Men's College Basketball
Preview
California vs Stanford
When: 7:00 PM ET, Wednesday, March 12, 2025
Where: Spectrum Center, Charlotte, North Carolina

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Cal is getting plenty of action late in its first season in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Now the Bears go into the second round of the ACC tournament, and there's something familiar waiting - the Stanford Cardinal.

Cal (14-18), the No. 15 seed, will meet seventh-seeded Stanford (19-12) on Wednesday night.

The Bears needed two overtimes to overcome No. 10 seed Virginia Tech 82-73 in Tuesday's first round.

Combined with Saturday's four-overtime loss at Notre Dame in the regular-season finale, that's a lot of basketball in a short period of time.

"That's six overtimes in the last two games, and our guys, they just never stopped fighting," Cal coach Mark Madsen said.

There could be a benefit for the Bears -- at least that's the way Madsen is framing it.

"Our guys are in rhythm. They might be a little tired, but our guys are in basketball rhythm," he said. "So we're in a great place to continue to make every effort to have great momentum going forward."

The Bears have a challenge in front of them. Stanford swept Cal in two games during the regular season, by scores of 89-81 in December and 66-61 in February.

Stanford's Maxime Raynaud is an All-ACC first-team selection with averages of 20.1 points and 10.9 rebounds per game. His 23 double-doubles lead the country.

So this is another chance for Raynaud to showcase his talents and for the Cardinal to demonstrate why they were underappreciated entering the season. They were dubbed 17th of 18 teams in the ACC preseason poll.

"We just talked about the process and just (doing) your best every day," coach Kyle Smith told The Stanford Daily. "They did a really good job of staying present and trying to improve."

Stanford's Jaylen Blakes has been in the ACC tournament in the past as a Duke player.

Cal players said they feel battle-tested after the recent stretch. Andrej Stojakovic scored 29 points in the Virginia Tech game, marking his third-highest scoring total of the season.

"We've been on the road for 10 days, and I wouldn't change it for anything else," Stojakovic said. "We get to play basketball. It's a win-or-go-home scenario. Just got to be out there and stay aggressive and have fun with the guys."

Stojakovic made three 3-point shots against the Hokies, marking just the second time he has reached that number in a game since mid-December.

--Bob Sutton, Field Level Media

Stats and Records
Team Comparison
  W/L Strk Home Away Neutral Day Night Conf
California 14-18 W1 11-6 2-11 1-1 3-6 11-12 7-14
Stanford 19-12 L2 16-2 3-8 0-2 9-5 10-7 11-9
Last Meeting
California Stanford
Date Away Home Pts Reb FG% Pts Reb FG%
2/22/25 CAL 61 STAN 66 61 38 34.5 66 31 37.3
Player Stats
Previous Matchup
Points Player Total FG% FTM
California J. Wilkinson 19 37.5 6
Stanford M. Raynaud 20 31.2 8
Rebounds Player Total Off Def
California R. Petraitis 10 5 5
Stanford R. Agarwal 8 2 6
Assists Player  
California D. Campbell 1
Stanford R. Agarwal 4
Season
Points Player Total FG% FTM
California J. Wilkinson 486 40.1 110
Stanford M. Raynaud 623 47.1 102
Rebounds Player Total Off Def
California M. Sissoko 253 97 156
Stanford M. Raynaud 337 86 251
Assists Player  
California J. Blacksher Jr. 74
Stanford J. Blakes 129
Quickchart Matchup
blue bar California Off vs  red bar Stanford Defense
blue bar 75.7 Points For
red bar 70.4 Points Against
blue bar 41.6 FG%
red bar 44.5 FG%
blue bar 33.4 Reb
red bar 29.4 Reb
red bar Stanford Off vs  blue bar California Defense
red bar 72.8 Points For
blue bar 76.8 Points Against
red bar 43.1 FG%
blue bar 46.7 FG%
red bar 31.3 Reb
blue bar 32.3 Reb