On Wednesday, No. 7 Stanford men’s basketball defeated No. 15 Cal 78-73 in the ACC tournament at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. Stanford senior center Maxime Raynaud led the way for the Cardinal with 23 points, eight rebounds, two steals, and one block while graduate student point guard Jaylen Blakes had 21 points, six assists, and three steals. Cal sophomore wing Andrej Stojakovic led all scorers with 37 points and five rebounds. Stanford advances to the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament against No. 2 Louisville while Cal’s season comes to an end.
VIDEO: Stanford MBB Postgame Press Conference: Cal-ACC tournament
BOX SCORE: No. 15 Cal vs. No. 7 Stanford-Wednesday, March 12th
“That was a rivalry game, obviously, very emotional I think for both teams,” Stanford head coach Kyle Smith said after the game. “Hat tip to them; they were really quick to the ball, loose balls and rebounds, which really they excel at, but we shot the ball really well. We played with good poise, especially down the stretch, getting down the last five minutes there, and what you have to do in postseason, be able to make some big shots.
“Oziyah hit a big three. Benny hit a big three at the end of the clock. And then Chisom hit a drive late that kind of put us up and made the free throw to put us up four. And our two senior leaders just kind of had what you need in postseason is for them to step up big time. We couldn't be more thrilled.”
Before tipoff it was announced that Cal would be without their number two leading scorer Jeremiah Wilkinson, who was out due to a concussion that he suffered the previous game against Virginia Tech. As a result, more was to be needed from Andrej Stojakovic, who happily stepped up his game to keep the Golden Bears in it.
With 15:50 to go in the first half, Stanford led 9-7. Both teams were shooting 3-5 from the field. Oziyah Sellers (6 points) & Donavin Young (3 points) had scored for Stanford while Andrej Stojakovic had scored all seven of Cal’s points.
With 12:14 to go in the half, Cal led 19-14 as Stojakovic was up to 13 points for the Bears on 6-6 shooting from the field. The Cardinal needed to find a way to contain him.
Stanford would soon close the gap as it was a 24-22 lead for Cal with 8:39 to go in the half. Benny Gealer and Maxime Raynaud each had a 3-pointer for the Cardinal while Stojakovic now had 16 of Cal’s 24 points. He was on fire.
With 6:05 to go in the half, Cal led 28-25. Cal was shooting 13-19 from the field while Stanford was shooting 9-19. Stanford was 7-10 from 3-point range while Cal was 2-6. Stanford’s 3-point shooting was keeping them in the game.
With 3:27 to go in the half, Cal led 30-29. Stojakovic’s 16 points was leading all scorers while Sellers and Raynaud each had eight points for Stanford. This was turning into a real game.
At halftime, Stanford led 38-32. Stanford ended the half on a 9-0 run. Stanford did a nice job forcing turnovers. Raynaud (10 points & 3 points) and Sellers (8 points) were leading the Cardinal while Stojakovic (16 points) was leading Cal.
Stanford would lead 47-41 with 15:27 to go. Raynaud was up to 17 points and four rebounds for Stanford while Stojakovic had 18 points for Cal. Both guys were balling out. Stanford’s 9-15 shooting from 3-point range continued to be huge.
“Yeah, playing against those guys is fun, obviously being on the same team as them, but just another game for us, keeping that same competitive mindset, that aggressive attack mode,” Stojakovic said of facing Stanford, where he played last year. “Today, we needed it from a lot of guys, and a lot of guys stepped up that don't normally play as many minutes as they did today, so I'm very proud of them.”
Cal would soon take the lead 55-54 with 11:14 to go. Cal was currently outscoring Stanford 23-16 in the second half. Stojakovic was leading Cal with 25 points while Raynaud had 21 points for Stanford. This continued to be a battle.
Cal would lead 62-58 with 7:22 to go. Stanford hadn’t scored in the last 2:21. They needed to wake up offensively.
With 5:00 to go, Stanford led 65-64. This time it was Cal that had a bit of a scoring drought, having not scored in the last 2:05. A 3-point play by Jaylen Blakes gave Stanford the lead. He had come alive with 21 points.
Cal would soon be back in front 66-65 with 3:25 to go after a put back for Cal. He was up to 30 points and five rebounds while DJ Campbell had 19 points for Cal. Both guys had really come to play. Campbell had made some tough threes and turnaround jumpers in the paint. Stanford once again had another scoring drought with zero points in the last 2:27.
Stanford’s scoring drought would soon come to an end as Sellers hit a huge corner three to make it a 68-66 lead for the Cardinal. He had a quiet second half up to this point, but now had 13 points on the evening.
Stojakovic would then get fouled and make both foul shots, making it a 68-68 game. Then, Benny Gealer came up clutch for Stanford with a huge 3-pointer from Jimmer range. That made it a 71-68 lead for Stanford with 1:21 to go.
Stanford would manage to stay in front after Raynaud blocked Stojakovic from behind on a transition 3-pointer after which Chisom Okpara executed a 3-point play inside, getting the basket plus the foul before then making the free throw. That made it a 74-70 lead for Stanford. An absolutely crucial sequence that was crushing for Cal.
Cal would make one more push to try to close the gap, but a moving screen called against the Bears dashed their hopes for good. 78-73 Stanford won, advancing to the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament against No. 2 seed Louisville.
“Yeah, I think a lot of times when it comes to close games towards the end of the games, the more together team usually wins,” Blakes said. “That's something that Coach Smith talks about. Obviously, he talks about faith, family, team, and big emphasis is on team and being together, being the closest knit team. I think for us when it comes to the end of games, a lot of teams scurry away and think they have to be a hero, but obviously in those games where you hit big shots, everybody is taking that shot with you, and for us, it doesn't matter who comes in the game.
