CANDICE WIGGINS: A MID-SEASON UPDATE

Interview by Bob Iacopi

Photos by Don Anderson

As the regular Pac-10 season winds down to the last crucial weekends, and we look forward to tournament play in March, we thought is was time to sit down with our resident All-American and acknowledged team leader, Candice Wiggins, to find out where we are and where we’re going.

Candice didn’t hesitate with her evaluation. “I’m really excited about this team. We’re just constantly getting better. I knew at the beginning of the year, it would take us a while to really get into it, but once we got going, I think we are showing how our confidence is growing, and how we are maturing as a team.”

I pointed out that we seem to seeing that most with Ros Gold-Onwude. Candice flashed that famous smile. “Oh yes, definitely, she is improving every day. She came in, and she knew she had to figure things out, but now that she really knows what she is doing and her role with the team, and she’s been awesome for us.”

Because Candice is right up there with the national leaders in scoring, I was curious about her routine, and whether she knew before the game whether this would be a big night. “You know, how I’m shooting before the game really isn’t a good indicator of how I’m going to do in the game itself. Warm-ups are just that, warm-ups. In the last game before Cal, I was just shooting horribly in the warm-ups, and then I scored 30 in the game. The game is very different from warm-ups. There’s no correlation.

So what is your routine in the pre-game warm-ups. “I always have to shoot a lot of free throws, because that is so important. Especially if we aren’t playing at Maples, I want to get a feel for the rims. And a lot of times, you’ll have fans sitting behind the backboards, and I want to see how that is going to affect my vision on the hoop. Like at USC, for example, that’s a really different kind of gym, and I want to get a feel for the lane and the stands. The rims may not be that harder or softer, but the whole arena is much different than Maples, and it’s important that I get a feel for it.”

I pointed out that even though Candice is an outstanding free throw shooter, there were a couple of games early in the season when she seemed to be out of rhythm, particularly in the first half. “Free throws are all mental. You just go up to the line, you get the ball, and you think, I want to shoot free throws. Coach Tara is always telling me, ‘We want you at the line. We want you to step up there and be happy that you are at the line.’

“But it can be funny. Sometimes you can be a wonderful three throw shooter and hit 15 in a row in practice, but once the game actually starts, it’s a whole new ball game. I just have to tell myself to relax, and how I have been shooting free throws my whole life, and this is no different.”

Next, we turned our attention to this week’s games. First in line is University of California, Santa Barbara. This is not a conference game, not nearly as critical as Cal, so how does the team prepare?

“You know, we’re always concerned about the other team, but more importantly, we are more worried about what our team is doing. It’s really all about us, rather than them.

“But because UCSB is a non-conference game, it’s really important for us to show the other conferences that we are ready to play any team, anywhere. Santa Barbara is a competent team, so we have to play our best. We’ll look at film today (Wednesday) and then set up our game plan.”

And then, here comes Cal. I pointed out that in Wednesday’s edition of USA TODAY, the Cal coach had made a point that even though she is a structured coach, her team seemed to play the best when she just turned them loose. What does that mean for Stanford?

“Well, there’s no doubt that Cal has a lot of talent, especially with that freshman class. They have come in and stepped up right away. They are very young, and very aggressive. And we have to be aware of that, because they are going to play like they have everything to gain by beating us, and nothing to lose.”

So what do we have to do when Cal is playing a helter-skelter game, pushing the ball down the floor, and shooting it right away? Candice then started to show her maturity. “We know they are going to do that, we just have to stay disciplined on defense, and play the game according to our rules. We can’t get caught up in their fast pace. We want to play our game, not theirs. They are pretty young, so we have to establish right away that we are going to play Stanford basketball, not Cal basketball.”

So how is Candice herself working on defense? “I work on it every day. I mean, I have a lot of stuff to work on. And defense is just so important in Tara’s game. In high school, it was different. I was a shooter first, and a defender second. But now defense and rebounding are so much more important, so I am working on that.”

Will we see a lot of zone defense for the rest of the season? “Well, that depends on the situation. When we play zone, sometimes it is hard to close down on the outside shooters. But we mix it up, depending on the team and the match-ups.

“We miss last year’s seniors so much on defense. You never really realize how much you miss someone until they’re gone. But collectively, we are trying to step and fill the voids. We’re not counting on any one person to be the stopper; we all have to work at it.”

So what is the one thing that you want to see Stanford do better in February and March? ‘Well, there are a lot of things we can do better. But the biggest is rebounding. I think we can be so much better on the glass. We have to be aggressive all the time. We don’t want to be known as those nice girls from Stanford. We need more tenacity.

“And then the other thing is more technical—free throw shooting. That is so much of a key, especially in close games.”

How does Candice keep herself in shape and maintain her strength, here at the end of the season when everyone is getting tired? “I’m not a big vitamin and mineral supplement person. My experience with the international teams got me off of that. Sometimes, strange substances can get mixed in with those supplements, and I don’t want any part of that.

“This what I am—a string bean. I don’t have to watch my weight. Right now, I’m at 145 pounds. I was at 150 at the start of the season, but 145 is just about right. I’m never going to be much different.”

I expressed some curiosity about half-time routines. We as fans see the players and coaches leave the court and then come back 15 minutes later, without a clue about what if any changes are being made. What goes on during the intermission?

“We relax, rest, drink a little water, and really talk about the tone of the first half. We usually write something on the blackboard, as a team, before the coaches come into the room. We remind ourselves to box out on the defensive boards, and to play transition defense--the main things that we need to work on.

“Then the coaches come in and talk to us. If we played really well, then they encourage us to keep it up. If we played poorly, then the coaches focus on the things we need to do better. Sometimes, it’s not so pretty in that locker room.

“Tara generally does not single out one player for comment, unless she knows we are not playing as well as we can. If a player is doing as well as she can, then coach will not single her out for criticism. But she has called me down for not playing as well as I can, because she knows I can do better.

“But one of the things that I really, really admire about Tara is her ability to stay consistent with her approach to the game. She doesn’t get too excited if we are ahead by 15, and she doesn’t come down on us too hard if we are behind. She just wants us to play like we are capable of playing.

“The same thing is true after the game. If we won, that’s great but not necessarily wonderful. If we lose, that’s not good but we can get better.”

In recent games, we have marveled at Candice’s ability to hit the three-pointers. But is that her favorite shot? “No, what I like best is going inside, hitting the close shot, getting fouled, and making the free throw. I like the old-fashioned three-point play. It gives everyone so much energy when I make that play. It gives us momentum.

“Don’t get me wrong. The long three-pointers are great, and they can change games, too. But I love that inside game.”

Against Oregon State, Candice found herself wide open in the first half and responded by knocking down three-pointers. What was going on? Were the Beavers collapsing on the middle. “No, not really. Most of those three-pointers were on transition. They just weren’t getting back on defense and matching up with us very well.

“But sometimes, the defense doesn’t matter. I just want to shoot the threes. I don’t care if anyone is on me, I just feel so confident with the shot. I guess I’m just over-aggressive on offense.”

If that’s being over-aggressive, we’ll take it every time!