Tag: California Golden Bears

Holiday Heart-Stopper: Austin’s game-winner carries Bears past Cal Poly, 67-66

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By Morris Phillips

When you win, everybody feels great.

But when it requires a last-second, game-winner to avoid a distasteful measure of embarrassment, almost nobody feels great immediately, and some don’t feel settled for as many as 48 hours.

Paris Austin’s free-throw line jump shot with three seconds remaining delivered the first feeling without erasing the second, in the Cal Bears’ 67-66 win over Cal Poly.

“We are a really good shooting team and shots didn’t fall tonight,” coach Wyking Jones said. “I am very happy with my team, my young team finding a way to get a win. At the end of the day, that’s what’s most important. I see them growing, I don’t know if we win that game last year. Happy that Paris hit the shot, it gives him a lot of confidence. He’s been doing everything that we’ve asked of him.”

The Mustangs of San Luis Obispo and the Big West had done little of note in eight games coming in, but they mustered their biggest effort to date at Haas Pavilion on Saturday night.

After seeing Cal wipe out a second-half deficit with a 10-0 run, the Mustangs hitched their fortunes to Donovan Fields, who scored 26 points and put Cal Poly up 66-65 with 16 seconds remaining.

At that point, the Bears were experiencing a star-crossed, second half in which they shot 61 percent from the field, but saw their 57-52 lead wiped out by a Cal Poly 7-0 run that concluded with 3:22 remaining and the Mustangs up 62-60.

But somehow Cal would survive by subsisting on two made baskets over the final five minutes of the game, both from Austin in the final minute. Not the most satisfying way to beat an opponent picked seventh (of nine) in the Big West, but that conclusion played smaller once Austin confidently delivered the conclusion.

“I crossed (Crowe) over, he bit on the move and I pulled up and made the shot,” Austin said. “It felt good. I knew right away.”

The small guys, Austin and Fields, provided the game’s most focused play, as the Oakland native scored all 10 of his points after halftime. Fields, Cal Poly’s 5’10” point guard, led all scorers with 19 of his 26 points after the break.

Connor Vanover again started at center for the Bears, and scored seven points in the game’s initial minutes. But the seven-footer wouldn’t score again, and then departed early in the second half with a bloody nose and dizziness suffered in a battle for a loose ball.

Grant Anticevich, the effective frontcourt reserve in the win over San Diego State, missed both of his shot attempts in 18 minutes of floor time. Justice Sueing (15), Darius McNeill (10) and Matt Bradley (11) joined Austin in Cal’s balanced scoring.

The Bears travel to Fresno State on Wednesday to face the Bulldogs of the Mountain West. Game time at 7:00 pm PT.

Sueing Doing Work: Cal’s leading, returning scorer breaks out in 89-83 win over SDSU

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By Morris Phillips

BERKELEY–The biggest mystery surrounding Cal basketball through seven games was the struggles of Justice Sueing, the team’s leading, returning scorer who hadn’t looked comfortable or been as productive as he was in his breakout, freshman campaign.

Under the bright lights of a tense, tight ballgame versus San Diego State on Saturday night, Sueing provided answers to the questions. The sophomore from Hawaii poured in a game-high 23 points, including a lead-changing 3-pointer with 1:43 remaining as the Bears forced their way past the Aztecs, 89-83.

The win followed Cal’s empty effort in a 19-point home loss to USF on Wednesday, and was every bit of the momentum-gathering, confidence-builder the team needed after a 2-5 start to the season. With rarely-used Grant Anticevich and Connor Vanover thrust into important roles, and point guard Paris Austin playing more efficiently, Sueing’s offensive breakout felt like Cal’s biggest development.

“I’ve been hesitating a little bit too much and not play with a free mind. I came into this game knowing what I was going to do, knowing how I was going to play it,” Sueing said.

