At 7:00 PM PST on Pac-12 Networks Bay Area, Cal women’s basketball will host Stanford. Stanford is now 18-5 overall and 8-3 in Pac-12 play. Cal is now 11-11 overall and 2-9 in Pac-12 play. I will start this thread off with 5 things to look for going into this rivalry game.
#1. Cal has to keep the Cardinal off the glass: Kristine Anigwe only grabbed 7 rebounds against Stanford on Tuesday night while Erica McCall and Kaylee Johnson combined for 28 rebounds. A large reason for why Anigwe struggled was because she got into foul trouble, committing 4 personal fouls in the game. She only played 30 minutes and that was because she was fouling too much. Cal needs her to quit fouling and stay on the floor so as to prevent Stanford from getting so many rebounds.
#2. Asha Thomas, Mikayla Cowling, and Penina Davidson have to get going: Between the three of them, they combined for 9 points on Tuesday. That simply isn’t going to cut it against a Stanford team that plays good defense. Cal has to make shots to win this game and these three young ladies have what it takes to put the ball in the basket.
#3. Winning ugly may work: The game on Tuesday was UGLY, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Cal hung around until the closing minutes, so I definitely think a choppy, low scoring game could benefit Cal. They just need to make sure they find a way to score more points than their opponents.
#4. How confident will Cal be? After nearly beating Stanford on the road, Cal should feel confident in their ability to get a win against Stanford at Haas Pavilion. A key sign of Cal’s confidence is if Cowling, Thomas, and Davidson start to make shots. If those three players get rolling, that will be a good sign that Cal is feeling confident.
#5. Cal has to shoot better from beyond the arc: Cal shot 2-11 from 3-point range against Stanford on Tuesday night, which simply won’t cut it. If Cal wants to win this game tonight, they have to shoot a higher percentage from beyond the arc. 2-11 is terrible and if they were able to shoot 4-11 while holding Stanford to one fewer 3-point shot, Cal would have won the game.
Prediction: I think it really helps Cal that they just played Stanford. They know what works against them and what they need to do differently. Cal seems to feel pretty confident going into this game considering how close the game was on Tuesday. I predict that Cal finds a way to dig deep and get this win by the narrowest of margins: 60-59.
#1. Cal has to keep the Cardinal off the glass: Kristine Anigwe only grabbed 7 rebounds against Stanford on Tuesday night while Erica McCall and Kaylee Johnson combined for 28 rebounds. A large reason for why Anigwe struggled was because she got into foul trouble, committing 4 personal fouls in the game. She only played 30 minutes and that was because she was fouling too much. Cal needs her to quit fouling and stay on the floor so as to prevent Stanford from getting so many rebounds.
#2. Asha Thomas, Mikayla Cowling, and Penina Davidson have to get going: Between the three of them, they combined for 9 points on Tuesday. That simply isn’t going to cut it against a Stanford team that plays good defense. Cal has to make shots to win this game and these three young ladies have what it takes to put the ball in the basket.
#3. Winning ugly may work: The game on Tuesday was UGLY, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Cal hung around until the closing minutes, so I definitely think a choppy, low scoring game could benefit Cal. They just need to make sure they find a way to score more points than their opponents.
#4. How confident will Cal be? After nearly beating Stanford on the road, Cal should feel confident in their ability to get a win against Stanford at Haas Pavilion. A key sign of Cal’s confidence is if Cowling, Thomas, and Davidson start to make shots. If those three players get rolling, that will be a good sign that Cal is feeling confident.
#5. Cal has to shoot better from beyond the arc: Cal shot 2-11 from 3-point range against Stanford on Tuesday night, which simply won’t cut it. If Cal wants to win this game tonight, they have to shoot a higher percentage from beyond the arc. 2-11 is terrible and if they were able to shoot 4-11 while holding Stanford to one fewer 3-point shot, Cal would have won the game.
Prediction: I think it really helps Cal that they just played Stanford. They know what works against them and what they need to do differently. Cal seems to feel pretty confident going into this game considering how close the game was on Tuesday. I predict that Cal finds a way to dig deep and get this win by the narrowest of margins: 60-59.
