Stanford basketball picks up first ever ACC win with 89-81 victory over Cal

The first Big Game of the season goes to Stanford as the Cardinal put together a strong shooting day to go home with a win over their biggest rivals.

Dec 7, 2024; Berkeley, California, USA; Stanford Cardinal guard Jaylen Blakes (21) passes around California Golden Bears forward Rytis Petraitis (31) during the first half at Haas Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images / D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images

First of many. On Saturday afternoon, the Stanford Cardinal (8-2, 1-0 ACC) played in their first ever ACC game, traveling to Berkeley to take on familiar rival, Cal. All game long it was a hard fought battle, but in the end it was the Cardinal who came out on top, topping the Golden Bears 89-81 to take home their first ever ACC win.

It was a dominant afternoon for the dynamic duo of Jaylen Blakes and Maxime Raynaud, as both of them led the way in scoring with 20 points, with Raynaud’s 20 point game being his seventh of the season. Shooting the ball well for the night, the Cardinal shot 52.6 percent from the field while going 47.8 percent from three and 90 percent from the free throw line, with five players including Raynaud and Blakes scoring double digit points.

Getting off to a fast start, the Cardinal were able to take control of the game early and jump out to a 9-2 lead within the first two minutes. Eventually taking a 24-13 lead, the Golden Bears soon found a rhythm and tied things up at 29-29. But Stanford wanted to relieve stress on itself heading into the break as after going on an 18-2 run to close out the half, they went into the break up 47-31.

While Stanford at one point held a 20 point lead in the second half, Cal refused to go down easy and clawed its way back, cutting the lead down to six with around 30 seconds left in the game. But good free throw shooting late helped Stanford pull away. In the second half, the Cardinal made 14 out of their 16 free throw attempts.

Defensively, the Cardinal excelled especially with guarding in the paint, with the Stanford players combining for 13 blocks, which is the most in a game by Stanford since the 2006-07 season when it had 19 blocks against USC. 

Other notables aside from Blakes and Raynaud include Oziyah Sellers (16 points with three three pointers), Ryan Agarwal (11 points, seven rebounds, three assists) and Chisom Okpara (11 points).

Now on a break for the university’s upcoming finals, the Cardinal next play on Dec. 17, when they return to Maples Pavilion for a 7 p.m. (PT) game. The game will air live on ACC Network Extra.