By Morris Phillips

Dissecting a loss is never fun, and it wasn’t for Cuonzo Martin on Saturday.

The Cal coach rightly had an expectation of better things given his Bears had won five of six, and had almost a full week to hatch a plan to upset rival Stanford   But Cal simply didn’t play well enough to damage the Cardinal’s NCAA hopes in a 72-61 loss at Maples Pavilion.

“We just didn’t get stops defensively,” Martin admitted.  “We had breakdowns, missed box-outs.  I don’t think we defended well.”

And that was just the coach’s insights on the final 20 minutes that saw the Bears grow frustrated with Stanford’s double-digit lead that they maintained for all but 90 seconds of the half.  Stanford’s size and experience in the paint were a problem, but so was Chasson Randle.  The Cardinal’s senior leader didn’t do much early, but he was a handful after halftime, finishing with 19 points and eight assists.

Randle’s final act of the afternoon—a beautifully executed in-bounds play where he caught the pass over the top from the baseline in the paint, and quickly shuttled the ball to Stefan Nastic for the lay-up—showed that Stanford’s experience is a tough thing for youthful Cal to overcome at this point.  Repeatedly, the Bears were a step slow while Stanford was patient and purposeful, content to methodically wear down their most notable opponent.

“It was more so just about our standards and what we want to do for the rest of the year, NCAAs or not.  We just wanted to go out the right way,” Randle said.

The Bears shot 35 percent in the first half in which they were basically a one-man show, with senior David Kravish accepting the challenge with 16 of his career-best 23 points.  The rest of the Bears missed makeable shots, and couldn’t summon a critical stop with Stanford within reach in the final minutes of the half.

Leading 28-23, Randle penetrated the lane but threw up an air ball, wide right.  But Stanford freshman Michael Humphrey was in the right place, scooping up the miss and laying it in.  A few seconds later—after a Cal turnover—Anthony Brown used a well-timed screen to knock down a 3-pointer as Bears’ freshman Kingsley Okoroh was a step slow on the closeout.

Brown’s big shot not only exposed Cal’s perimeter defense, it gave Stanford their first 10-point lead.

While Cal’s “it takes a village” approach to stopping Randle worked initially, Stanford’s similar approach to slowing the Bears’ leader Tyrone Wallace seemed to have a more lasting effect.  Wallace missed eight of his first ten shot attempts, and couldn’t lift his team as he has all season.  In the final moments, when Cal got as close as eight down, Martin elected to keep Wallace on the bench in favor of freshman Brandon Chauca.

Jabari Bird didn’t manage many good looks nor did Jordan Mathews, who appeared slowed by an ankle issue.  The indispensable pair missed 11 of their combined 16 shots and made just one 3-pointer.

And without the injured Christian Behrens, the Bears were outmanned in the paint.  Stanford was without 6’9” Roscoe Allen but it didn’t seem to matter.  Freshmen Humphries and Reid Travis were just as tough to handle for the Bears, who elected to start undersized Dwight Tarwater on their front line, bringing the hobbled Mathews off the bench.

The Bears (16-11, 6-8) get an opportunity to even their Pac-12 record in their final two home games this week with Oregon up first on Wednesday night, followed by Oregon State on Sunday afternoon.