Cal Needs to Defend Against Colorado as Well as It Defended Stanford

For Cal to have a chance against third-seeded Colorado in Thursday night's Pac-12 quarterfinal game on ESPN, the Bears will have play defense as well as they did in Wednesday's 76-58 upset of Stanford.

Stanford, which had scored 70 and 76 points in its two-regular-season wins over Cal, could not reach the 60-point plateau on Wednesday. The Cardinal shot just 37.7 percent from the floor after coming into the game ranked third in the conference in field-goal percentage, at 46.7 percent. Stanford had shot better than 54 percent in both regular-season wins over Cal.

Wednesday's showing was a welcomed sight for Cal coach Mark Fox, who has built a reputation as a defensive coach. Asked afterward whether this was the kind of defensive effort he had hoped for this year, Fox said this:

"That's the kind of defense we expect, not hope for," he said. "Obviously I did a terrible job of teaching our defense this year, because it has been awful. Tonight is what it should look like all the time."

The Bears did a particularly good job on Stanford star Oscar da Silva, who had scored 24 and 23 points in the previous two games against Cal and basically did whatever he wanted.

Although da Silva did not seem to be at 100 percent after missing three games with a knee injury, Cal played a part in limiting him to 12 points on 4-for-12 shooting.

"We just talked about corralling him, not going for his fakes, just making him shoot over length and stabbing at the ball when we could and just giving him different looks," Cal's Andre Kelly said.

Meanwhile, Cal got contributions from virtually everyone while shooting 53.8 percent from the field. Besides Bradley's 19 points, Kelly had 12 points and nine rebounds, and Ryan Betley had his second straight good shooting night, making 3-of-4 from long range while collecting 13 points.

Matt Bradley beats the shot clock with a long three-pointer.

Money.

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It added up to Cal's largest margin of victory against Stanford since a 19-point win on March 6, 2011.

The Bears had 10 days between their final regular-season game and Wednesday's first-round contest, and Fox credited those extra days of intense practice with practically everyone healthy for Cal's laudable performance Wednesday.

The Bears will have to play at least as well Thursday to beat Colorado.

"We'll have to play our best game of the year to have a chance to win," Fox said. "We'll have to be better tomorrow than we were today."

Fox's postgame TV interview:

Second year in a row @CalMBBall upsets Stanford in the first round of the #Pac12Hoops Tournament.

The 🔑 to their success? Hear what @coachmarkfox has to say.

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Even though Cal finished in last place, it knows it is capable of beating the Buffaloes. Cal upset Colorado 71-62 on Feb. 13 in Berkeley, a stark contrast to the 89-60 loss to Colorado in Boulder back on Jan. 14.

The Buffaloes (20-7) are the highest ranked Pac-12 team, coming in at No. 23 in this week's AP poll, and they are riding a four-game winning streak, which includes wins over UCLA and USC.

Colorado's all-conference point guard McKinley Wright IV no doubt will remember that Cal freshman Jalen Celestine did an outstanding defensive job on him in the Bears' win over the Buffaloes, limiting McKinley to 13 points on 3-for-11 shooting, two rebounds and three assists while forcing him into three turnovers.

Cover photo of Andre Kelly by Darren Yamashita, USA TODAY Sports