Tag: Pac-12

Stanford continues homestand against UCLA Saturday night

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Photo credit: @StanfordMBB

By: Ana Kieu

Stanford Cardinal men’s basketball surely showed that they were the Comeback Cardinal in Wednesday’s thriller against the rival USC Trojans 79-76 at Maples Pavilion. The Cardinal (13-11, 6-6 Pac-12) certainly rebounded after a rough two-game road trip in the Beaver State against Oregon and Oregon State this past weekend. Now the Cardinal will seek their second straight win over the lowly UCLA Bruins, who currently stand at 13-12, 6-6 Pac-12 in the conference standings. That’s clearly not super low to the point of being a hapless team, like, say, my alma mater San Jose State University, but they’re just a step below the Cardinal and this should be a winnable game for the home team as long as the Bay Area big men continue to play with grit throughout the two halves.

In case you missed it, Stanford not only celebrated the exhilarating win over USC Wednesday with its head coach Jerod Haase, but also a familiar face in football head coach David Shaw, who appeared to be really happy to be back on the Stanford University campus as the Cardinal support each other, no matter what teams they play for or what genders they describe themselves as.

Check out the Cardinal’s postgame celebration in the embedded tweet below.

As you should already know, Stanford took matters into their own hands and gutted out a gutsy win over USC and also carried some momentum into Saturday’s rivalry matchup. Well, at least a fan rivalry in the minds of those who follow these two Pac-12 schools.

I’d also like to mention that Bryce Willis was clutch down the stretch against USC and even threw in the much-needed game-winner to help the Cardinal get ahead for the win.

Since both teams aren’t leading the conference, I believe Saturday’s Pac-12 matchup will feature a lot of back-and-forth action along with fluctuating leads and deficits. As long as there are runs for the money, they’ll be strides to try even harder over the course of the game itself. But I predict that Stanford will somehow pull off a win, so my prediction will be 80-75 Stanford. Let’s see how I’ll do Saturday.

Stanford Cardinal basketball podcast with Joey Friedman: Sheffield’s 16 points gets him some more minutes in Stanford’s win

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Photo credit: ruleoftree.com

On the Stanford Cardinal Men’s Basketball podcast with Joey:

#1 The Stanford Cardinal (13-11) got a key win over the USC Trojans (13-12) on Wednesday night at Maples Pavilion 79-76.

#2 A big turn around from they’re game against the Oregon Ducks when the Cardinal scored just 46 points.

#3 How is Daejon Davis’ progress after his head to head collision?

#4 KZ Okpala scored 18 points and Marcus Sheffield scored 16 points for Sheffield’s personal high.

#5 The UCLA Bruins are headed to Stanford for 7:00 PM tip on Saturday.

Join Joey for the Cardinal podcasts each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Running Out Of Gas: UCLA hangs around then stuns Cal in OT, 75-67

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By Morris Phillips

BERKELEY, Calif. — Typically, the Cal Bears can’t seem to stop anyone from scoring. On Wednesday, their issues were with scoring themselves.

From a competitive standpoint, the change put the Bears in a more esteemed place by leaps and bounds than they’ve been during a lengthy, 12-game losing streak. But ultimately, losing in overtime didn’t feel much better.

Matt Bradley hit a game-tying 3-pointer with 27 seconds remaining in regulation to force overtime, but the Bears went the first three-and-a-half minutes of the extra period scoreless in a 75-67 loss to UCLA.

“We just could not score tonight. That’s the biggest team in the league. When you’re playing against a team with that length, it’s tough,” Bears coach Wyking Jones said.

The Bruins’ struggles shooting the basketball in the first half helped Cal mask their own issues. UCLA fell behind 11-2 in the early minutes prompting interim coach Murry Bartow to bench all five of his starters briefly. The Bruins’ misfires continued throughout the half in which they shot just 28 percent and made eight baskets.

But ultimately, Cal couldn’t maintain their nine-point lead at the break as UCLA took their first lead, 44-43, on Chris Smith’s jumper with 11:05 remaining.

Darius McNeill led Cal with 18 points, and his pair of 3-pointers helped Cal stay in the game, down 52-51 with 8:52 remaining. Grant Anticevich’s free throw line jump shot pulled the Bears even, 55-55 with 4:56 left.

Bradley then scored the Bears’ final seven points, including the three to even the score in the final 30 seconds.

