Cal aims to “make the extra pass” against Cornell
December 7, 2024; Berkeley, California, USA California Golden Bears guard Andrej Stojakovic (2) drives to the basket against Stanford Cardinal forward Maxime Raynaud (42) during the first half at Haas Pavilion. Mandatory credit: D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images After back-to-back losses stopped all momentum from a strong start, Cal will look to get back on track when it hosts Cornell on Tuesday in Berkeley, California.
The Golden Bears (6-3) returned to power-conference competition last week, but lost 98-93 at Missouri last Tuesday in the SEC/ACC Challenge and then dropped an 89-91 decision at home to rival Stanford on Saturday in their ACC debut. .
The visit from the Big Red (6-3) is the first of three more non-conference games before returning to ACC action Jan. 1 at Pitt.
Andrej Stojakovic scored 25 points and Jovan Blacksher Jr. added 14 for Cal against Stanford. The Golden Bears trailed by 20 points with 5:37 left and didn’t record an assist in the first half, ending the game with five.
“Our players played really hard. The effort, the energy never wavered,” Cal head coach Mark Madsen said. “(But) we have to play better. We have to make the extra pass and we have to stay disciplined on defense.”
Cal saw Stanford shoot 52.6 percent from the floor and 47.8 percent from 3-point range.
While Cornell doesn’t have the same size as Stanford against Cal, it is coming off 22 wins and an NIT berth a season ago.
After the Big Red fell to another ACC opponent, 82-72 at Syracuse on Nov. 27, they picked up road wins over Colgate and Army, the latter coming in a 103-point effort on Sunday.
Nazir Williams scored 20 points, while Cooper Noard added 17 and Jake Fiegen had 16. Cornell shot 55.9 percent from the field and 54.3 percent from three. Williams has scored 13.1 points per game, Noard has 13.0 and Feigen 12.9.
Cornell’s quick, aggressive style leads to baskets inside or long shots on passes out of the post.
“Some teams cut hard, but they don’t play as fast as we do,” Cornell head coach Jon Jaques told 90 Percent Hoops. “So (the opponent) worries about getting back into transition defense, you worry about the 3-point shooter running and all of a sudden, you have to worry about the cut.”
Cal and Cornell have split the two games all-time, but the programs haven’t faced each other since 1992.
–Within field level