Sueing shot 35 percent from the floor in the season’s first seven games (24 of 68), numbers more akin to getting benched, then leading an ascending club offensively. At times, Sueing’s shooting stroke looked disjointed, at other times, the 6’7″ forward barely registered as his less experienced teammates tried to find their offensive rhythm.

Either way, Sueing’s absence on the offensive end of the floor was a recipe for disaster as a young Cal squad grasped for scoring in all five of its losses. Then on Saturday, against a familiar non-conference opponent, the Bears battled for 35 minutes, only to find themselves trailing 76-68, their biggest deficit of the evening.

And that’s when all the growth and confidence emerged almost of nowhere.

First, Darius McNeill hit a three, narrowing SDSU’s lead to six. Paris Austin followed with a three, and Sueing’s three inside two minutes gave Cal the lead.

Freshman Matt Bradley, who came off the bench in a lineup change that allowed Vanover to start, hit a 3-pointer that broke an 83-83 tie with 32 seconds remaining.

In the final seconds, SDSU’s Devin Watson committed a turnover and the Aztecs’ leading scorer Mike Mitchell missed 3-pointer. Meanwhile, the Bears supplemented their four made threes with 7 of 8 from the free throw line in their final push.

“We were just trusting each other I think,” Sueing recounted of the final minutes. “Matt had a huge shot at the end and we all trust him. He’s one of the best 3-point shooters in the country. All of us just trusting each other, feeding off of each other.”

 

USF shoots past Cal, 79-60, beats Bears for the first time since 1997

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Photo of USF’s Frankie Ferrari courtesy of Eric Taylor/1st String Sports

By Morris Phillips

BERKELEY — Losses of this magnitude don’t disappear from the consciousness easily. Normal losses linger, and this one was far from normal.

After the Dons’ 79-60 win at Haas Pavilion, the Cal Bears find themselves at the crossroads. At 2-6, they’ve had too many lopsided results, with Wednesday’s loss at home arguably their worst showing. The Dons led for 35 of the 40 minutes, and by as much as 29 before a late rally by the Bears in the game’s final minutes.

Haas Pavilion never warmed up, the crowd never got involved with the 10,000 seat building barely half full. And Coach Wyking Jones looked sullen postgame, claiming his team lacked competitiveness.

“We got beat by a veteran team that wanted it more than us,” Jones recounted. “It’s indicative of 14 offensive rebounds. They had more of a fight and Frankie [Ferrari] is a great point guard and did a great job of running the floor and leading the team. We are young and they are an experienced team and I saw that they [USF] wanted it more. I saw toughness.”

Under Jones, the Bears have lost 30 of their 40 games to date. The loss to USF was Cal’s fourth by double-digits at home to a non-conference opponent. Can Cal–with challenging non-conference opponents San Diego State and Fresno State to come, followed by Pac-12 competition–pull it together?

Of course, but more and more, it appears it will require a complete turn of fortunes. The first step: keeping a team together that’s having difficulties grasping and maintaining confidence.

“When you don’t see the ball go through the rim, the urgency to score builds. We start to panic a bit and that’s when you see silly fouls, not boxing out and losing focus,” Jones said. “We had some good looks that we would normally knock down, it just compounded on the defensive end and guys got more anxious to get a stop.”

Given, the Bears lack of size and physicality, offensive improvement will be easier to attain  than will defensive cohesion. But the Bears assist-to-turnover ratio must improve with the team having 82 turnovers and only 70 assists after 12 of each in Wednesday.

The Bears botched their final possession of the opening half, failing to get off a shot. Prior to that, a pass rolled through freshman Andre Kelly’s legs than out of bounds, another sailed over Justice Sueing’s head and ricocheted off the USF bench.

Meanwhile, USF looked confident, and built on their season start, at 8-1, their best in two decades. Moreover, the Dons showed little jet lag from a weekend in Ireland, where they narrowly suffered their first defeat, 85-81 to No. 21 Buffalo.