“We got good things when we got to the high post but it was difficult to get it there,” Jones aid. “The guys don’t want to turn it over and that team is the biggest team in the league, so when you’re playing team with that much length it’s tough to get the ball to the high post.”

Overtime brought a different list of issues for Cal as they sandwiched three misses from distance around a pair of turnovers before scoring for the first time in overtime (and the last time in the game) with 1:34 remaining.

The Bears would go 1 for 7 shooting in overtime, along with a couple of free throw misses from Connor Vanover, and lose meekly. Still, the Bears competed with a team that beat them by 15 points at Westwood on January 5.

“We’re getting better,” McNeill said. “People may not see it but we’re in every game that we lose in the first half, and in the second half we just come out flat and don’t really get back together. But we’re getting better every game and we just have to stay focused for the whole game.”

Cal gets a second opportunity to topple the Trojans on Saturday. Game time is 2:30 pm at Haas Pavilion.

Bears Squander Another Opportunity, Fall to UCLA 75-67 in Overtime

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Photo credit: @CalMBBall

By: Michael Duca

BERKELEY, Calif. — The second time was not the charm.

Cal opened its Pac-12 season against a UCLA team in disarray, with Interim Coach Murry Bartow coaching his first game after a mid-season change. The Bruins broke form and blew out Cal at Pauley. Wednesday night, the Bears got their shot at the Bruins at home, immediately after what should have been a soul-crushing loss to Utah Sunday afternoon.

It was not meant to be.

One of the worst free-throw shooting teams in the nation (62%), the UCLA Bruins rode 9-of-10 shooting from the charity stripe to a 75-67 overtime victory at Haas Pavilion. Led by Kris Wilkes 27 points, the Bruins, who did not lead until 11:04 remained in regulation, caught fire late from behind the arc to steal a sloppy game from Cal, which is still seeking its first conference win (0-12, 5-18). UCLA started the game shooting 3-of-16 from behind the arc, but finished hitting 7 of their final 16 treys, including back-to-back shots from the left corner in a 30-second span in the final 90 seconds of regulation. Those three-balls pulled the Bruins from a 59-55 hole inside 2:00.

Cal, which held a nine point advantage at the half, fell to 3-3 in games with a lead at the intermission. The Bruins played a sloppy game, with 13 turnovers in the first half (and only 4 assists). Those turnovers led to a 15-4 lead in points off turns for Cal, but they just could not hold it in the second half once the Bruins started to hit from outside.

Wilkes 16 points after intermission overshadowed a nice evening for Darius McNeil, who flashed his speed time after time in racking up a team-high 18 points, including four treys, but McNeil also committed a pair of thoroughly unnecessary fouls that gave the Bruins life.  The taller Bruins owned the boards, with a 50-36 edge that included 17 offensive rebounds and 13 second-chance points.

Down 9 with 14:00 left in regulation, David Singleton hit three consecutive three-balls for the Bruins to close the game to 43-42 at 12:18.

Matt Bradley had a rollercoaster night, missing his first eight shots but draining a three to send the game to overtime.

Cal’s frustration will only increase when they watch film – they have suffered mightily in conference play from poor defense, but they held UCLA (averaging 80 points/game) to under 40% shooting on the night, but could barely exceed hitting one-third of their own shots (23-of-68).

Justice Sueing had a solid game with 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting, adding a team-leading 7 rebounds and 3 assists. Conor Vanover is beginning to show flashes of adapting to the speed of the college game, finishing with 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting, plus 6 rebounds and a pair of blocks (plus countless other shots altered), and a pair of plays where he created held balls that gave Cal possession.

It remains to be seen whether Cal will break through and avoid a winless conference season, but it is clear from watching this team that they have not given up on the season – they competed hard for 45 minutes, but just didn’t have the offense to put the game away in regulation.

Next up for Cal are the USC Trojans, Saturday afternoon at 5 pm.

Stanford beats USC in a 79-76 thriller from Maples

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Photo credit: gostanford.com

By Joey Friedman

PALO ALTO — The Stanford Cardinal (13-11, 6-6) hosted the USC Trojans (13-12, 6-6) at Maples and won by a final of 79-76 in dramatic fashion.

Just three days ago, The Cardinal displayed one of their worst offensive performances of the season on the road at Oregon. They were held to just 46 total points and shot a meager 27.3% from the field and 16.7% from beyond the arc after missing all of their first 13 shots.

