Cal Plays Without Andre Kelly and Loses to Stanford

Bears suffer their eighth straight loss and remain winless on the road

Cal, playing without Andre Kelly, again was unable to make the pivotal plays down the stretch and lost to Stanford 57-50 Tuesday night at Stanford's Maples Pavilion.

It was the eighth straight loss for Cal, which is now 0-9 in games away from home.

Records: Cal 9-13, 2-9 Pac-12, 10th place; Stanford 13-7, 6-4 Pac-12, seventh place

Cal’s top scorer Tuesday: Jordan Shepherd 15 points

Stanford’s top scorer Tuesday: Harrison Ingram, Jaiden Delaire 12 points each

Key stat: Cal shot 35.3% from the floor

Offense was lacking for both teams as Cal had its lowest scoring output of the season. Stanford was not much better, shooting 42 percent from the field while going 3-for-15 from 3-points range. But it was but good enough to pull out a win.

As has been the case for so many games this season, the Bears put themselves in position to win, only to fail to get the big buckets down the stretch.  Cal trailed by a point with 12:59 left in the game and were within two points at the 8:06 mark. Stanford pushed the lead back to eight points over the next four minutes, and Cal did not have the offensive wherewithal to catch up. The Bears have scored fewer than 60 points in five of their past seven games.

"Defensively, I thought we gave ourselves a chance to win," Cal coach Mark Fox said afterward. "I do think that we wore down a little bit in the second half. Certainly we missed Andre on the offensive end, but defensively we gave ourselves a chance.

"It's not about getting close. We've got to start closing the deal. We've got to eliminate some of these mistakes that, at the end of the day, are so, so costly."

Cal's offense was limited because of the absence of Kelly. Kelly averages 13.4 points and 8.4 rebounds and is the Bears' only reliable inside presence offensively. But he injured his ankle in Saturday's loss to USC and was not available for Tuesday's game. Whether he will play in Thursday game against Washington is uncertain.

With Kelly out Lars Thiemann made his first start of the season. Thiemann had a nice game with 11 points on 3-for-3 shooting from the field and 5-for-5 from the foul line to go along with six rebounds.

"I thought Lars really did an admirable job," Fox said, noting that Thiemann's practice time in recent weeks was limited by COVID. "I was surprised he could go 30 minutes. He's been our leading scorer and rebounder in practice all year. He just needs confidence to let the game slow down, and that'll help him get better. This was an important game for him, and I thought he answered the game pretty well."

Jordan Shepherd led the Bears in scoring with 15 points, but he was just 5-for-17 from the field. Aside from Thiemann, Cal's starters were 13-for-40 from the floor. Cal was outrebounded 35-28, but that was to be expected with Kelly sidelined against Stanford's big frontcourt. Stanford had six offensive rebounds to four for Cal, so the Bears did well enough on the boards to stay competitive.

Stanford scored 36 points in the paint, choosing to go inside with Kelly not around to bother shots close to the rim.

The biggest play of the game came with eight minutes left. Cal trailed 37-35 and had possession with a chance to tie or take the lead.  But a lazy pass enabled Stanford's Michael O'Connell to make a steal that resulted in a breakaway layup that put the Cardinal ahead by four with 8:00 left. Cal could never quite recover.

A low-scoring first half ended with Stanford holding a 21-20 lead.

Harrison Ingram, Stanford's leading scorer for the season, did not score his first points Tuesday until 1:33 remained in the first half. He scored the Cardinal's final four points of the half to help Stanford overcome the 18-14 Cal held with 7:32 left in the half.

Neither team shot well in the first half. Cal was 7-for-22 for 31.8 percent while Stanford made five of their first seven shots of the game, but was 4-for-18 for the rest of the half. The Cardinal finished the half shooting 36 percent.

Grant Anticevich was back in the Bears' starting lineup Tuesday after coming off the bench the past two games. He finished with seven points on 3-for-8 shooting.

Joel Brown was left out of the starting lineup, so Shepherd handled the point guard duties briefly before Brown entered the game.

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Cover photo of Jordan Shepherd by Kyle Terada, USA TODAY Sports

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Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

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