“Obviously we won a close game against NC State without myself, so everybody who comes in the game is built for the moment. It doesn't just happen in that moment, it happened in practice. Whoever goes into the game, we've seen it multiple times in practice before.”
For Stanford, this is a huge win. They get to 20 wins on the season for the first time since 2019-20 and also complete their first three-game sweep over Cal since 1961-62. It’s very tough to beat the same team three times, especially when that team is your rival. This game is a testament to the Cardinal’s resiliency and toughness and while Raynaud and Blakes led the way, there some huge plays down the stretch from guys like Sellers, Gealer, and Okpara. This was truly a team effort.
“We knew going in that obviously we beat them twice before, but there was a lot of pride on the line,” Blakes said. “Obviously when you're playing a Cal-Stanford game it's a rivalry game and it means a lot more -- just the 10 people that are playing on the court, it means a lot to the alumni, and that's a more watched game by the Stanford and Cal fans. We knew they were going to come out with extreme fire and passion. I'm glad that we weathered the storm for sure.”
“Well, first of all, I don't think it's a one-on-one battle,” Raynaud said of facing former Stanford teammate Andrej Stojakovic. “I do think it's a team against a team. He mentioned the rivalry game earlier. It's the first time in 64 years that we go 3-0 against them. Yeah, he was obviously their best performer, and when that happened, you want to give him as much attention as possible.
“So if that means bringing back on defense, blocking his shot, trying to help the guards and like being as high as possible on the ball screens, that's what we do. But I think overall you need to give more credit to J.B., Benny, Oziyah, pretty much all the guards that were guarding him for 40 minutes. I think these are the guys that did most of the work.
“Now, from a more personal standpoint, off the court, he's obviously a good friend, obviously someone I respect a lot. But between those lines, he's just the opponent. It's just a rivalry game once again. I'm glad we got the win, and proud of him, hope he can get good rest and recovery for next season.”
As for Cal, this loss really stings. You never want to get swept 3-0 by Stanford if you are them. That had to be a painful flight back home to Berkeley for the Bears. Of course, they can hold their heads high winning a game in the conference tournament and pushing Stanford as much as they did. Andrej Stojakovic in particular was sensational. Without his heroic performance, this game wouldn’t have been as close as it was.
“Yeah, it's frustrating having that result three times, but that didn't faze us playing them on the other side of the country,” Stojakovic said. “If it was a different opponent, we would have came out with the same energy, same end goal, same incentive to move on. But that's how the chips fell, and I think all the guys gave all they could today.”
That said, Cal has high expectations for themselves. They expect to be competing for national championships. To end up losing in the second round of the ACC tournament to their rival can only be considered a massive failure given the lofty and perhaps pollyannish goals that they set for themselves as a program.
“Yeah, our goal at Cal is to win a National Championship. That's our goal. We are going to do it. We are going to do it,” Cal head coach Mark Madsen vowed. “We wish we had more progress in year one. We won 13 games. This year we won 14. We still have a chance at postseason play. But we're going to keep building this thing. We're locking arms with an unbelievable administration with unbelievable alums and supporters, and this is a true team. This is a true team, and we are going to do special things at Cal in the future in basketball.”
Going back to Stanford, while this win over Cal is huge and feels really good, they have a very difficult task in front of them on Thursday against No. 2 Louisville. The Cardinals defeated them 68-48 on Saturday in Louisville. Stanford will need to play a lot better than they did on Saturday. The tipoff is set for 4:00 PM PT on ESPN2.
“You know, we've got to take care of the ball,” Kyle Smith said of facing Louisville for a second time. “He [Chucky Hepburn] really will blow up some plays, which is unique. Like Jaylen does, too, deflections, long arms, but he's so quick and clever on those things, you can't -- that turns into offense for them.
“Like I said, we've got to do a little more research because we didn't have the right game plan. We weren't getting the shots that were desired. They're going to be well-rested, but hopefully we have some of the mojo that Cal had after a win and we can play with some confidence out there tomorrow.”
“Yeah, they're really good,” Blakes said of Louisville. “Obviously you know that, but for us, we're not just focused on what we did today. We have a goal in mind, and it's not just to get one win, and for us, I think we have to respect the opponent, respect what they did. But obviously we didn't have our best outing against them at their place, and we're just going to try to improve and get recovered, as Max said, and focus on tomorrow.”
If Stanford wants to knock off Louisville, I have three keys for them:
#1. Stanford needs to get more out of Jaylen Blakes and Oziyah Sellers. On Saturday the two of them combined for 13 points. Against Cal in the ACC tourney, they combined for 34 points. If they can have 30+ points combined against Louisville, that would be huge as it would take a lot of pressure off Maxime Raynaud.
#2. Stanford needs to keep the 3-ball falling. They shot 11-21 from deep against Cal on Wednesday. If they can shoot it at a similar clip, they’ll have a shot to beat Louisville.
#3. Stanford needs to win the turnover battle. They forced Cal into 16 turnovers, which really made a huge difference. Louisville guard Chucky Hebpurn was named ACC Defensive Player of the Year and will look to be very disruptive. If Stanford can take care of the ball and not allow Hepburn to speed them up, that would be huge.
As far as a prediction is concerned, I gotta roll with Louisville in this one. Stanford actually hung around a good deal on Saturday and absolutely should feel like they have a chance to win this game. It’s just that Louisville on paper is the better team. I got Louisville winning by a final score of 70-61.
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