Stanford wore their gray uniforms while USC donned their black ones, which in fact was the same uniform combination featured on highlight reels of last year’s matchup between these two foes during which then-freshman Daejon Davis hit a miracle half-court buzzer-beater to give Stanford the edge in a 77-76 victory.

To start in what was called “a redemption game” by Bryce Wills, Stanford couldn’t find their rhythm offensively without sophomore point guard Daejon Davis in the lineup. He remained out against the Trojans and has sat for the last two games after a head-to-head collision in the road game at Oregon State. He averages 12.6 points per game.

It was more of the same in the early going for the Cardinal at Maples against USC. For much for the first half, they were held to a shooting percentage below 30% and, with 6 minutes left to play, were at their greatest deficit with the score 34-20 in favor of the Trojans.

On the back of 3 first half blocks from Oscar Da Silva, however, they were able to shift the momentum and ended up shortening the deficit to only 5 points when Marcus Sheffield hit Stanford’s first three-pointer of the night with two and a half minutes to play until the break. The Card finished the half shooting just 1-9 from three-point range.

The Trojans took a 40-35 lead to the half while Stanford managed to inch their shooting percentage up to 35%. The only scorer with double digits in the point column in the first half was USC freshman guard Kevin Porter Jr. who had 10 points and 4 rebounds. Stanford sophomores Oscar Da Silva and KZ Okpala each finished the half with 7 points. Entering the game, Stanford was 5-0 in games in which Oscar Da Silva scores more than 13 points.

The Cardinal took their first lead of the night on senior center Josh Sharma’s jump hook with 12 minutes left in the game and the score 52-51. The jump hook gave Sharma his 9th and 10th points of the night. Both he and KZ Okpala combined for 14 of Stanford’s first 17 points in the second half.

Stanford capped a productive first 12 minutes of the second half with another Marcus Sheffield three-pointer by which time the Cardinal had extended their lead to 6 points with the score 64-58 after making 8 of their last 9 shots from the field. Through the first 12 minutes of the second half alone, both offense and defense flowed and Stanford had amassed a 65% shooting percentage, had forced 7 turnovers, and had converted those turnovers into 9 points.

The Trojans responded with a 10-0 run over the next two and a half minutes to take a four-point lead before KZ Okpala made a jumper and Marcus Sheffield, once again, hit another three-pointer to give Stanford a 69-68 lead with 3:45 remaining.

The Trojans and Cardinal exchanged blows until, with a four-point deficit and under 50 seconds left in the game, Marcus Sheffield nailed a three-pointer to put Stanford within one point. Stanford defended well and forced a turnover on a poor pass from USC junior forward Nick Rakocevic.

On the next offensive possession, Stanford pulled ahead for the final time on an acrobatic Bryce Wills and-1 layup. After Wills’ missed a free throw, USC had a chance to respond with 12 seconds left, but the Trojans were once again well-defended by the Card and senior forward Bennie Boatwright missed what would’ve been a game-winning jumper. After a successive Bryce Wills rebound, USC hopelessly fouled Wills before he ironed out the 79-76 win with a pair of made free throws.

For the Cardinal, in Daejon Davis’ absence, 5 players stepped up and scored 10 or more points, most notably KZ Okpala had 18 points and Marcus Sheffield had a personal season-high 16 points (4-6 on three-point shots). Josh Sharma had 14 points and 9 rebounds, Bryce Wills had 11 points and 6 rebounds, and Oscar Da Silva had 10 points and 8 rebounds. Stanford finished by shooting a total of 46% from the field and 32% from three (6-19).

For the Trojans, Bennie Boatwright finished with a team-high 19 points and 6 rebounds, Jonah Matthews finished with 16 points, Nick Rakocevic finished with 15 points and 9 rebounds, and Kevin Porter Jr. finished with 10 points and 5 rebounds. USC shot the lights out, especially from beyond the arc when they shot 48.1% from the field and 58.3% from distance.

What’s next?
Stanford will host UCLA on Saturday for a 7 PM evening tip before going on their last regular season road trip of the season as they visit the Washington schools.

USC will do battle with the struggling Cal Bears in Berkeley at 5 PM on Saturday before they host the Oregon schools in their last regular season homestand.

