On Wednesday, for the second year in a row, Cal men’s basketball dominated their Bay Area rival Stanford by a final score of 76-58 in the Pac-12 tournament, closing the game out on a 24-7 run. Cal junior guard Matt Bradley finished with 19 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists while Cal 5th year senior guard Ryan Betley finished with 13 points and 4 rebounds. Stanford junior forward Jaiden Delaire was the top performer for the Cardinal with 14 points and 3 rebounds while Stanford senior forward Oscar da Silva and Stanford freshman guard Michael O’Connell each had 12 points.

“Hard fought game and we have a lot of respect for Stanford,” Cal head coach Mark Fox said after the game. “They had beaten us earlier in the year and we knew we had to be a lot more physical and play a lot harder. We had 10 days off and focused on ourselves…I thought the hard work our guys put in paid off.”

In a rather odd move, Mark Fox made the decision to have Matt Bradley come off the bench to start the game. Fox didn’t give a reason why, but the vibe is that it was disciplinary. Nothing major as Bradley entered the game within the first couple of minutes.

Bradley coming off the bench also didn’t appear to hurt the morale of the team at all as Cal got off to a 6-3 start with 15:33 to go in the first half. Andre Kelly, Grant Anticevich, and Lars Thiemann each had 2 points for the Bears while Oscar da Silva had a 3-point play for the Cardinal. Cal continued to lead 12-9 with 11:18 to go in the half. Cal was shooting 6-12 (50.0%) from the field while Stanford was shooting 3-13 (23.1%). It was a tight game early in Las Vegas.

Cal would then lead 19-14 with 6:57 to go in the half as Kuany Kuany was up to 5 points. He was making his presence felt early. Delaire was up to 6 points for the Cardinal. He was doing all he could to keep his team in the game.

With 4:22 to go in the half, Cal led 24-20. Cal called for time after O’Connell nailed a jumper for Stanford. He was up to 4 points. Bradley was leading Cal with 7 points. He was starting to find a groove.

At the half, Cal led 35-29. O’Connell made a bucket at the buzzer for Stanford after taking the ball coast to coast out of a timeout. Not a good defensive effort from Cal on that possession, but overall, their defense was holding up as they were holding Stanford to 40.0% shooting from the field. Bradley was up to 10 points for Cal while O’Connell and Delaire had 8 points each for Stanford.

With 15:33 to go in the game, Cal led 39-36. Cal was doing a nice job inside with a 19-15 edge on the glass. Stanford was starting to wake up a bit as they were outscoring Cal 7-4 in the second half. It was really key for Cal to not give up the lead. With 12:36 to go, Cal now led 46-40 after Bradley got a huge bucket to beat the shot clock. He was up to 13 points. To the Bears’ credit, they were continuing to put the pressure on the Cardinal.

“We didn’t rebound it very well in the early part of February and slowly our rebounding numbers have been improving, but we had 10 days to actually practice and really grind and I have to give our guys credit,” Fox said. “It’s hard to practice like we practiced in the month of March, but they did it.”

A jumper from O’Connell made it a 46-42 game with 11:41 to go. O’Connell was up to 12 points on 6-8 shooting from the field. He was having a very nice game. The game continued to remain close as Cal led 50-47 with 7:42 to go. Cal maintained their lead, but Stanford wouldn’t go away. Bradley was up to 15 points for Cal, continuing to have a stellar night.

With 5:33 to go, Cal continued to cling to a 55-51 lead. A key sequence of events was when Matt Bradley blocked Lukas Kisunas inside, which led to a triple from Ryan Betley. That play appeared to give the Bears a huge emotional boost.

“There were a lot of big plays,” Fox said. “That was one of them because we talked about in the previous game, you gotta play every play to the bitter end…It was a big play and Matt passed the ball well tonight…Certainly a complete game tonight.”

“That was a nice,” Kelly said of the block. “Matt always goes for them, so I see him do that all the time…It’s gets you hyped. It gets the team hyped, too. It gave us momentum. It definitely changed the flow of things.”

