On Sunday, Cal men’s basketball fell to rival Stanford by a final score of 84-81. Stanford sophomore KZ Okpala had a monster game with a career-high 30 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals while Cal sophomore Justice Sueing finished with 23 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists. Okpala now leads the Pac-12 with 12 20+ points games. Stanford improves to 11-10 overall and 4-5 in the Pac-12 while Cal falls to 5-16 overall and 0-9 in the Pac-12.
“Before the game, I told our guys to empty the tank, leave it all out on the floor,” Cal head coach Wyking Jones said after the game. “Work as hard as you can work. If you get worked to exhaustion to the point where you ask to come out of the game because you’re giving everything you got, I’ll get you out of the game and I’ll put someone else in and I’ll get you back in there because we need fresh bodies out there. They emptied the tank today. I feel like they gave us everything they had. They played together, looked like a cohesive group. I’m very proud of the effort and the fight that they showed today.
“But, we came up short. We continue to work. We continue to trust the process, we continue to stay tight. They gave us 40 minutes today. They gave us 40 minutes of effort and fight and grit. I was very happy with our effort today.”
“I supposed we made a few more plays than they did, but they made plays,” Stanford head coach Jerod Haase said of his team’s victory. “I give them a lot of credit, it wasn’t like hey, we shut them down and we just took it over control. It was bit by bit. We got one more stop in the minute and half stretch and the next one, we got one more free throw to go in, both teams really competed. A sure sign that I didn’t feel really comfortable that we were going back from man to zone to man to zone, and figuring out what people we want in there.
“Trying to find some kind of solution, I supposed we did at the end, but again it wasn’t something that we just completely took control of it. But we made enough plays down the stretch and I’m awfully proud of the guys and the thing that’s most exciting in the last 6-8 minutes, when things hadn’t gone really well the entire game, when I looked in the guys’ eyes, if there was ever a sense of wavering a little bit, we were able to get it back instantly and the guys I think believed in what we were doing.”
Cal came out with a lot of energy in this game, leading 7-6 with 16:26 to go in the 1st half. Cal made 3 of their first 4 shots while Stanford made 3 of their first 6, so both teams were in a nice groove early. With 11:52 to go in the half, Stanford led 16-13 thanks to a couple of early dunks in transition from KZ Okpala as well as 5 points each from Daejon Davis and Oscar da Silva. Connor Vanover was the one with the hot hand for Cal, scoring 6 of their first 13 points, doing a good job of knocking down open shots.
With 9:38 to go in the half, Stanford led 21-20. Cal did a good job of not letting Stanford build on their lead as Matt Bradley found Andre Kelly for a pretty alley-oop. Cal would soon take a 27-22 lead with 7:50 to go in the half after Justice Sueing converted a 3-point play to give him 8 points. Okpala was leading Stanford with 7 points, doing a good job of being the offensive force that they needed.
One of the guys that started to get going for Cal was Paris Austin, who did a good job of pushing the ball in transition and finishing through contact. He was up to 6 points after a pretty spin layup with 3:29 to go in the half, keeping Cal in front 33-29. Okpala continued to do his thing for Stanford as he was up to 9 points. Cal was shooting 14-24 from the field while Stanford was shooting 11-22, so both teams continued to find success scoring the ball.
While Stanford would try to go into halftime with the lead, Cal did a good job of not letting that happen, leading 38-37 at the half. Justice Sueing was the top performer for Cal with 10 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists while KZ Okpala was the leading the charge for Stanford with 11 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists.
Cal opened up the 2nd half strong, leading 49-47 with 14:33 to go. Justice Sueing (15 points) and Connor Vanover (11 points) were up to double figures for Cal while KZ Okpala (18 points) was carrying Stanford on his back. Daejon Davis (8 points) was the second highest scorer for the Cardinal.
“They left the middle open a lot in their zone,” Vanover said of what he was seeing from Stanford’s defense. “They were letting the pop open off of the ball screen. So, I just had to focus on knocking down shots and then underneath they left lobs open. Just getting the points where my teammates could get me the ball, I think that was just basically where it was.”
Cal would continue to lead midway through the 2nd half 58-55 with 10:10 to go, doing a good job of not letting Stanford make any effective adjustments. Paris Austin was up to 13 points for Cal, doing a really good job of attacking the rim in transition while Bryce Wills became the second Stanford player to reach double figures with 10 points, giving Okpala the help that he was looking for.