Stanford returns home to host USC Wednesday night

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Photo credit: @StanfordMBB

By: Ana Kieu

The Stanford Cardinal held onto a three-game winning streak with wins over Oregon State, Cal and Colorado, and Oscar da Silva averaged 17.0 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. But the Cardinal (12-11, 5-6 Pac-12) dug themselves in a hole and never recovered as the Oregon Ducks (15-9, 6-5 Pac-12) on Sunday evening as they were routed by 20-plus points in a 69-46 loss at the Matthew Knight Arena.

While the Matthew Knight Arena may not have been as loud as the Autzen Stadium, the Ducks men’s basketball team draws a decent amount of fans, too. After all, Oregon is a pretty prominent university, despite what the East Coast media guys and gals might say. The Ducks currently rank fifth in the Pac-12 standings.

In case you missed it, Stanford was held to 46 points for the second time this season, making 15-of-55 field goal attempts (27 percent) for their second-worst shooting night of the season. Oregon, however, hit 44 percent from the field (26-of-59) and held a 41-37 rebounding edge. The Ducks cruised to a 69-46 loss. Payton Pritchard led the Ducks with 20 points. Louis Kings scored 16 points and Victor Bailey came off the bench to score 11 points. When it came down to defense, Kenny Wooten matched his career high with seven blocks.

The Ducks won four of their last five games, while the Cardinal suffered a tough loss. Of course, Stanford can rebound and defeat the rival USC Trojans (13-11, 6-5 Pac-12), but that’s going to take some work, as USC is three steps ahead in the Pac-12 standings. Stanford can’t afford to go through another shooting slump in the early moments of the first half as they recently wrapped their second-worst, first-half shooting performance of the 2019 season with only 27.3 percent from the field.

The Cardinal left the Beaver State with a split of the Oregon-based schools, but until good news comes along, they remain without the services of Daejon Davis, who suffered a head-to-head injury last Thursday against Oregon State. The Cardinal now turn their attention to their upcoming homestand as they’ll play five of their next seven games at home, which can benefit them if home court advantage helps them in their favor. The Cardinal just have to get to take on USC Wednesday evening at 8:00 pm PT on ESPNU.

Notes: The Cardinal wished the best to Washington Wizards point guard and Stanford alum Chasson Randle, who was given the nod after Czech point guard and shooting guard Tomas Satoransky was out Monday due to a personal matter. Randle, a Rockland, Ill. native, attended Rock Island High School and Stanford University. Randle went undrafted in the 2015 NBA Draft and played in the states as well as abroad until re-signing with the Wizards on Dec. 18, 2018.

Ducks shut down struggling Cardinal 69-46

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Photo credit: gostanford.com

By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Sunday, February 10, 2019

Leading from wire-to-wire, Oregon cruised to a 69-46 Pac-12 men’s basketball victory over visiting Stanford Sunday in Eugene, Ore., as the Ducks have won four of their last five games.

Payton Pritchard’s 20 points led the Ducks (15-9 overall, 6-5 Pac-12), along with 16 points from Louis King and Victor Bailey’s 11 points off the bench. Defensively, Kenny Wooten matched his career high with seven blocks. King also had seven rebounds.

Bryce Wills, a freshman who is the Pac-12’s youngest player, paced the Cardinal (12-11, 5-6) with 13 points. KZ Okpala was held to 10 points – nearly eight below his average. Josh Sharma scored eight points and grabbed 10 rebounds.

In an overall miserable night for the Cardinal, Stanford was held to 46 points for the second time this season, making 15 of 55 field goal attempts (27 percent), its second-worst shooting night of the season.

Meanwhile, Oregon hit 44 percent from the field (26 of 59) and held a 41-37 rebounding edge.

The Cardinal opened the game by missing 21 of their first 22 shots – five of them blocked by Wooten – and Oregon led 16-2 13 minutes into the game. Oregon led 30-20 at halftime.

The Cardinal were without the services of point guard Daejon Davis, who sat out Sunday’s game after suffering a head-to-head injury on Thursday against Oregon State. A Stanford official would only comment that Davis was unavailable due to an unspecified injury.

Stanford returns home on Wednesday night to host Southern California. Tipoff set for 8:00 pm PT.

Stanford Cardinal podcast with Joey Friedman: Cardinal’s Pickens leads with offensive game against WSU

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Photo credit: gostanford.com

On the Stanford Cardinal podcast with Joey:

#1 The Stanford Cardinal (9-8) got a win over Washington State (8-8) at Pullman on Thursday night 79-70.

#2 The Cardinal’s Dorian Pickens led the Cardinal with 28 points and Pickens got a three-pointerat 1:16 left to help the Cardinal in their nine-point win.

