On Sunday at 1:00 PM PST on Pac-12 Networks/Pac-12 Bay Area, Cal women’s basketball will close out their regular season on the road at #4 Stanford. Cal comes in at 1-14 overall and 1-11 in the Pac-12 while Stanford comes in at 21-2 overall and 18-2 in the Pac-12.
Last time out: Cal won their previous game against Arizona State last week by a final score of 67-55 on Senior Day.
RECAP: Cal WBB picks up first win of the season on Senior Day against ASU
Previous meeting with Stanford: In their previous meeting with Stanford earlier this season in Berkeley, Cal fell by a final score of 83-38.
RECAP: Cal WBB gets creamed by #1 Stanford
On Stanford: The Cardinal have been playing fantastic this season, hence their #4 ranking in the country. They’ve had a couple of losses this year to Colorado and #6 UCLA, but aside from that they’ve been rock steady. They’re chasing a national championship and are doing all they can to positioning themselves to get a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament.
Senior guard Kiana Williams (14.1 points), sophomore guard Haley Jones (13.7 points & 7.7 rebounds), junior guard Lexie Hull (11.2 points), and freshman forward Cameron Brink (10.1 points & 6.9 rebounds) are the core four players of this Cardinal team. They’re doing a really good job of working together and taking the pressure off one another so as to not have the load rest too much on the shoulders of one player.
As a team, the Cardinal are averaging 78.3 points per game on 47.1% shooting from the field, 35.7% shooting from 3-point range, and 71.4% shooting from the foul line. They average a +10.7 rebound margin, 16.3 assists, 8.6 steals, 6.0 blocks, and 13.3 turnovers per game. Their opponents average 53.8 points per game on 33.2% shooting from the field, 27.6% shooting from 3-point range, and 67.0% shooting from the foul line.
Keys to the game/prediction: Honestly, it’s pretty clear that Stanford is going to win this game and that Cal, no matter how hard they play, are going to come up short. These two teams couldn’t be further apart in terms of where they are at. Stanford is a national championship contender and Cal is the worst team in the Pac-12 due to their youth and injuries. Cal has been looking better as of late due to the emergence of freshman guard Mia Mastrov, but even then, it’s still a foregone conclusion that Stanford will win.
So, rather than giving my standard keys to the game and prediction, all I’m going to say is that Cal should just go out there and try to have some fun. I don’t mean that in a disrespectful way. They should just go out there have fun, play hard, and see where the chips fall from there. So long as they do that, they should feel fine with whatever the outcome is. This whole year is all about learning and what better way to learn than to play an elite team like Stanford?