Cal Basketball: Bears Face Stanford in Opener of the Pac-12 Tournament
PAC-12 CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT
No. 10 seed CAL (13-18, 7-11) vs. No. 7 seed STANFORD (20-11 9-9)
WHERE: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nev.
WHEN: Wednesday, 6 p.m.
TV/RADIO: Pac-12 Networks/810-AM
CAL-STANFORD HISTORY: Cal leads 151-126 and beat the Cardinal 52-50 in Berkeley on Jan. 26. (See the postgame reaction of Paris Austin and Kareem South following that win over Stanford in the video above.) The teams have met three times in the 22-year history of the conference tournament. Stanford has a 2-1 edge, including a 76-58 win two seasons ago.
CAL STORYLINES: The Bears hope to extend their season by winning in the Pac-12 tournament for the first time since 2017, when they beat Oregon State and Utah before losing to 73-65 Oregon in the semifinals. Cal lost in the first round the past two seasons to Colorado and Stanford. . . . A win over Stanford would send the Bears into the quarterfinals against No. 2 seed UCLA on Thursday at 6 p.m. . . . Cal’s 7-11 conference mark under first-year coach Mark Fox represents a four-game improvement from its 3-15 record in league play a year ago. That is the largest jump of any Pac-12 school this season, with UCLA, USC and Oregon each making three-game climbs. . . . The Bears actually have matched up fairly well with the Cardinal, splitting two regular-season meetings. (See the video above for the players' reaction to the win in Berkeley.) But Cal continues to struggle away from Haas Pavilion. The Bears are 1-10 in true road games, 0-3 on neutral ground for a combined mark of 1-13 outside Berkeley. . . . Cal is coming off a pair of losses in Oregon last week in which the Bears were limited to 56 points each time. The Bears, in fact, are averaging just 54.2 points in nine conference road games and have topped 56 points just twice. . . . Sophomore guard Matt Bradley has been held to 13.5 points in two games vs. Stanford. He averages 17.5 for the season and earlier this week was named to the All-Pac-12 second team. Bradley needs one 3-point basket to tie Jabari Bird (2017) for 10th on Cal’s single-season list. Bird made 65 threes that season and Bradley has 64. . . .
STANFORD STORYLINES: The Cardinal also arrives in Las Vegas on the heels of losing twice in Oregon last week. But while Cal has been helpless out of town, Stanford is 6-7 in road/neutral-site games, including 3-6 in Pac-12 road games. . . . Stanford’s recent history in the Pac-12 tournament is little better than what the Bears have achieved. The Cardinal’s only win at the event in the past four seasons came at Cal’s expense two years ago. . . . Stanford had three players recognized when All-Pac-12 honors were announced Monday. Junior forward Oscar da Silva picked up first-team honors after averaging 16.1 points and 6.3 rebounds. Guard Tyrell Terry (14.9 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.2 assists) was an honorable mention pick as well as an All-Freshman selection. And sophomore Bryce Wills was named honorable mention All-Defensive. . . . Curiously, da Silva has not produced big numbers against Cal. His 13 points and seven rebounds in their most recent meet were high totals in both categories in seven career games vs. the Bears. He has averaged just 7.6 points and 4.7 rebounds vs. Cal.
CAL GAME NOTES: Click here
STANFORD GAME NOTES: Click here