COLLEGE

Ryan Mendez played at Stanford University from 1996–97 through 2000–01, appearing in 127 games and making 47 starts while finishing his Cardinal career with 1,032 points, 391 rebounds, and 175 assists on 45.6% shooting from the field, 42.0% from three, and 86.9% from the free-throw line.

Mendez quickly established himself as an elite perimeter shooter in the Pac-10, leading Stanford in three-point percentage as a freshman in 1996–97 at 43% (29-of-68), then leading the entire Pac-10 as a sophomore in 1997–98 at 47% (45-of-95) as Stanford surged to a 30–5 record and reached the Final Four in the 1998 NCAA tournament.

After an injury-affected 1998–99 season in which he played only five games, Mendez became a key piece on Stanford’s nationally ranked teams in 1999–00 and 2000–01, including a 1999–00 season where the Cardinal spent five weeks ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll, finished 27–4 overall, shared the Pac-10 regular-season title, and earned a No. 1 seed in the 2000 NCAA tournament.

Statistically, Mendez led the Pac-10 in free-throw percentage in back-to-back seasons, shooting 88% (63-of-72) in 1999–00 and 93% (94-of-101) in 2000–01, and during the 2000–01 season he set a Pac-10 record by making 49 consecutive free throws, a mark later broken by Oregon’s Luke Ridnour in 2003 when he reached 62 straight.

His 1999–00 season included a career-high 24 points in a road win at USC on February 5, 2000, a game in which he went 4-for-5 from three and 8-for-8 at the line, and he followed that with his most prominent senior year role in 2000–01 when he started all 34 games and averaged 11.4 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game as Stanford opened the season 20–0 and advanced to the Elite Eight before losing to Maryland.

Across his full Stanford career, Mendez finished as the program’s 7th-best career three-point shooter by percentage at 42% (178-of-424), and his career free-throw accuracy of 87% (186-of-214) ranked among the best in Stanford and Pac-10 record books, while his 178 made threes also placed him high on Stanford’s career totals list.