Cal Basketball: Stanford Crushes Bears in the Rematch at Maples Pavilion

Cal won by 22 points when the teams met in Berkeley, but was overwhelmed this time.

Twenty-two days after Cal played its best game of the season in a 22-point rout of Stanford, the Bears’ cross-bay rival returned the favor on Saturday night at Maples Pavilion.

The Bears remained winless away from Haas Pavilion while losing 75-46 in a matchup of two of the three teams that entered the day tied for last place in the Pac-12 Conference. Oregon State beat Colorado on Saturday night, so Cal finds itself alone in last place.

Cal (3-18, 2-8) has lost five in a row since Jan. 6, when it made 16 of 22 shots from the 3-point arc in a 92-70 win over the Cardinal in Berkeley. Last Feb. 26, the Bears beat Stanford 53-39, holding the Cardinal to under 24-percent shooting.

“A disappointing loss, obviously,” Cal coach Mark Fox said. “In the previous two games we dominated with our offense in Game 1 of this year and last year we dominated with our defense.

“And tonight we didn’t play well at either of those ends. Give Stanford credit for playing a more physical edge tonight. I thought our defensive frustrations carried over to the offensive end. We couldn’t string together any stops and you can’t win that way on the road.”

Stanford (9-12, 3-7) won its fourth straight (including a non-conference detour vs. Chicago State), but neither of these teams will be part of March Madness.

Barring something truly remarkable, this will mark the seventh consecutive season that neither the Bears nor the Cardinal advances to the NCAA Tournament.

Cal plays two more on the road next week, starting Thursday at Colorado. The Bears are 0-8 away from home this season.

Down 11 at halftime, the Bears quickly lost touch entirely. When Max Murrell buried a 3-point with 13:44 left in the second half, Stanford lead swelled to 48-28.

The margin eventually reached 34 points. Even the Maples scoreboard lost interest, freezing for several minutes at 65-34 with 5:23 left. Alas, reality got somewhat worse for the Bears before the game mercifully ended

There was no 73-percent 3-point performance by the Bears this time. They converted 5 of 21 for 24 percent and finished the night at 30 percent overall from the field while being outrebounded 47-30 and outscored 38-24 in the paint.

“In Game 1 they left the guy off the ball screen uncovered,” Fox said, explaining how the Bears exploited with with open 3-pointers. “We anticipated them switching — that’s how they’ve been playing the last few games. We just didn’t take advantage of it.”

Stanford coach Jerod Haase said his players were motivated to flip the script after being run out of Haas Pavilion earlier this month.

“Defensively, the intensity, the intent, the execution of the game plan was there throughout,” he said.

Sophomore Sam Alajiki came off the bench to lead the Bears with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Cal’s starters combined to score 25 points on 10-for-40 shooting. Senior transfer DeJuan Clayton, who scored 26 points in the first meeting, was held to six in 2-for-12 shooting.

Maxime Raynaud had 15 points and nine rebounds for Stanford and Harrison Ingram scored 14 points, all of them in the second half.

Stanford led 31-20 at halftime after the Bears shot 20.7 percent (6 for 29) in the opening 20 minutes.

Cal pulled within 12-11 after a 3-pointer by Clayton with 13:27 left in the first half. Then both teams went ice cold, missing a combined 18 consecutive field-goal attempts over a span of more than 6 1/2 minutes. Cal was 0-for-7 during the drought while the Cardinal misfired 11 straight times, including repeatedly on put-back tries following offensive rebounds.

Lars Thiemann ended the scoreless stretch when he scored in the post for a 13-12 Cal lead with 6:45 left.

But Stanford answered with a 12-0 burst that included three baskets in the paint from Raynaud, the 7-foot-1 sophomore from France. Two free throws by Cal’s Obinna Anyanwu briefly stopped the bleeding before Stanford scored four more points for a 28-15 advantage with just over a minute left in the half.

Cover photo of freshman Grant Newell trying to get a shot off by D. Ross Cameron, USA Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo