On Thursday, Cal men’s basketball lost their opening game of Pac-12 play at Stanford, losing 68-52. Stanford junior guard Daejon Davis led the way for the Cardinal with 20 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists while Cal junior forward Grant Anticevich was the top performer for the Golden Bears with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Stanford improves to 12-2 overall and 1-0 in the Pac-12 while Cal falls to 6-8 and 0-1 in the Pac-12.
“A game of which, obviously, we were outplayed,” Cal head coach Mark Fox said after the game. “I was disappointed in; I thought the emotion of the game got to a couple of our guys in the first half and we didn’t play nearly as well as we practiced. And we had 11 turnovers in the first half and we added 7 more in the second half, which has been a problem for our team. So, disappointed in that. I thought our defense in the second half was not good enough consistently, but Stanford has a good team and Jerod’s done a good job and they outplayed us tonight and we have to work to be better certainly on the road.”
“Certainly an exciting way to start Pac-12 play for us,” Stanford head coach Jerod Haase said of his team’s victory. “Cal did a really nice job with their game planning. I think did a nice job with their pressure and how they were trying to attack us on the defensive end and really put us in a defensive posture early in the game.
“Once we were able to execute our game plan a little bit more effectively we had some success on the offensive end, which certainly helped. But what we did on the defensive end was really cool. We didn’t rebound well enough, but the rest of it our guys continued to play hard and that continues to be not only our standard, but our path to be successful this year.”
Early on this game was very choppy as Cal and Stanford were tied 2-2 with 15:31 to go in the first half. Both teams were shooting 1-8 from the field as neither team could get into a good offensive rhythm. Anticevich was on the board for Cal with a little put back inside while Davis was on the board for Stanford with a breakaway jam.
“I think a variety of things,” Haase said about what contributed to his team’s sluggish start. “I think one is we’re trying really really hard and sometimes that’s counterproductive. On the offensive end, I think since, how many games we’ve played since finals have started, since December 1st, three or four games or five games, so there’ve been some breaks in there which can get you a little bit discombobulated.
“And I think in practices they’ve been great, but I think sometimes it gets in the flow of the game and the flow of the season. But I think the guys understand the game plan. They know the game plan. We have come out slow the last couple games, but I also think it’s something that’s fixable.”
With 11:47 to go in the half, Cal led 7-4 as Anticevich was up to 4 points. Cal was shooting 3-14 (21.4%) from the field while Stanford was shooting 2-12 (16.7%). Cal also was up to 4 turnovers while Stanford was up to 3. With 9:38 to go in the half, Stanford was up 13-10 as Isaac White and Anticevich traded 3-pointers. Before that triple from Anticevich, Stanford was on an 11-0 run, really getting things going.
Shortly after knocking down his first 3-pointer of the night, Anticevich knocked down his second 3-pointer, giving him 10 points on the night. Stanford was up 18-13 with 7:50 to go in the half, slowly gaining separation from Cal. Without Anticevich’s hot start, Cal would have been in a world of trouble. Stanford in contrast was taking a much more balanced approach as Davis was their leading scorer with just 4 points.
“I was just taking the opportunities that I practiced in getting in training when we practice and the shots I get and my teammates did a good job getting me the ball,” Anticevich said of his performance. “So, making it easy for me.”
With 2:55 to go in the half, Stanford was now up 23-16 as Davis was starting to get going a bit with 7 points and 3 rebounds. Anticevich still had 10 points while Paris Austin was the number two scorer with 3 points. Others needed to get going for Cal. Especially their leading scorer on the year Matt Bradley, who had 0 points.
“Coach just always talks to us about being junk yard dogs,” Stanford sophomore Bryce Wills said of his team’s defense to slow down Bradley. “And that just means taking pride on defense and playing that team defense that we know and love to play. And we know that if we stick with our defense and play our half-court defense that will lead to easy buckets on the offensive end. So we just have to stick to our defense.”
“The guys to my right and left here I think are as good of a combination, as good of a tandem in college basketball defensively,” Haase said of Wills and Davis. “The schemes we have, the guys know it inside and out. But they have the ability to make things happen on the defensive end because of their ability, because of their athleticism, because of their savvy and knowledge. They’ve made some tough shots, but at the end of the day these two are really really good and the other guys are starting to get involved with that as well.”
To close out the half, Stanford forward Jaiden Delaire knocked down a wide open three pointer from the corner as no Cal players were anywhere near him to contest the shot. Up 32-21 at the half, Stanford was looking good.
“The play was to get Daejon to the middle of the paint and make the right play,” Haase said of that final play of the half. “Jaiden was wide open and it was the right play and we have confidence in Jaiden in that kind of situation.”
“I liked the way he shot the previous one,” Davis added. “The first one wasn’t so good, but I saw the way he shot that second one, so I trusted him with the third one. Came through for me.”
With 16:00 to go in the game, Stanford was up 40-27 as Daejon Davis was up to 12 points on 5-10 shooting from the field and 2-4 shooting from 3-point range. The good vibes continued for Stanford as Bryce Wills had a pretty blow by and reverse jam that was pretty cool looking. Up 42-31 with 14:15 to go, Stanford continued to be in control. Cal had to find a way to get going on offense and especially get some stops if they were to make a comeback.