#3 KZ Okpala scored 21 points and Daejon Davis scored 6-7 field goals and 15 points.

#4 WSU’s Malachi Flynn led the Cougars with 24 points and had seven three-pointers.

#5 The Cardinal play at Oregon this Sunday at 5 pm.

Joey Friedman does the Stanford podcast each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

Stanford wraps up road trip in Oregon on Sunday

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Photo credit: gostanford.com

By: Ana Kieu

In case you missed it, Stanford Cardinal men’s basketball throttled the Oregon State Beavers 83-60 for its third win in a row. Oscar da Silva matched his career-high with 23 points in the throttle. da Silva also recorded nine rebounds and a career-high seven assists.

da Silva told the media: “I tried to be aggressive right from the get-go. I tried to take it at their bigs, get into their zone from the high post, and that worked really well.”

Aside from da Silva, the Cardinal’s leading scorers featured the likes of Josh Sharma, who had 20 points and eight rebounds, and Daejon Davis, who added 11 points on three three-pointers. The Cardinal (12-10, 5-5 Pac-12) have won four of their last five games. The Ducks (14-9, 5-5 Pac-12) are just one step ahead of the Cardinal in the Pac-12 conference, but they’re carrying one win to the home court inside the Matthew Knight Arena, so the Cardinal should prepare for the conference matchup if they haven’t already done so.

The Ducks’ last win came at home versus the California Golden Bears, a rival of the Cardinal, on Wednesday, February 6 by a final score of 73-62.

As you can see from the two tweets above, da Silva’s a crucial part of the Cardinal roster. The 6’9″ German sophomore forward has room for growth, but he has been destroying it on the hardwood, like, say, at Oregon State, where he shamelessly attacked the Beavers defense along with the nation’s leading shot blocker, Kylor Kelly. Kelly had 17 points before the break.

I’d also like to note that the Cardinal went on a whopping 11-2 run that put them in the driver’s seat with a far-fetched lead 71-52 with 4:28 left in the game. That run, my friends, was capped off by a three-pointer from Marcus Sheffield, a junior guard and forward from Alpharetta, Ga.

“We’re growing up. Slowly but surely,” said Stanford head coach Jerod Haase. “Overall, we’re trending the right way. The guys are playing hard, they’re playing together, and they believe in what we’re doing.”

With that said, Stanford will stick around the Beaver State for a few more days before they travel to Eugene, Ore. to take on the Ducks, who will likely be a tough customer. But we’ll see what happens next, okay?

After that, Stanford returns home on Wednesday, February 13 to host the USC Trojans at Maples Pavilion. Tipoff set for 8:00 pm PT on ESPNU.

Cardinal come from behind to upend Cougars 83-60

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Photo credit: @StanfordMBB

By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Thursday, February 7, 2019

Thanks to a big night from Dorian Pickens, punctuated by timely shooting, Stanford traveled to Pullman, Wash., and defeated Washington State 79-70 Thursday in Pac-12 men’s basketball.

Pickens bagged a career-high 28 points, including a crucial 3-pointer with 1:16 to play in the second half. Pickens also made 7-of-10 from behind the arc.

Freshman KZ Okpala was next for Stanford with a career-high 21 points and Daejon Davis hit 6-of-7 field goals and finished with 15 points for the Cardinal (9-8 overall, 3-1 Pac-12).

Malachi Flynn led WSU (8-8, 0-4) with 24 points, including seven 3s. Milan Acquaah was next for the Cougars with 10 points, and Drick Bernstine added eight points and pulled down 12 rebounds.

Robert Franks, who came into the game leading WSU with 17.3 points per game, was held to eight points while committing six of the Cougars’ 22 turnovers.

With the Cougars leading 55-47, Washington State’s Kwinton Hinson committed a hard foul on Stanford’s Reid Travis, and the players had to be separated. From that point, the Cardinal roared to a nearly 10-minute, 21-3 run, taking a 68-58 lead with 6:26 remaining.

The Cougars pulled to within three points twice, but Pickens hit a pair of 3-pointers that helped Stanford hold on for its third straight win.

Stanford, which rallied for victories after being down 13 at UCLA and down 15 against USC, trailed Washington State 45-38 at the half.

A game official collided with a Cougars player in the second half, was injured, and had to leave the game.

The Cardinal travel to Oregon to face the Ducks on Sunday at 5:00 pm PT.