Cal vs Stanford Basketball in Review

A Look Back at the Shooting Awesomeness in Cal's Big Win

At the beginning of the ESPNU telecast of Friday Night’s Cal-Stanford matchup, play-by-play announcer Eric Rothman and Analyst Ben Braun discussed the absence of Forward James Keefe for Stanford. Rothman and Braun predicted that this may mean a big game for Lars Thiemann in the low post. Stanford’s strategy to compensate was for multiple players to collapse on the ball when it ended up down low. On Cal’s first sequence of the game, three players trapped Grant Newell along the baseline, leading to a turnover. Here is Lars’ first touch of the game.

Two players converge on Lars. He is unable to make a successful outlet pass to DeJuan Clayton at the top, and Stanford collects another turnover.

The scouting report on Cal indicates they are a 27% 3-point shooting team on the year. So, having the defense overplay the interior, leaving them vulnerable to outside shooting, is a sound strategy coming into the game.

Cal started 7-8 from 3-point range. It was hard to comprehend what was going on in real-time.

I think we were all with Nick early on. There was a sense that these shots were risky, or we were incredulous that Cal was taking as many outside shots as they were. The shots were early in the shot clock, some of them appeared to be bad decisions. It was so unlike anything we’d seen from Cal up to this point of the season. Certainly confidence goes up after a couple of them fall, and maybe they slow it down if they miss some of those shots. But Kuany, Alijiki, and Clayton were getting good looks. Below is maybe the worst shot selection from the first half.

Clayton has a brief window based on Okafor’s screen. He has already made 2 3-pointers. He is very deep, there is 21 seconds left in the shot clock. Maybe this is a heat check moment for him. He makes it. Clayton, Alijiki and Kuany finished 7-of-7 from 3-point range in the first half.

Cal made a few smart adjustments based on Stanford’s interior defensive strategy. Lars was ineffective offensively, and could not defensively match up against Stanford’s Maxime Raynaud. Raynaud started 5-of-5 from the field, most of them easy shots close to the basket. Lars only played 11 minutes in the first half, finishing with 1 point, 1 rebound, 1 foul, and 1 turnover. ND Okafor had 8 minutes in the first half. Okafor roams a bit more midrange than down low, pulling Raynaud away from the basket. Plus, Okafor has a wider frame, and is better at setting screens than Lars is. In his 8 first-half minutes, Okafor finished with 8 points on 4-of-4 shooting, 3 rebounds and no turnovers or fouls.

As the game progressed, Stanford was just too slow to react to Cal’s shooting. In his postgame comments, Stanford coach Jerod Haase said they tried multiple strategies to cool down Cal, but none of them were effective. Stanford was just slow and not tracking to where Cal’s players were positioned. This is my favorite sequence. Look at the positioning of Stanford on this drive from the wing by Marsalis Roberson.

All five Stanford players are near the ball. But it’s like peewee soccer. Everyone is near the ball but no one is making an impact. Spencer Jones (red arrow) is actually the best positioned to pick up Roberson, but he decides to bail on defending Roberson in order to cover his assignment in the corner. Raynaud is in a position to alter Roberson’s shot, so Marsalis has to pass it. He has 3 solid choices here in where to send the ball. He gets it inside to Okafor who finishes with a slam dunk.

Here is the entire sequence.

I had to watch this clip about 20 times to determine what type of defense Stanford is running. Watch it a few times and follow individual Stanford players. This is a man-to-man defense with so much space given up on the outside, in order to try to react quickly on the interior. When Cal drove towards the basket, Stanford was too slow to respond, leading to easy baskets inside or decent looking shots from the outside. Cal finished with 21 assists, the most for a Cal team since 2019.

Stanford’s bad defense, plus Cal’s excellent long-range shooting, made this for a fun night for the Golden Bears and their fans.

Equipment Adventures

There were two adventures in apparel in tonight’s game. Right before tipoff, two officials approached DeJuan Clayton and asked him to remove his undershirt. He was wearing an all-white tank top, underneath the gold jersey. Equipment rules indicate that undergarments must match the primary color of the jersey. Clayton removed his undershirt, and played only with his jersey. This is very minor, but it is something the trainers or assistant coaches should catch before a game.

And, of course, Kuany Kuany’s shoelaces. With 15:26 left in the game, Kuany hits a corner 3-point shot (his second in a row), and draws the foul on Spencer Jones. When play resumed after the media timeout, Kuany was at the free-throw line, having difficulties with his shoelaces. After about 2 minutes, official Verne Harris lent a hand.

Harris, a 35-year officiating veteran, was able to work out the double knot and get it tied properly. He recieved a loud ovation from the crowd.

Kuany would then hit the free-throw, completing the 4-point play.