“I was curious to see how we were going to come out and start the game, and where our energy was going to be. We were coming back to play against a Pac-12 team,” said Charles Mindlend who paced the Dons with 17 points. “I was really happy with how we played.”

Center Jimbo Lull added 14 points, and sharpshooter Jordan Ratinho added 12 on four of nine shooting from three. The Dons enjoyed a 36-22 advantage with points in the paint.

Cal got 17 from Kelly, and 16 points from Darius McNeill. Last year’s leading scorer Sueing finished with four points. The sophmore forward has missed 44 of 68 shots taken this season.

Top reserve Juhwan Harris-Dyson played just two minutes before a previously diagnosed hand injury flared up.

The Bears welcome San Diego State to Haas Pavilion on Saturday for a 7:30 pm tipoff.

Wrong Exit: St. Mary’s too much for Cal in neighborhood clash, beat the Bears 83-71

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By Morris Phillips

MORAGA — St. Mary’s first four-game losing streak since February 2007 essentially ended when the Cal Bears’ charter bus left Berkeley on Saturday and took a full hour to cover the 14 miles between the campuses.

That’s too long to travel, and if the Caldecott Tunnel could speak, the tunnel would confirm that fact. Instead of a timely arrival, the Bears experienced a hasty one, and bad things continued after the opening tip at McKeon Pavilion.

Malik Fitts scored 19 points–one of four St. Mary’s double-digit scorers–in the Gaels’ comfortable 83-71 win over Cal. St. Mary’s shot 55 percent before halftime, and led by 15 at the break.

Both rebuilding programs entered the clash needing a victory with the Gaels’ slide their first in more than a decade. The Bears beat Santa Clara on Monday, but dropped three of four prior to that. But it was apparent early on, Cal’s defense wasn’t going to be good enough to break into the win column.

Tanner Krebs’ 3-pointer with 8:57 remaining increased St. Mary’s lead to 28-18.

“We weren’t communicating enough on defense,” Cal’s Justice Sueing said. “That’s something we have to work on the next couple of days.”

“They came in with a game plan that they’re gonna use their secondary scorers to beat us, and they did a very good job of that,” coach Wyking Jones said.

Initially, Cal struggled to limit the Gaels’ dribble penetration. But that issue compounded when the St. Mary’s 3-point shooters started to get looks. The end result wasn’t pretty: the Gaels shot 60 percent from the field, canned 13 threes, and briefly led by 25 points in the second half.

The 60 percent shooting by their opponent was easily Cal’s worst showing of the season to date.

The West Coast Conference’s leading scorer, Jordan Ford, finished with 16 points and seven assists, off his average of more than 23 points a game. Dan Fotu added 16, and Krebs 11.

Justice Sueing paced the Bears with 16 points. Matt Bradley had 15, and Paris Austin 12. The Bears again struggled with ball movement and offensive cohesion with their absurdly low assist total of six jumping off the stat sheet.

The Bears host the USF Dons on Wednesday night, their third consecutive neighborhood clash, at 8:00 pm.

No O: Bears’ offense missing in ninth consecutive Big Game loss to Stanford, 23-13

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By Morris Phillips

BERKELEY — If you’re a California Golden Bear, only one word applies: agonizing.

After eight consecutive Big Game losses to Stanford, the Cal Bears envisioned a new day, a portal in which they could charge through and disconnect the dominance the hated Cardinal had come to possess.

Just one problem: Cal’s offense needed to provide a touchdown (or two) to wrap the whole bundle in a tidy, holiday bow. Instead, they filled Memorial Stadium with missed opportunities.

Three possessions ending in a punt to start the game, two more of those to start the second half, a pair of passes picked off in spectacular fashion by Stanford’s Paulson Adebo, a fumble and a missed field goal. Throughout, the Cal offense teased, but didn’t produce.

