Recap: Stanford MBB throttled by Cal threes in Berkeley
On Friday, Stanford men’s basketball fell to Cal in Berkeley by a final score of 92-70. Cal fifth year guard DeJuan Clayton went off for 26 points and 6 assists on 9-14 shooting from the field, 6-8 shooting from 3-point range, and 2-3 shooting from the foul line while sophomore forward Sam Alajiki (19 points on 5-6 shooting from 3-point range) and senior forward Kuany Kuany (18 points & 5 rebounds on 3-4 shooting from 3-point range) all had big nights for the Golden Bears.
As for Stanford, fifth year guard Michael Jones was the top scorer with 14 points while senior forward Spencer Jones (13 points), sophomore guard Isa Silva (12 points), and sophomore center Maxime Raynaud (12 points & 8 rebounds) also scored in double figures. Cal improves to 3-13 overall and 2-3 in the Pac-12 while Stanford falls to 5-10 overall and 0-5 in the Pac-12.
“As a coach, you know, I talk to the guys all the time about do their job and as a coach, my job is do my job as well,” Stanford head coach Jerod Haase said after the game. “And I have to look back after I watch tape and look at the game plan because for the most part, I thought the guys executed the game plan that I laid out for them and obviously it was ineffective. The question goes back, I need to go back and look and find out if it was the wrong game plan. There’s a big difference between wrong and ineffective and I need to decide what it is.
“Cal shot the ball extremely well. On the defensive end we didn’t have an answer. We tried in my opinion at the appropriate times kind of plan B, plan C, plan D. And we were ineffective in all of them. I didn’t think it was an issue of our guys playing hard or caring. In fact, I think quite opposite. I think the guys do compete; they care very deeply. But the bottom line is we were ineffective.
“Offensively, I thought we really did some nice things. We attacked the paint like I asked the guys to do and sometimes when shooting percentages aren’t what they need to be from three for us or what they were for them, it ends up being a lopsided game.”
Cal rolled with a starting lineup of Joel Brown, Kuany Kuany, Grant Newell, Lars Thiemann, and DeJuan Clayton while Stanford had a starting lineup of Michael O’Connell, Michael Jones, Spencer Jones, Neal Begovich, and Maxime Raynaud. Cal was without their top scorer Devin Askew and Jalen Celestine while Stanford was without James Keefe, who is day-to-day with a lower leg injury. Jerod Haase said after the game that Harrison Ingram has been dealing with a respiratory issue, which is why his minutes were a bit limited, resulting in him coming off the bench.
“Yeah, Harrison’s been, he had, I don’t even know what it was, but a respiratory illness or hasn’t been feeling well,” Haase said. “And so I wanted to limit his minutes and I wanted him to come off the bench for that reason. Neal, it was twofold. One is I thought it would have been a shot in the arm for the team. The guys respect him so much. And yes, [his dad played at Cal] …Probably at shootaround today made the final decision on that [Keefe].”
Stanford got off to a hot start offensively, leading 12-10 with 14:46 to go in the first half. Raynaud was in a nice groove with 6 points on 3-3 shooting from the field while Spencer Jones (4 points) and O’Connell (2 points) were also on the board. Stanford was shooting 6-6 from the field while Cal was shooting 4-6.
“Yeah, Maxime is a very very talented player,” Haase said. “I think the best days are ahead for him, still. But obviously you can see his ability to score around the basket, his length, and there’s so much room for growth still on both ends of the floor. But I believe he’s gonna be a heck of a player and he already is and I’m hoping we can rely on him to grow very very quickly on both ends of the floor to help us more.”
Cal would then take the lead, going up 20-18 with 11:53 to go in the half as Ingram was about to check into the game for the first time for the Cardinal. Alajiki was coming alive for the Bears with 8 points on 3-3 shooting from the field. Cal was shooting a ridiculous 8-10 from the field while Stanford wasn’t much cooler, shooting 8-12.
With 7:58 to go in the half, Cal led 29-25. Both teams had cooled off a bit. Cal was shooting 11-16 from the field while Stanford was shooting 11-18. Cal was starting to really pull ahead in the 3-point battle, shooting 7-9 from beyond the arc while Stanford was shooting 1-5.
Cal would then lead 37-32 with 3:09 to go in the half. Clayton was really balling out for the Bears with 14 points on 5-6 shooting from the field and 4-4 shooting from 3-point range. Cal as a team was now shooting 8-10 from beyond the arc while Stanford was shooting 2-10.
