Cal and Stanford Set to Square Off for First Time in 10 Years Each Coming off a Victory
Dare we say it . . . Cal and Stanford will enter their basketball clash Friday night at Haas Pavilion both riding win streaks.
We get it that those streaks are just one game apiece. Cal beat Washington State 81-75 in overtime on Saturday while Stanford knocked off Washington 90-80.
No big deal, right?
Well, believe it or not, it will have been just days shy of 10 full years since the Bears and Cardinal met while each was coming off a victory.
By that measure, these teams are red-hot!
That gap speaks largely to the sad state of the Cal program over that span. The rivals have collided 21 times (including three times in the Pac-12 tournament) over the past nine seasons, and in 18 of those games the Bears dropped their previous outing.
But Stanford bears some responsibility, too. On those three occasions when Cal had won its previous game, Stanford could not hold up its end of the bargain.
So when Cal (7-12, 3-5 Pac-12) and Stanford (10-8, 5-3) tip off Friday at 7 p.m., we will get a set of circumstances we haven’t seen in a decade.
Justin Cobbs releases his game-winner vs. No. 1 Arizona in 2014
Photo by Kelley L. Cox, USA Today
In 2014, in its final game before facing Cal, Stanford used 28 points from Dwight Powell and 21 from Chasson Randle to beat Arizona State 76-70 on Feb. 1 at Maples Pavilion.
Cal’s set-up game for Stanford was far more dramatic. It was coach Mike Montgomery’s final season and the Bears stunned unbeaten and top-ranked Arizona 60-58 on a last-second, fade-away game-winning shot by Justin Cobbs, who two days earlier missed a potential game winner vs. ASU.
Cobbs wound up with 19 points and seven seven assists and David Kravish had 14 points and 11 rebounds as the Bears improved to 14-7.
Perhaps Cal hadn’t yet come down to earth when Stanford came to town four days later and the Cardinal took home an 80-68 victory. Cobbs scored 24 points and Tyrone Wallace added 21.
Stanford went onto earn its most recent NCAA tournament berth. Cal settled for the NIT.
Mark Madsen
Cal Athletics
Friday’s game will be the first for new Cal coach Mark Madsen against his alma mater. He talks in the video at the top of this story about the emotions he anticipates feeling this week.
Montgomery, who made his mark during a remarkably successful run at Stanford, went through the same thing when he took the Cal job before the 2008-09 season. He lost his first try against his old school, then squared things in the rematch.
But this game will feature a true anomaly with men on both bench coaching against the teams for which they once played. Stanford coach Jerod Haase spent just one season with the Bears before transferring to Kansas, but it was a memorable one.
In 1992-93, paired in the backcourt with fellow freshman Jason Kidd, Haase helped the Bears advance to the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA tournament.
Cover photo of former Cal guard Justin Cobbs looking to pass against Stanford's Dwight Powell and Chasson Randle by Kelley L. Cox, USA Today
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo
