Bears Roar Back For Big Win at Stanford, 78-66

PALO ALTO, CA - The Bears came storming back from an early 16-point deficit to stun Stanford 78-66 tonight at Maples Pavilion. 25 points from forward John Camden led the way for the Bears. Camden's 10 rebounds gave him the first double double for a Cal player this season.

Almost as impressive as Camden's final stat line, the senior’s efficiency from the field was equally as impressive, going 8-13 from the field and 5-8 from 3 as well as 4-5 from the line.

"It was a great game both ways,, Cal head coach Mark Madsen said. "There were runs on both sides. Give Stanford a lot of credit. They came out and absolutely got us on our heels, had us totally out of rhythm, and just really took control early. I was proud of our guys for battling back. It's special, especially because I have so much respect for Kyle Smith, what he's done here in a short time is is amazing. And they're obviously our rivals.

“This was an absolute battle. But I went here, I had a lot of friends in the stands. I'm very grateful, extremely grateful, for the relationships and my time here at Stanford. And that being said, I'm so happy and excited to be at Cal and to be trying to build something special there. And Go Bears!"

“Obviously, it's a rivalry game, so that means a lot to us first and for first and foremost,” Camden said after the game. “But Stanford,  we see the headlines and all that stuff that Stanford's on the bubble, just like we are. So to go to get this head to head, it means a lot for us. And just momentum going forward.

“Shout out to the Stanford community, they came out today. Shoutout to the Cal fans who came down for this game too. Great atmosphere today, really fun to get the win.”

The game was played in front of a full house and the postgame media session was also packed out with over thirty people - far more postgame media than in recent memory.

Not to be forgotten, sophomore point guard Justin Pippin played a key role in the victory as well, locking down Stanford star PG Egbeka Okorie and holding him to just one bucket from the field and the stat line of 1-16 overall. The frosh did manage 12 points from the charity stripe, finishing with 14 Just a week after torching North Carolina For 36 points in Stanford's upset win. Pippin finished with 18 points and six assists along with three crucial treys.

Well into the first half, the game had the look of a blowout as the Bears turned over the ball 7 times in the opening 14 minutes and were consistently beaten on the boards. 

After the Bears held a 1-point lead after a Camden 3 five minutes into the game at 9-8, Stanford went on a 21-6 run over the next 8 minutes to go up 16 at the 7:08 mark, 29-13 on a Jeremy Dent-Smith 3-pointer. The Bears were just 3-of-17 at that point in the game. The guard led Stanford with 20 points on the night.

“We stayed composed and we stayed together," Pippen said after the game. “We knew they were going to go on a run and we knew we were gonna go on a run. We knew they were gonna go and run. Just calming down. This environment, we weren’t really poised. We were kind of forcing shots, not getting into our actions. Settling down and getting into our actions.”

The Bears caught fire from there, going on a torrid 25-5 run of their own, starting with a Chris Bell‍ layup followed by back-to-back Pippen 3’s. After a pair of Agarwal free throws, a pair of Camden 3’s on both end of a pair of Bell free throws, pared the Cardinal lead down to just 2 over the four minutes stretch, 31:29 with 3:04 left in the half. The Bears finished the half on an 8-point run to go up 38-34 heading into the locker room. The Bears hit five 3’s in the last five minutes of the half.

The Bears picked up right where they left off after the break, with a pair of Dai Dai Ames‍ layups extending the Bears’ lead to 8, 42-34. After an Okorie layup, Ames hit a jumper and-1 to score the first 7 points of the second half for the Bears after being shut out in the opening stanza.

The Bears extended their lead to 13 on seven straight Camden points on a jumper, a layup and another 3-point bucket, giving the Bears a 56-43 lead with 13:35 left in the game.

The Cardinal finally got things going from there, scoring the next 7 points, cutting the Bears’ lead to 6 on a Giltay layup, 56-50 over the next two minutes. An Ames layup and a pair of Camden free throws pushed the lead back out to 10 for the Bears.

The Bears seemed to lose their composure from there as the Cardinal stepped up the pressure with the Bears putting up a steady stream of ill-advised stats while Stanford put together a 10-0 run over the next three minutes to tie the score at 60 with 6:38 left on a pair of Cammonn free throws.

Bell finally broke the run, swishing a vital three from the wing to go up 3. A minute later, a Pippen 3 from the top of the key extended the Bears’ lead to 6.

With the Bears milking the clock, Pippen put up an off-balance driving shot that barely grazed the rim, narrowly avoiding a shot clock violation but guard DeJuan Campbell fought for the rebound and hit a fallaway jumper to extend the lead to 8 with 3:18 remaining. Campbell came back with another jumper in traffic on the next possession followed by another Camden 3 and an emphatic Bell slam to stretch the lead to an insurmountable 15 with less than a minute left.

The win was the first Cal victory at Stanford since 2019, with all their wins coming at Haas Pavilion over that stretch.

On the far less positive note, center Lee Dort left the game with an injury. Madsen was uncertain of the severity of the injury and when the senior would be available next.

The Bears moved to 15-5 (3-4) in a conference tie with Stanford (14-6/3-4). The Bears will continue a 3-game road series with a trip to Florida next, taking on Florida State Wednesday at 4 and Miami on Saturday at 1. Both games will be televised on the ACC Network.