The Stanford men’s basketball team (9-12, 3-7 Pac-12) defeated the California Golden Bears (3-18, 2-8 Pac-12) 75-46 in dominant fashion in Maples Pavilion on Saturday night. With the win, the team avenges its 22-point loss to Cal earlier this season.
Early in the game, Stanford received significant looks off their offensive actions in the half court. But despite the Cardinal’s early offensive efforts, Cal was able to stay in the game thanks to efficient 3-point shooting. Junior forward Brandon Angel made his presence known in the opening minutes, tallying 7 of the team’s first 12 points. However, the offenses began to stagnate towards the middle of the half, with both teams unable to capitalize on easy opportunities to score.
Lars Thiemann’s jump hook with 6:45 remaining broke a seven-minute scoring drought for both teams. But instead of catalyzing a Golden Bears’ run, Stanford promptly responded to the basket with an 11-0 run to take a commanding double-digit lead. After missing a few bunnies earlier, sophomore Maxime Raynaud scored six of Stanford’s 11 points during their late half run. Raynaud’s wave toward the student section got the Maples crowd back in the game once again.
The Cardinal were able to extend their lead all the way out to 13 points before Cal was able to manufacture some offense at the tail end of the half. At halftime, the Cardinal led the Golden Bears by a score of 31-20. Raynaud led all Stanford scorers with 9 points, while Angel followed with 7. Meanwhile for Cal, Dejuan Clayton led the way with 6 points, albeit on 2-for-9 shooting from the field.
In the second half, Stanford immediately pounced on the Golden Bears, as the team started corralling offensive rebounds and began shooting prolifically from the perimeter. Within five minutes, the Cardinal extended the lead to 17 points. Cal continued their struggles offensively in the second half, shooting only 40% from the field.
Capitalizing on the Bears slow offensive start, the Cardinal continued to extend its lead down the stretch thanks to the play of sophomore Harrison Ingram, who accumulated 14 points in the second half. Ingram’s dunk over forward ND Okafor lifted the Maples crowd out of their seats and helped blow the game wide open for the Cardinal.
By the 10-minute mark in the second half, the Golden Bears found themselves down 22. A three-and-a-half-minute scoring drought from Cal allowed Stanford to build a 31-point lead with 6:31 remaining.
Senior walk-ons Roy Yuan and Josue Gil-Silva found themselves in the game with 1:37 remaining, causing the student section to erupt. This is the second conference game this season both walk-ons have seen the court. Yuan’s only shot attempt rimmed out, keeping the newly-minted roster addition scoreless for the season. But in the end, nothing much went wrong for the Cardinal, as they were able to walk away with a commanding 75-46 win.
Up next, Stanford will head out to east to take on the Utah Utes (15-8, 8-4 Pac-12) and Colorado Buffaloes (12-11, 4-8 Pac-12) in rematches from earlier in the conference slate. Stanford was unable to come away with a victory against either team at home, so there’s a real possibility the Cardinal come away from the trip 0-2.
The team first plays against Utah. Tip-off is scheduled for Thursday at 5 p.m. PT in Salt Lake City.