With 11:51 to go, Stanford was up 44-35 as Cal was hanging around, but not really making a push, either. Anticevich was up to 14 points but needed more help. Especially from Bradley, who had just 6 points. Rather than closing the gap, Cal allowed Stanford to extend their lead as the Cardinal went on an 8-0 run after a 3-point play from Daejon Davis and a 3-pointer from Spencer Jones. Stanford was now up 52-35 with 10:39 to go.
“I mean, they were denying Ty [Tyrell Terry], so that’s one guy out of the play,” Davis said of what got into him. “Especially if I get going downhill early. Whether it’s getting my shot first or making plays for others first, I can usually flip the switch and get to where I want to and a lot of the times I was able to make an open shot today and also getting into the lane. Made a couple free throws.”
“He obviously was playing downhill and I thought he did a nice job,” Fox said of Davis. “He overpowered some of our smaller guys and he’s a good player and I felt like in the second half he played more downhill than maybe he did in the first half.”
With 7:41 to go, Stanford led Cal 55-43 as Cal was kinda coming back, but not really. Matt Bradley was up to 9 points while Kareem South was up to 7 points. Both guys each knocked down a 3-pointer, which Cal was hoping could give them a spark. Rather than those shots giving Cal a spark, Cal would end up fading as Stanford would lead 68-47 with 4:08 to go. Bryce Wills blew by Grant Anticevich for an easy layup, Andre Kelly committed a turnover, and Daejon Davis set up Tyrell Terry for a 3-pointer. Stanford was out there having fun. Cal not so much.
“I love Matt Bradley to death, him and Kareem combined for one basket in the first half. That’s tough for our team to overcome,” Fox said. “Because we just don’t have a lot of other firepower around them. Grant was certainly good, but we can’t have both those guys shoot it like they did to start because we’re going to play from behind if that happens and that’s what happened tonight.”
While he didn’t get the type of production that he was hoping to get from his top scorer, Fox was impressed by Bradley’s willingness to battle and not give up. It’s just a matter of helping him adjust to being the focal point of the defense every time he steps on the floor.
“Yes, he [Matt] did. He finally got a few to go in and he’s a great competitor,” Fox said of his team’s leading scorer. “And I’m very encouraged by his approach to the game. Absolutely…Well, I just told him he’s got to trust his stroke. He’s gotta take, obviously as the leading scorer, the windows for open shots get smaller and smaller. And when he gets a window he’s gotta trust to let it go and not rethink it and not overthink it where the window closes. And so he’s learning how to play in that role and he’ll continue to get better at it. He’s got a great approach to the game and certainly in the second half he was better.”
In the end, Stanford would walk out with a 68-52 win, dominating Cal rather handily. It was a strong opener for Stanford while another reminder for Cal that they have a lot of work to do now that they’re in Pac-12 play. The schedule is not going to get any easier down the road and they’re going to have to find a way to pick things up if they want to be competitive.
When looking at the stat sheet, there are two things that Cal did do well. They shot 14-17 (82.4%) from the foul line and they outrebounded Stanford 41-30. Those are two things that they can build on and look at as a positive. On the flip side, the had 3 assists and 18 turnovers. I don’t care who you got on your roster, that’s just inexcusable and embarrassing. Cal’s lack of ball movement has been an issue all year. Tonight they hit a new low in that department.
“Our team has had an epidemic of turnovers the whole year,” Fox said. “It’s been a problem for our team in many games. It wasn’t just tonight. And that’s taking nothing away from Stanford because they have a very good defense. I don’t think we played with as much purpose offensively tonight, but our turnover problem is something that has been existing within our team and we have to get it fixed. Two of our centers [Lars Thiemann and Andre Kelly] combined for 12 turnovers and that just cannot happen.
“You have to be able to get shots at the basket. If you turn it over 18 times, you take away 18 possible shots at the basket. And so obviously we know we’re a work in progress offensively. When your two best shooters aren’t shooting it great, you’re not going to have a lot of assists. And so obviously offensively we didn’t play as well as we’d like to play but you have to give Stanford some credit for how they defended as well.”
It's hard to know what is responsible for the poor assist numbers and high turnovers. Some of it seems to be on the coaching and lack of a good offensive system, but some of it also appears to be due to lacking a quality floor general and players who know how to move without the ball. Regardless of who or what is to blame, Cal has to figure out a way to improve in this area if they are to get things going in the right direction.
“There’s a lot of bright points in any contest,” Fox said. “And we had some good plays. We had some things that we can say we can build off of this. But you know, we’re trying to rebuild every part of the team and there’s a lot of things that we have to address. But there’s a lot of things we’re going to have to go through and learn on the job. And obviously tonight we rebounded it pretty well, but we have to do more than that to win.”
Up next for Cal is a home game against Washington State on Thursday, January 9th. That game will tipoff at 7:30 PM PST on Pac-12 Networks.