“We wanted to be aggressive and look to push the issue with them,” Wyking Jones said. “They’re a team that, typically they turn it over at a high rate, so we knew that we could pressure them and get them to turn it over. I think the key was whether or not we could capitalize on that and I felt like we were able to capitalize on the turnovers and once we got out in transition, we did a good job of making the right decisions and finishing in transition.”
With 7:57 to go, Cal was still leading 64-61. Sueing had a really pretty 3-point play to give Cal a 64-58 lead, but Okpala would strike back for Stanford with a filthy slam plus the foul, giving him a 3-point play of his own. Cal would then go up 70-63 with 6:07 to go as Juhwan Harris-Dyson knocked down two free throws. With a victory near in sight, Cal just needed to find a way to close out the game.
Unfortunately for Cal, Stanford wasn’t about to go away. Okpala cut the lead down to five points with a pretty bucket inside and then Wills followed that up by knocking down a pair of free throws, cutting Cal’s lead down to just three points (70-67) with 5:28 to go. With 4:01 to go, Cal led 72-71 with 4:01 to go after Sueing made a pair of free throws followed by a pair of free throws from Okpala and a bucket inside from Wills.
“We went down, Bryce Wills came in, played really hard,” Okpala said. “He’s always a spark off the bench, and he really got us going.”
With 8 seconds left on the shot clock, Cal needed to get a good look and unfortunately, they didn’t get the look they wanted as Paris Austin missed a shot in the paint. Wills would follow that up with a defensive rebound that would send him to the foul line. After making both foul shots, Stanford led 73-72 with 3:51 to go.
With 1:28 to go, Stanford had a 79-76 lead, making it desperate times for Cal. Sueing rose to the occasion for Cal, converting a 3-point play to tie the game up 79-79. Things would remain tied 81-81 with 38.6 to go after Oscar da Silva and Paris Austin traded some tricky buckets inside. Out of a timeout, Daejon Davis would get a huge shot to drop, giving Stanford an 83-81 lead with 26.9 to go.
Down by 2 with the ball, Cal got the ball to Matt Bradley, who made a circus shot plus the foul, tying the game up. In a bizarre turn of events, the officials went to the monitor to see if Stanford center Josh Sharma was outside the restricted circle. After reviewing the play, the officials determined that Sharma was indeed set and outside the circle, resulting in a charge that went the other way.
“First of all, I didn’t know that you could overturn the call,” Wyking Jones said of the call’s reversal. “Mike Reed, he’s a great official and he went to the monitor and he saw something different, so I have to respect the call…It’s tough. It’s tough. It’s a blow because you think you’re that much closer to winning the game, but it’s sports. It happens.”
“Actually, I didn’t even know what they were reviewing,” Sharma said of the call. “I just saw them around the monitor, yeah, I was hoping for the best. I was pretty sure my feet were outside, and I was set. I was surprised when they didn’t call it a charge initially, but yeah, I’m glad they were able to change that one.”
With the momentum now firmly in Stanford’s favor, the Cardinal had an opportunity to ice the game away at the foul line. KZ Okpala went 1-2 at the foul line, giving Cal a ray of hope at the end, but they were unable to tie the game up after Paris Austin missed a 3-point attempt to tie the game. Stanford escaped with an 84-81 win while Cal suffered their 9th loss of Pac-12 play.
For Cal, this game really stings given how hard they played and also the fact that it was a rivalry game. There have been some games where Cal came out flat and not focused, but this wasn’t one of those games. They played together and were almost rewarded with a win because of it.
“I’m proud of our guys today,” Justice Sueing said. “We keep having to build up and I think we keep building up and we’ll end up getting our win. Today I felt like, like coach said, we put our 40 minutes together. It’s a trust the process thing and we’re getting there. Everyone can see it that we’re finally playing like a unit. We just need to capitalize on a few plays that could have helped us. Could have helped us win the game.”
As for Stanford, this was a much needed win. They’ve had sort of an up and down season and they’re hoping that with this win, they can finally start to gain some more consistency. If KZ Okpala can continue to play like he did today, they’re going to be a tough team to stop.
“Just driving hard and making the right reads,” Okpala said of his performance. “If someone in front of me, kick it, but if not, finish hard…Just my coaches, meeting with my coaches for sure. They have confidence in me. So, when I go out there, I just have to give it my all.”
Up next for Cal is trip to Eugene to face the Oregon Ducks. That game will tipoff Wednesday night at 6:30 PM PST on Fox Sports 1.
Note: Roman Davis (back) did not play today for Cal while Jacobi Gordon (Achilles) logged in 7:50. Connor Vanover finished with a career-high 15 points on 6-11 shooting from the field and 2-6 shooting from 3-point range.