A lot of action between the 20’s but no finishes, which added up to six points in a 23-13 loss that felt more lopsided before and after a cosmetic Cal touchdown in the game’s final 30 seconds.

“We had a lot of missed opportunities,” said quarterback Chase Garbers. “It hurts, but we have one more game to play, so we can’t keep ourselves down on this loss. We have to focus on the next game.”

The Bears had to feel confident coming in as the gap between the teams has narrowed. The Cardinal uncharacteristically lost four of five mid-season, while the Bears entered with a stretch of four wins in five games. The Butte County fires provided an extra week of preparation, and the game was now nicely positioned as a regular season-ending home game.

But underlying the whole, comfy setup was the fact that everyone in the Bay Area with a television and access to a local newspaper knew the Cal offense is lacking, beset by defections at the receiver spots, injuries along the offensive line, and inexperience at quarterback. On Saturday, Stanford knew best and proceeded accordingly.

“We needed our defense to pick us up, which they did,” Stanford coach David Shaw said. “We got two red zone stops and forced them to kick two field goals early on. The second half was all about the defense. We got a lot of stops and really stifled their running game. Paulson Adebo made two unbelievable interceptions.”

The 10-0 Stanford lead earned in the game’s first 11 minutes may have been Shaw’s most significant get. Capped by Cameron Scarlett’s 46-yard touchdown dash, the early lead put the pressure squarely on the Bears while allowing the Cardinal to settle into their preferred, conservative offense approach.

For the remaining three quarters, Stanford’s offense played to its strengths, running Bryce Love and throwing the ball to leaping marvel, JJ Arcega-Whiteside. They avoided for the most part running plays in the middle of the field where Cal’s duo of Evan Weaver and Jordan Kunaszyk awaited.

Still, Cal’s defense made plays, and once again single-handedly kept the entire team within striking distance.

But that fell apart, on three consecutive Cal possessions in which Garbers’ deep ball was misthrown and picked in the end zone, Greg Thomas missed a 36-yard that would have cut Stanford’s lead to 13-9, and Adebo picked Garbers again.

That stretch left Cal trailing 23-6 with 2:27 remaining, and their seemingly game-long quest to produce one touchdown, was now a quest to produce two touchdowns and a field goal.

“We know that Stanford is a heck of a program,” Wilcox summarized. “They’ve been winning for a long time and we have a lot of respect for their coaches and the way they play. Each and every week we are trying to improve, and that means winning. At the end of the day, it means winning. That’s what it’s all about.”

Balanced Bears good early and dominating late in 78-66 win over Santa Clara

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By Morris Phillips

BERKELEY — After an eight-win season, the Cal Bears needed to get better, and they did that, with Coach Wyking Jones welcoming freshmen Matt Bradley and Andre Kelly.

But an influx in talent doesn’t always mesh, and new mouths to feed means old mouths can occasionally go hungry. So with Santa Clara breathing down Cal’s collective necks in the final minutes of Monday’s 78-66 victory for the Bears, Jones witnessed a selfless act from one of his leading, returning scorers, Darius McNeill.

“I told him to check in to the game for Matt, and Matt scored three buckets in a row, and he said, ‘Coach, just keep him in the game.  Just keep him in the game.’ And for me, that’s a step in the right direction as far as him being able to sacrifice his own personal stats, minutes, whatever you want to call it, and say ‘You know what coach, it’s about the team, it’s not about me.’ So that’s what we’ve been preaching, and that’s what culture is all about.”

With Bradley scoring 13 of his team-best 15 points in the final 6:33 of the ballgame, the Bears pulled away, winning for the second time this season. Five Bears finished double figures, led by Bradley and Juhwan Harris-Dyson, who put up his 15 points on seven of eight shooting.

“It comes in those guys trusting each other and having each other’s back,” Jones said. “Just being able to withstand them cutting it to one and still being able to make plays and make a run and get stops when we needed it.”