From then on, it was all Cal. Cal would lead 61-51 lead 3:31 to go. Bradley was now up to 17 points. Cal was in the driver’s seat for sure. With 2:24 to go, Cal was now up 64-53. Jarred Hyder got a 3-pointer to fall that appeared to be the dagger. While Stanford would continue to fade like a sunset, Cal wasn’t done having some fun. Ryan Betley made a triple at the very end of the game as icing on the cake. After having a bit of a rough season, it was nice to see Betley close out the game on a positive note like that. In the end, Cal walked out with a very decisive 76-58 victory and a 24-7 run sparked by Bradley’s key block.

“We did. We had a lot guys who played well,” Fox said. “Grant opened the game with a jumper, made a big one late, Betley made a couple buckets…Andre played well. I thought we had a lot of guys contribute tonight to the victory.”

For Cal, this victory means a lot. It’s been a tough year for them and they feel like their hard work and perseverance paid off. While one win in the Pac-12 tournament doesn’t erase a 3-17 league record, this win does show that they are capable of playing better than they did in the regular season.

“I think when we got to March 1st, we had only three or four practice with everyone on our team cleared to practice,” Fox explained. “So we’ve been, there’s been no continuity, we’ve been very disjointed. The last 10 days we’ve had everyone every day and we’re starting to develop continuity that we haven’t had all year…Hopefully that will continue.”

“Lot of guys stepped up big tonight,” Kelly added. “We had a really good week of practice. That week really helped us. We focused on our crispness and doing the little things right…We’re just making the right plays, making the right pass, playing well as a team…I think once we had a good week of practice with the whole team, that helped us flow into this week and play as a team.”

As for Stanford, this loss just caps off what has been a very abysmal two weeks. The wheels totally came off this Stanford team and they ended up completely self-destructing. After a season that was filled with promise and optimism, to go down like this is very disappointing. The have a lot of soul searching to do in the offseason.

Up next for Cal is a game against Colorado on Thursday night at 8:30 PM PST on ESPN. Cal split the regular season series with the Buffaloes, getting blown out in Boulder before getting revenge in Berkeley.

Rather than doing a separate preview, I’ll quickly provide my thoughts on the matchup. If Cal is going to win this game, they’re going to need to contain McKinley Wright IV. He’s the engine that makes the Buffaloes go. If he has a big night, the Buffaloes will likely win with ease.

Secondly, Cal needs Matt Bradley to keep doing his thing. He made the difference against Stanford with both his offense and his defense. He made some very timely shots and that block on Kisunas sparked a 24-7 run that sealed the game. Bradley is like the Obi-Wan Kenobi of this Cal team. He’s their only hope. He must have another big outing.

Finally, Cal needs to win the free throw battle. Colorado is one of the best foul shooting teams in the country and makes a living getting to the line and knocking down their foul shots. Cal needs to keep Colorado away from the charity stripe and in turn get to the line and make their foul shots. Cal did a nice job of that tonight, shooting 11-14 (78.6%) at the foul line.

As far as a quick prediction is concerned, smart money is on Colorado winning. Something like 74-64 sounds right to me. Although after what we saw tonight, it wouldn’t shock me at all if Cal found a way to win.

Note: Below are some quotes from Mark Fox and Andre Kelly on the upcoming matchup with Colorado.

“They whooped us in the first game and then we played really well at home in the second game. We can’t play them the same way. And they have a really complete and experienced team and obviously a great lead guard, a team that’s been together for three years, a team that’s going to be in the NCAA tournament. They’re playing for seeding. They’ll give us a great challenge. We’ll have to play our best game of the year in order to beat them.” -Mark Fox

“Let me tell you, Colorado has been as good as anyone on both ends this year. We were fortunate with Matt in the last game to get him some open looks. I think that he was really comfortable shooting in his own gym, but tomorrow’s a whole new adventure…the thing we’re seeing from Matt is he’s making the passes that will make everyone better and that’ll probably be important tomorrow as well.”-Mark Fox

“I have no idea yet, haven’t even talked to my trainer. I wish I could tell you.” -Mark Fox on Jarred Hyder’s availability following his apparent ankle sprain.

“They have a really good point guard. Try to slow him down…We’re just gonna enjoy this one tonight and then get back to work soon.” -Andre Kelly