Stanford advances in the ACC tournament to face No. 2 seed Louisville in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
Stanford advances in the ACC tournament to face No. 2 seed Louisville in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
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CHARLOTTE, N.C. – If facing its biggest rival and making its debut in the ACC tournament didn’t provide enough motivation for the Stanford men’s basketball team on Wednesday, Jaylen Brakes pointed to one more impetus to beat Cal.
“Nobody wants to go home, especially with that long travel back to California,” Blakes said. “Nobody wants to go on that flight back home.”
The Cardinal isn’t going anywhere.
Maxime Raynaud scored 23 points and Blakes added 21 as Stanford outlasted the Bears 78-73 in the second round at the Spectrum Center.
The Cardinal (20-12) face second-seeded Louisville (25-6) in the quarterfinals Thursday with a chance to improve its outside shot at an NCAA tournament at-large bid.
Stanford has been on the road for nearly two weeks, capping the regular season with a trip that included a 68-48 loss at Louisville on Saturday. The same had been true for the Bears, battle-weary from playing six combined overtimes in its previous two games.
Cal, which debuted at the ACC tournament less than 24 hours earlier with a double-OT upset of 10th-seeded Virginia Tech, was also down two starters against the Cardinal.
Cal figured to be running on fumes against Stanford. Instead, the Bears pushed its rival to the limits in a back-and-forth contest that was tied with 1:51 to play.
“We had plenty left,” Cal coach Mark Madsen said. “We definitely had enough in the tank. This team is full of guys with just the heart of a lion, and that showed tonight.”
Andrej Stojakovic scored 37 points to lead Cal as two of the ACC’s newcomers showed the rest of the league how it’s done.
Cal and Stanford staged an East Coast rendition of the Big Game and turned in the most entertaining, well-played contest at this year’s ACC tournament to date.
Cal played without two-thirds of its starting backcourt, freshman star Jeremiah Wilkinson (concussion) and fellow guard Jovan Blacksher Jr. (undisclosed injury). Both played Tuesday against Virginia Tech.
“Obviously they stuck around for too long, which is not okay for us,” Raynaud said. “But they’re a good team. So no, not surprised there, but really happy on how the guys reacted and how we won that game.”
While other, longer-tenured ACC teams in earlier games struggled to hit shots, Stanford and Cal tickled the twine at impressive rates Wednesday, the Bears connecting on 53% of their shots and the Cardinal hit 51%.
The teams were tied 68-68 when Benny Gealer drained a 3-pointer to give the Cardinal a lead it would not relinquish, securing its third win over Cal this season.
“It’s frustrating having that result three times,” Stojakovic said. “But that’s how the chips fell, and I think all the guys gave all they could today.”
Stanford ended Cal’s season for the second year in a row. Last March, it was an 87-76 decision in overtime in the final Pac-12 tournament.
Wednesday, the longtime rivals met nearly 3,000 miles from home. The game was played at the Spectrum Center, home of the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets, in the heart of ACC country, just two hours from fabled Tobacco Road, home to league stalwarts Duke, North Carolina and North Carolina State.
Wednesday’s game tipped about two hours after the Tar Heels’ blowout of Notre Dame and there were still tinges of Carolina blue scattered throughout the stands.
Stojakovic, who put up 25 and 16 points in a pair of regular-season losses to the Cardinal, scored Cal’s first 11 points Wednesday night.
Cal used a 9-0 run – the last five points coming from Stojakovic – to build a 22-14 lead with 10:34 to go before the break.
But Stanford ended the half on a 9-0 surge of its own and went to the locker room ahead 38-32.
Despite the minutes it had logged in its last two outings, Cal didn’t show any signs of wearing down. A Stojakavic 3 with 13:18 left pulled it within a point, and a pair of his free throws less than a minute later put the Bears back on top, 55-54.
Stanford regained the edge, 65-64 with 5:52 to play, setting the stage for the tight finish as Cal and Stanford made their first ACC tournament meeting a memorable one.