“Yeah, he can score at all levels,” Haase said of Clayton. “Obviously the three-point shooting is a huge thing and it built confidence for the rest of their team. And some of his shots early. He does have the ability to get to the paint and score. His midranges shots, and I think all of those things prove valuable for their team and I think the rest of the guys fed off that energy and that success that he had early.”
With 56.1 to go until halftime, Cal led 41-34. Silva got a huge layup for Stanford that was much needed. Cal was going to work on the glass, outrebounding Stanford 13-11. At halftime, Cal led 45-37. Clayton was leading the way for Cal with his 14 points. Raynaud was doing his part for Stanford with 10 points and 6 rebounds while Spencer Jones had 9 points.
As a team, Cal’s 8-10 shooting from 3-point range was really the difference. Stanford’s defense wasn’t as good as it needed to be on the perimeter and then hey, one has to tip their cap to Cal for the way they were able to shoot the ball.
Cal got off to a strong start in the second half, leading 59-46 with 15:26 to go. Kuany was up to 11 points for Cal after making a 3-pointer plus the foul. Stanford was in some real trouble.
With 11:48 to go, it was a 68-56 lead for Cal. Ingram was starting to get going a bit for Stanford with 6 points while Spencer Jones’ 12 points on 5-8 shooting from the field was leading Stanford.
Cal continued to make it rain from as they led 73-56 with 8:49 to go. Kuany (16 points), Clayton (16 points), and Alajki (14 points) were all balling out for the Bears. Stanford was really searching for answers on defense.
With 3:45 to go, it was now an 86-66 lead for Cal. Clayton was up to 24 points for Cal while Michael Jones’ 14 points was leading Stanford. This just was not the Cardinal’s night as Cal was in the zone, shooting 30-50 from the field and 16-22 from 3-point range.
“It’s all about confidence,” Alajiki said of the 3-point barrage. “Like, we are good basketball players, we are good shooters, all of us. We just had, just an out of rhythm start [to the season] I guess. Because in practice we be making all of them. So, we expect in the game to make them. That’s why sometimes in the game we look so distraught. Because we expect to make these shots because we are high level players. This is a high major league and we are high major players.
“I just think we were all confident because we thought like man against man that we were better than them. And we kept that mentality the whole game and went straight at them and we won, so.”
In the end, Cal walked out with a 92-70 victory. Their 16-22 shooting from 3-point range was truly historic as they tied a school record for most threes made in a game. They just went wild offensively and Stanford, despite one of their better overall offensive performances of the season, had no answer on defense.
“Ooh, you said we tied, yeah, I misheard you, but that’s amazing,” Clayton said. “Hopefully we could go up again and beat the record.”
For Cal, this is a really nice win. After a really rough 0-12 start to the season, they’re really picking up steam, winning two games in a row, both of which have come in conference against quality opponents. Rather than throwing in the towel and giving up on the season, they’ve stuck together and now are seeing the fruits of their persistence pay off.
While he wasn’t trying to make any excuses, Cal head coach Mark Fox made it clear after the game that a major reason why they had such a rough start to the season is injuries. Fox feels like this was the first game of the season where his team really got to show what they can be on offense. He also felt like there were some positives by having some of his younger guys get thrown into the fire at the early part of the season.
“Well, we’ve never shied away from the responsibility of the start,” Fox said. “But I think, I dunno, what’s the number, how many games had we had missed? We’ve had 53 or 54 games missed due to injury and like, it’s been different every day. I mean we had to get a kid out of the library just so we could practice. I mean, it’s been nearly impossible. And they have just kept kinda clawing their way forward and today’s the first day where you guys were able to see us offensively find the rhythm we thought was there and we’re not going to make sixteen threes every night, but we’re a more complete team and part of the start of the season allowed ND and Marsalis and Grant Newell to play a lot more minutes than they were ready to play, but they have gotten better and they today impacted winning.”
A major difference for Cal has been the return of DeJuan Clayton, who was playing in his third game of the season. When Cal signed him, they expected him to be a major source for their offense and so to have him back is huge. We saw in this game what kind of difference he can make, not just with his shooting, but with his facilitating and all-around play.
“DeJuan Clayton coming back,” Fox said of what the biggest key has been to their turnaround. “I mean, that’s like, I mean that’s been the most challenging situation, I mean the poor kid missed, I don’t how many games he missed. Thirteen games? Missed thirteen games and all the practices and then you mix in everything else, but DeJuan coming back is what has given us some momentum. It isn’t the fact that we got off the schneid. I mean, I think that we needed him desperately. Doesn’t mean he’s going to play like this every night, but he’s a calming force, he can get his own shot, he can make guys better, and so everyone kinda relaxed. And, we just played with a much better rhythm offensively now that we’ve had him.
