On Thursday, Stanford men’s basketball defeated Cal 70-55 in Berkeley despite being without freshman forward Ziaire Williams, junior guard Bryce Wills, and senior guard Daejon Davis, who are three of their top four players. Stanford senior forward Oscar da Silva led the way for the Cardinal with 24 points and 11 rebounds while junior forward Jaiden Delaire chipped in 14 points. Cal junior guard Matt Bradley matched da Silva’s scoring total with 24 points of his own for the Golden Bears while junior forward Andre Kelly finished with 15 points and 7 rebounds. Stanford improves to 11-7 overall and 7-5 in the Pac-12 while Cal falls to 7-13 overall and 2-11 in the Pac-12.
“I thought that Stanford was really in the first half, their offense, especially on the interior was really effective,” Cal head coach Mark Fox said after the game. “I was really disappointed in our defense, but I don’t want to take anything away from Stanford…Our defense was a little better in the second half, but nowhere near the level it needs to be.”
Stanford got out to an early 7-5 lead with 15:28 to go in the first half. Oscar da Silva was up to 4 points for the Cardinal while Jaiden Delaire had a triple. Makale Foreman had a pull up jumper for the Bears while Matt Bradley had a triple of his own.
With 11:30 to go in the half, the game was tied 13-13. Bradley led the Bears with 5 points while da Silva led the Cardinal with 6 points. Stanford was shooting 5-8 from the field while Cal was shooting 4-10.
Another triple from Bradley would give Cal a 16-13 lead with 10:52 to go in the half. Shortly thereafter, Bradley would head to the bench and that proved to be costly for Cal as Stanford would soon lead 21-16 with 8:48 to go in the half. Stanford was now on an 8-0 run as Delaire (9 points) and da Silva were on a roll.
With 5:31 to go in the half, Stanford led 30-23. Matt Bradley (11 points) and Ryan Betley (7 points) were stepping up for the Bears, but others had to get going. Max Murrell had 6 points for the Cardinal, playing solid up until this point.
With 2:41 to go in the half, Stanford was up 34-29 as da Silva was up to 12 points for the Cardinal. Cal freshman Jalen Celestine provided a nice spark off the bench for the Bears with 4 points inside.
With 23.4 to go in the half, Stanford called for time up 42-29, looking to get one more basket to end the half. Cal had 3 careless turnovers in the last 2:48, playing really sloppy basketball. Stanford would fail to score on the last possession of the half, even after one more inept Cal turnover, making it a 42-29 lead for them going into the halftime. Four turnovers in the final 3:12 was not a way that Cal wanted to end the half.
“The end of the half really hurt us,” Fox lamented. “We have to make better decisions with the ball. We have to eliminate these turnovers that lead to baskets on the other end. We have a talent deficiency and we have to accept that and play a certain way…We have to play more mistake free on Sunday.”
To Cal’s credit, they came out of the second half with some fire and determination, making it a 44-37 Stanford lead with 15:57 to go. Cal was outscoring Stanford 8-2 so far in the second half. Matt Bradley was up to 14 points for the Bears and was poised to take two foul shots coming out of the timeout break before an official review determined that he committed an offensive foul.
“We just played harder and we got stops,” Fox said of what changed to start the second half. “We stopped turning it over and got stops. The formula’s not complicated…But we have to be able to sustain that against good teams for longer periods…As well as we played to start the second half, then we burped and gave it right back to them. I don’t want to take anything away from Stanford’s team.”
With 11:58 to go, Stanford was up 50-43. A 3-point play from Bradley (20 points) made it a three-point game (46-43). He was playing fantastic for the Bears. Stanford would soon answer to get that 50-43 lead as da Silva (18 points) was balling out for the Cardinal as well.
“Let’s give the kid credit,” Fox said of da Silva. “I have a lot of respect for what Stanford’s players and our players have had to endure because it’s been months of isolation and no togetherness. For that young man to be playing as confidently and leading his team like he has is impressive. We had no answer for him.”
“He’s a good player,” Kelly added. “He’s scrappy. Has good head fakes. He scores the ball. We gotta figure out a way to stop him. He’s a really good player.”
One thing that was really killing Cal was their sloppy play. They had 12 turnovers. Some of which had been really silly.
With 7:49 to go, Stanford was up 55-43. The Cardinal were on a 9-0 run over the last 5:06. Cal hadn’t scored in the last 6:22. Oscar da Silva and Matt Bradley each had 20 points. The difference was that da Silva was getting more help.
“No, I mean, Matt was 50% from the field,” Fox said when asked if Bradley had the ball too much. “Andre was above that. Andre had 7 shots. We need some other guys to finish some plays. Grant didn’t play well tonight on the offensive end. Ryan Betley was 3-12, 1-6 from three. I don’t think it’s a flow issue. I think that we just have to have some other guys finish some plays.”
A slam inside from Andre Kelly made it a 55-47 game with 6:41 left on the clock. He was up to 11 points and 5 rebounds, doing his part for the Bears. Others needed to step up.
“We’re just trying to play together,” Kelly said. “We haven’t been too healthy all year. We’re not looking at that as an excuse just learning how to come together as a team. I think Stanford did a good job defending us, just got run our sets a little harder.”
Stanford wouldn’t let Cal hang around for long as a 3-pointer from Delaire made it a 62-49 lead for the Cardinal with 3:46 to go. That appeared to be the dagger. He was up to 12 points while da Silva had 22 points. Stanford would then lead 64-53 with 2:23 to after Delaire got the hoop plus the harm. Bradley committed the foul, his 5th and final foul of the night. With Bradley now done, Cal’s goose was cooked.
In the end, Stanford walked out with 70-55 victory. It was a must win game for Stanford, who currently sits on the good side of Joe Lunardi’s bubble. As for Cal, this was the worst loss of the season. Stanford came in with three of their top four guys out and still won with ease in Berkeley.
Even with a fantastic night from Bradley, Cal was never really in this game. This speaks to the lack of talent on this Cal team. If you want to know why recruiting is so important, games like tonight are a harsh reminder of why. As much as Mark Fox likes to pride himself on his player development, he’s gotta be able to bring some better players to Cal if he’s going to turn this ship around. As the late hall of fame coach Jerry Sloan once said, “You can’t win the Kentucky Derby with a jackass. You’ve got to have some thoroughbreds.”
Up next for Cal is another date with Stanford. This time on The Farm in Palo Alto. That game will tipoff on Super Bowl Sunday at 7:00 PM PST on FS1 and KGO 810 AM.
Note: Joel Brown and Andre Kelly of Cal both missed some practice time this week due to a false COVID-19 test. Fortunately for the Bears, both guys ended up getting cleared after having to spend some time in isolation.
