one-dimensional on offense. Colorado took advantage in the third quarter, breaking open the top-10 matchup.

Despite double-doubles from Brink and Kiki Iriafen, Stanford coughed up 18 turnovers, allowing Colorado to get running in transition. Five Buffaloes reached double digits to claim at least a share of first place in the Pac-12 and hand Stanford its first conference loss.

With No. 8 Stanford’s 71-59 loss, VanDerveer remains at 1,201 in her illustrious career — one shy of Krzyzewski. VanDerveer will get a chance to tie and pass Coach K when Stanford (15-2, 4-1) returns home for a pair matchups against unranked opponents next weekend.

“Tara’s very humble, so she’s not really thinking about her record at all,” Iriafen said postgame. “I think us as a team, we really wanted to get this win for her, to help her get closer to this historic achievement. But I’d say in terms of our coaches, they’re not really making it a big deal, but we wanted to win this one for her.”

Stanford got off to a hot start as Brink nailed two first-quarter 3s, screaming to her teammates after the second one fell. But foul trouble limited her to just seven minutes in the first half.

When the Cardinal beat No. 19 Utah, VanDerveer let Brink play through two early fouls. The center didn’t pick up another for the rest of the game. This time, though, VanDerveer benched the star for much of the first half.

“Obviously, it hurts when she gets in foul trouble,” VanDerveer said postgame. “She’s got to make the decision to stay out of foul trouble.”

With Brink on the bench, Colorado stormed ahead to an eight-point lead. Iriafen, who dominated against Utah, helped Stanford reclaim the lead. But a halfcourt heave from Buffs guard Kindyll Wetta put Stanford behind 36-30 at half. Over her past two games, Iriafen has compiled 44 points and 33 rebounds combined.

“I’m really proud of the way Kiki Irafen played,” VanDerveer said. “She had a great game, she had a great weekend. I think that other people can improve, and I think we can play better. But I thought she was the main weapon.”

In the third quarter, after Brink picked up her third foul on an ill-advised block attempt, Colorado burst out to a 46-35 lead. Without Brink’s shot-blocking presence, Colorado converted several point-blank layups in a 10-0 run.

Colorado’s opportunistic defense forced 11 first-half Stanford turnovers, and the Cardinal couldn’t clean it up in the second half. The speedy Sherrod finished another buzzer-beater to end the third quarter, capping a dominant 22-11 quarter for the Buffs.

“Think it was exactly what we expected in terms of physicality,” Iriafen said. “They’re very aggressive, they’re a very strong team. Inside, I had to battle, work for every single bucket, every single rebound. I think we expected that. We expected the pressure, but we weren’t able to handle as well as we wanted to.”

Stanford, playing its second straight game in Rocky Mountain altitude, failed to keep up with Colorado’s tempo as the Buffaloes scored 16 fast-break points through three quarters.

But when the pace slowed in the fourth quarter, Stanford had a chance to come back. The Cardinal trimmed a 19-point deficit to single digits with a Brooke Demetre 3. A four-minute Colorado scoring drought kept the door open for Stanford, who inched within six with less than a minute to play.

But that was as close as Stanford would get.

With 52.2 seconds left, VanDerveer was inadvertently body-checked on the visitor’s bench. Typically even-keeled, the 70-year-old regained her composure and shrugged off the collision.

For her to match Krzyzewski on Friday in Palo Alto, her squad will have to shrug off this loss as gracefully.