The Bears played like strangers in Shanghai, losing their season opener in China to Yale by 17 points, and compiling no assists in the first 20 minutes while shooting a frigid 20 percent. After a bounce back win over Hampton, and the cancellation of the Detroit Mercy game due to the Butte County fires, Cal was awful defensively in losses to St. John’s and Temple in Brooklyn. But on Monday, the defense was credible, and the offense had diversity and purpose.

Cal jumped out to a 14-0 lead, holding the Broncos scoreless for nearly eight minutes. Nine steals at the break, and 13 for the game, showed that the Cal defensive intensity was present, as was Santa Clara’s propensity to cough it up. But with Kelly and point guard Paris Austin spearheading the impressive start, and Bradley playing the role of the closer, it mattered little that holdovers McNeill and Justice Sueing missed 10 of their combined 15 shots, while McNeill was limited by foul trouble.

Harris-Dyson came off the bench and shut down Santa Clara’s Tahj Eaddy, while being the beneficiary of some nice setups from his teammates on the offensive end. Dyson hadn’t contributed as much offensively since his February breakout against Stanford with 13 points.

The Bears led by 12 at the half, only to see Santa Clara shoot 56 percent after the break and cut the Cal lead to 53-52 with 7:03 remaining. But the Broncos collapsed at that point, allowing the Bears to get to the rim repeatedly in a 19-6 run that pushed their lead to 14 with 1:33 remaining.

“Cal did a great job of taking us out of what we wanted to do,” said SCU coach Herb Sendek. “But, perhaps no stat was more significant for us than our 22 turnovers.”

Cal (2-3) visits St. Mary’s on Saturday in a rematch of last year’s renewal of the East Bay rivalry at Haas Pavilion. The Bears didn’t fare well in that one, losing to a veteran Gaels team that would be invited to the NIT. This one could be more competitive as both schools welcome a bunch of new faces to the matchup.

New Math in Berkeley: A pair of pick-sixes equals win No. 7 for the Bears, 33-21

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By Morris Phillips

BERKELEY — Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium was another example of what the heck’s going on with Cal football–winners of four of their last five games, bowl eligible and eager to see the Stanford Cardinal a week from now.

The quick take: the Cal offense won’t necessarily scare their opponents, but the fastidiously prepared, super opportunistic defense will sneak in and steal all your food and drink if you’re not careful.

After the Bears turned a meager 211 yards of total offense into 33 points, and a comfortable 12-point win over Colorado, head coach Justin Wilcox did his best to explain how pedestrian offensive statistics could equate to a milestone seventh win of the season, and the most anticipated leadup to the Big Game in a decade.

“It’s not always going to be pretty but we took care of the ball,” Wilcox said. “We needed to sustain some drives better. I think we all know that. We have some things that we’ve got to continue to address and develop the players on our team, help them as much as we possibly can and hold them accountable. But, we took care of the ball and found a way to make some plays that really were the difference.”

Cal delivered those big plays in a manner that no one could recall seeing: a pair of interceptions returned for touchdowns in the game’s first two minutes, literally the fastest possible way to rip an opponent’s heart out with still 58 of 60 minutes remaining in a football game.

First, sophomore Elijiah Hicks stepped in front of Colorado senior Juwann Winfree and delivered Steven Montez’ telegraphed pass attempt to the house, a 34-yard interception and return just 1:11 after the opening kickoff.

Then with Montez facing 3-and-11 at his own 24, safety Ashtyn Davis came out of nowhere and delivered a pick followed by a 35-yard return that put Cal up 14-0.

Davis’ big play came 45 seconds after Hicks, and before the Bears had run a play on offense.

With plays that big, no additional hyperbole is needed. Thus Hicks explanation postgame.

“In practice we run that play all the time,” Hicks said. “I just had to cash in.”

Davis would go on to add another interception before halftime, as the Bears led 21-0, and 24-7 at the break.