“Well, I texted him I think, I think text him one of the early mornings this week I said you’re going to have to shoot twenty times. I want you to shoot twenty times. Like don’t be looking, I want you to be aggressive. During the injury, it was a real challenge because he was very frustrated. I mean, he lost half a season. He was heartbroken. He had some down moments. I’m not going to lie to you. He had some very discouraging times. We tried to keep him involved, kinda made him an assistant coach on the side, tried to, just tried to keep his spirits positive. It wasn’t easy for him. And he deserved a night like tonight after all he’s been through.”
As for Stanford, this is a disappointing loss, but not as catastrophic as some might think. I said going into this game that Cal had a real chance to win, hence my 64-60 prediction. I think it was clear coming in that Cal is starting to find a groove with Clayton back and after the way they beat Colorado last week, this was a team that Stanford could not overlook. And for that matter, the rest of the Pac-12 should be on notice as well. This Cal team is not the same team they were even a month ago.
“I think our players came in very aware this is a very capable team,” Haase said. “We looked more at the last three games as the trend as opposed to the season and so I think our guys understood that. There was zero, zero lack of respect from our guys. That was not the issue in the least.”
The bigger problem for Stanford is that they are 0-5 in conference play. That and the fact that they can’t seem to find any sort of flow or rhythm. Jerod Haase is yet to figure out a stable rotation and while some of that may be a result of forces outside his control, he still needs to figure out what he wants his ideal rotation to be as opposed to throwing darts and hoping one of them is a bullseye. Stanford has some talent and the pieces to be successful in league play, but so long as they are unable to figure out a good and consistent rotation it’s going to be hard for guys to establish a rhythm, get confidence, and settle in.
“This year we’ve had so many different lineups, so many adjustments we’ve made,” Haase admitted. “I’m really trying to describe to the team what our identity is that needs to be on the offensive end and the defensive end and really sticking to that. However, adjusting everything we need to adjust to achieve those goals. And so, we’ve had so many different personnel lineups. Some games James [Keefe] has played a lot and sometimes he hasn’t. And I could say that for most of the guys on our team. So, I don’t think that James being out was, we certainly missed him, but I don’t think it was a defining piece of the game because our guys have seen the changes and adjustments throughout this year.”
One bright spot for Stanford in this game was the performance of sophomore point guard Isa Silva, whose 12 points tied a career-high from last year and for the second straight game in a row, he had a double digit scoring effort, with 11 points against Utah on New Year’s Eve. If he can keep this up, that would be a real shot in the arm to a Stanford team that desperately needs more consistency at that position.
“He’s done a nice job of getting to the paint,” Haase said of Silva. “We spent some time over the last few weeks adding a little bit more one-on-one practice. Both for defensive reasons and for offensive reasons. I think he’s really done a nice job embracing the idea of getting to the paint and we emphasize getting to the paint and then he has the size and ability to be able to finish in there as well. So, it’s certainly been a bright spot for us and hopefully that trend will continue.”
At this point, all that Stanford can do is tip their cap to Cal, give them credit for the quality shooting night they had and hope to get even with them when they face off at Maples Pavilion on January 28th. And then in the more short-term, Stanford needs to do what they can to not be rattled by this 0-5 start to league play. They have the pieces to go on a bit of a run and make this season at least somewhat respectable going forward. But, it starts with them looking inward, establishing some consistency, and then also figuring out how to close teams out.
“Yeah, it’s a great question,” Haase said with emotion when asked about keeping the spirts of his team up amid an abysmal start to league play. “And, a long time ago, I think early in my coaching career, I don’t know if I was great at reading people. I believe it’s a strength of mine now and this is a situation where it can test your resolve. Shoot and I’ve had a lot of those in my career. There’s no lack of resolve on my part for sure.
“And I’ll be honest, it was a little bit of an odd vibe in the locker room. Because not even an ounce of anything other than the look of resolve and I say that more by reading their eyes, reading their look. Maybe I’ll be proved wrong, but I don’t think I am. Is it challenging? Yeah. Is it tough? Yeah. But, right now I have the locker room. The guys own the locker room and we’re gonna find solutions.”
Up next for Stanford is a road game at Washington on Thursday, January 12th. That will tip-off at 8:00 PM PT on FS1.
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