So did Cal’s spectacular defensive display seamlessly lead to the offense? Well, no. With Colorado–losers of six straight coming in–providing gifts all over the field, Cal’s punting and punt coverage team took second billing in front of the sputtering offense.

After Cal’s first three offensive snaps went backwards, Steven Coutts unleashed a 47-yard punt that was fielded by Ronnie Blackmon, then knocked loose by Cal’s Traveon Beck. Quinton Tartabull recovered the loose ball, and Cal, already up 14-0 was back in business.

But seven plays from Cal’s offense didn’t bring them closer to an add-on score, it brought them to–after an offensive holding penalty–3-and-goal from the 18. But Chase Garbers’ nifty scramble gained 17 of those 18 yards, and his pass to Patrick Laird on fourth down resulted in a touchdown.

Unconventional? For sure. To recap, Cal led 21-0 with only 25 yards of offense.

When Colorado regained their wits after the early onslaught, they made a game of it. The Buffs defense responded, keeping Cal in check, while Montez and the offense made plays. Early in the fourth quarter, Montez hooked up with Winfree for a short touchdown pass and the Buffs trailed, 27-21.

At that point, the Cal offense had to do something, or be faced with an embarrassing defeat. And this time–with a Colorado mistake or two–they responded.

After Garbers scrambled for a short gain on 3rd-and-18, Colorado’s Drew Lewis got too aggressive, pushing Garbers after he was out of bounds. The resulting personal foul penalty and automatic Cal first down led immediately to Garbers touchdown pass to Moe Ways, his first as a Bear.

Temple captures third place with 76-59 win over Cal at Legends Classic

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By Morris Phillips

Cal’s basketball roster isn’t blessed with superior size or experience with no one over 6’8″ starting, and junior transfer Paris Austin and Roman Davis the only players with more than a year at the Division I level.

Given that, it isn’t a surprise that the Bears aren’t very good defensively, at least not yet.

Temple took advantage on Tuesday, racing past Cal, 76-59 to capture third place in the Legends Classic. The Owls shot a sizzling 54 percent from the field, one night after St. John’s shot 55 percent against the Bears.

Temple scored 19 of the game’s initial 24 points to build a double-digit lead, only to see Cal respond, and trail by four, 32-28, at the break. But the Owls ran away for good with a 10-0 run midway through the second half that finished Cal.

“I thought we did some really good things tonight, not perfect, but some good things,” said Temple coach Fran Dunphy.

Not surprisingly, the Owls relied heavily on their one-two punch of Quinton Rose and Shizz Alston. The pair scored exactly half of Temple’s 76 points while taking 33 of their 57 shot attempts. Alston also played the role of the Owls’ chief distributor with 10 assists.

“Alston did a good job distributing the ball,” Cal coach Wyking Jones said. “Rose and Alston are both very good players.”

The Bears fell to 1-3 on the season, and they won’t return to the hardwood until Monday when they face Santa Clara at Haas Pavilion.

Darius McNeill led the Bears with 12 points, and three other starters scored 10 each. But leading scorer Justice Sueing missed seven of his eight shot attempts and finished with four points.

The Bears trailed for the game’s final 39 minutes, and they were outrebounded 34-27.

The Bears return home to host the Santa Clara Broncos on Monday, November 26 at 6:00 pm PT.

Bears nearly craft an upset over St. John’s at the Legends Classic in Brooklyn, lose 82-79

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By Morris Phillips

The Bears, with their cast of unheralded underclassmen, appeared to be quite a match for St. John’s and pre-season Big East Player of the Year Shamorie Ponds on Monday in Brooklyn.

At least for 37 of the game’s 40 minutes they were. That’s when the hometown hero took over.

The Red Storm overcame a late, seven point deficit to the Bears as Ponds scored 16 of his game-best 32 points in the final seven minutes, leading St. John’s past Cal 82-79 at the Barclays Center.

“The crowd got us into it late in the game, so it feels good to be home,” said Brooklyn native Ponds about the Red Storm’s late surge.

Cal’s last lead came with 2:39 remaining when Andre Kelly hit a jumper. But Ponds would score nine of St. John’s final 10 points in their closing run. His 32-point performance marked the seventh time the junior guard has surpassed 30 points in his career.

The Bears stayed in it most of the night by making contested shots, rebounding and not committing turnovers. The Bears trailed 38-31 at halftime, but opened the second half with a 9-2 run.

Darius McNeill led Cal with 21 points, and four of his five made 3-pointers came before the break. Justice Sueing finished with 19 points, and 14 of those came after halftime. The Bears shot 57 percent from the field and 81 percent from the foul line. But they weren’t the well-oiled offensive machine they aspire to be despite the superior field goal percentage, tallying just 10 assists on 29 made baskets.

Ultimately, Cal couldn’t get St. John’s stopped defensively at key junctures of the game. The Red Storm shot 55 percent and held a slight edge on the glass (27-23).

“They were hitting tough shots,” St. John’s Justin Simon said. “They’re a great team that’s well-coached. We were trying to give them difficult looks.”

St. John’s (4-0) advances to the championship game Tuesday against VCU. The Bears (1-2) will face Temple in the third-place game preceding St. John’s-VCU at the Barclays Center.

This was the first ever meeting between Cal and St. John’s, coached by Warriors’ legends Chris Mullin and associate head coach Mitch Richmond.

“We got back on our heels a little bit tonight, but I was happy the way we regrouped and got the win,” Mullin said. “[Tuesday] will be nice. It’s always nice to play a high-stakes game early in the season against a good team, and we’ll be jacked up.”

Cal returns home to host Santa Clara on Monday at 6:00 pm PT on the Pac-12 Network.

2018 Big Game between Stanford and Cal rescheduled for Dec. 1

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Photo credit: gostanford.com

By: Ana Kieu

PALO ALTO–I know a lot of college football fans in the Bay Area were looking forward to the 2018 Big Game between the Stanford Cardinal and California Golden Bears at Memorial Stadium this Saturday, but that fun-filled day will have to wait as the heavy smoke from the devastating wildfires in Butte County has significantly worsened the air quality throughout Northern California. The game has been rescheduled for Dec. 1 at noon PT on the Pac-12 Network.

Jaquish & Kenninger Director of Athletics, Bernard Muir, said in a statement: “The entire Stanford Athletics community recognizes this has been an extremely challenging time for so many people who have been affected by the wildfires, both in the Bay Area and throughout the state. Our thoughts are with them, first and foremost. We are thankful to the University of California for collaborating with us on the logistical challenges of rescheduling the Big Game, and are looking forward to playing the game on Dec. 1.”

The Big Game was originally scheduled for Saturday at 4:30 pm PT in Berkeley, Calif. However, after further consultation with campus medical and environmental experts, the Pac-12 Conference and Stanford, UC Berkeley’s Chancellor, Carol Christ, and Director of Athletics Jim Knowlton concluded that the game should be postponed due to concerns for the health and well-being of student-athletes, staff, the band, student groups, and fans.

While the initial intention was to wait until Saturday to make a final decision, current air quality conditions provided by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, and forecasts for the weekend are indicating that AQI (Air Quality Index) levels are unlikely to improve by Saturday afternoon. The decision was consistent with guidelines established by the NCAA Sports Science Institute and the Pac-12’s Health and Well-Being Board.

All tickets to the Nov. 17 game will be honored on Dec. 1, and fans should bring the tickets they currently have to gain entrance on the rescheduled date. Fans with questions should call (800) STANFORD and press option 4.

Since 1892, Stanford and Cal have met 120 times, including each of the last 71 years dating back to a three-year gap during World War II (1943-45). The Cardinal holds the all-time series lead 63-46-11 in the Big Game, and has won a series-record eight in a row over the Bears.