Sports editor Jonathan Kuperberg chronicles the day’s events at the Pac-12 Tournament, live from Staples Center.
Game 3 Final: California 77, Stanford 71
0:40.7 – Cal 75, Stanford 69
Kravish hits pair of free throws. Stanford needs some quick shots and timely steals — or Cal to miss free throws. Otherwise, this one appears over.
1:40 – Cal 73, Stanford 67
Gutierrez hits a lefty scoop layup and the ensuing free throw to put the Bears up nine. Cal seems in control.
3:55 – Cal 66, Stanford 62
Gutierrez scores a layup in transition. Cal ball out of the timeout now.
5:16 – Cal 62, Stanford 60
The Bears are playing exponentially better this half, yet Stanford isn’t going away. Kravish hits a pair of free throws to break the tie.
7:56 – Cal 56, Stanford 56
Gutierrez has taken over – the senior has 15 points and seven assists. Randle ties the game at the free throw line, but Gutierrez is fouled before the media timeout.
15:52 – Cal 38, Stanford 33
Gutierrez ties the game at 33 with a basket. Cal is much more aggressive this half, rebounding with authority, getting up in transition. Case in point: Crabbe hits a 3-pointer in transition to give the Bears a five-point lead. Stanford calls timeout. The Bears are starting to look like the team of old — on a 15-3 run to open the half.
18:26 – Cal 29, Stanford 33
Gutierrez opens the half with jumper, then hits two free throws after getting fouled in transition. Owens scores, but Cobbs hits a pair of free throws.
Sophomore point guard Justin Cobbs has six points and four rebounds at the half. Marcus Gedai/Staff
Following its blowout win early today, the Stanford women’s basketball team was seen earlier taking in the game, no doubt cheering on its male counterparts. Good thing for Mike Montgomery that the Ogwumike sisters aren’t playing his club, or the Cardinal might be up more than seven at the half.
Halftime – Cal 23, Stanford 30
Cobbs hits a one-handed floater to stop the bleeding. Following a Stanford offensive foul, Thurman is fouled attempting a shot. He misses both free throws though. Kamp steals a Cardinal pass, but Cal turns the ball over. On the final possession of the half, Aaron Bright hits a floater that rattles in as the buzzer sounds.
3:00 – Cal 21, Stanford 26
4:49 – Cal 19, Stanford 24
Crabbe takes a few dribbles and hits a jumper. But then the sophomore guard commits his second personal foul. He stays in the game.
Brown hits a jumper to push the lead to seven, but Kamp snags an offensive board and puts it in for two.
7:41 – Cal 15, Stanford 21
Cobbs makes a nice cut and a tough layup. Zimmerman gets fouled as he makes a layup. His free throw makes it a six-point lead.
10:00 – Cal 13, Stanford 16
After a quick breather, Gutierrez hits a 3-pointer. Maybe that will get him going. Meanwhile, Stanford keeps making shots, and Cal keeps losing the ball. The Bears have seven turnovers already.
13:31 – Cal 10, Stanford 10
Consecutive layups by Kamp give the Bears the lead, but Owens hits a jumper to tie it back up.
15:28 – Cal 6, Stanford 8
Both teams have cooled off a bit after the first minute. Cal looks more comfortable than it did on Sunday — it’s only been four and a half minutes — but Stanford, coming off two big wins, is beaming with confidence.
18:45 – Cal 4, Stanford 6
Bears open with a dunk by Cobbs. But Stanford hits consecutive threes by Zimmerman and Randle.
Pregame
Stanford starters: Andrew Zimmerman, Josh Owens, Chasson Randle, Anthony Brown, Jarrett Mann
Cal starters: Harper Kamp, David Kravish, Justin Cobbs, Allen Crabbe, Jorge Gutierrez
The Bears warm up before their matchup with Stanford, the third meeting of the season between the two teams. Marcus Gedai/Staff
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Cal beat Stanford at home, Stanford beat Cal at home. Now it’s a neutral court. The Cardinal are coming off a dominating win over Arizona State Wednesday night. The Bears, still simmering over Sunday’s loss to their rival. But it’s a new season now for Mike Montgomery’s club. Cal knows that anything can happen — just look at top seed Washington. Losing three in a row seems unlikely for this squad.
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It’s worth noting that the Daily Cal has gone 0-for-2 thus far in predictions. We (that being Jack Wang and myself) picked Washington to beat Oregon State — and win the entire tournament — and UCLA to beat Arizona.
Jesse Perry and Solomon Hill can breathe easy now that they have beaten UCLA to advance to the Pac-12 Tournament semifinals. Marcus Gedai/Staff
Game 2: Arizona vs. UCLA
Final – Zona 66, UCLA 58
Arizona is simply the better team. The Wildcats play physical, in-your-face defense and, perhaps more importantly, got to the charity stripe a whopping 36 times, making 31. UCLA committed 24 personal fouls in the game. The Wildcats advance to face Oregon State Friday at 6 p.m.
Lunch – Pasta/Lasagna 2, Salad 1
The real reason I'm here — free food (taken on my camera phone)
9:38 – Zona 43, UCLA 42
Joshua Smith fouled out with more than 11 minutes to go in second half, but that hasn’t stopped UCLA. A Norman Powell jumper, followed by a Jerime Anderson floater have the Bruins with one.
13:40 – Zona 39, UCLA 35
What a luxury Solomon Hill is for Sean Miller. The junior forward can post up and rebound, as well as drive to the hoops. Moments ago, the 6-foot-6, 226-pounder dribbled the length of the court before getting fouled. He has 15 points and 8 boards.
Solomon Hill has been the best player on the court in this quarterfinal matchup. Marcus Gedai/Staff
15:49 – Zona 38, UCLA 31
My seat, at the corner between the “visiting” team’s bench and the basket, is obstructed every time anyone on the bench stands up. It’s interesting that during the Washington-Oregon State game, the Beavers’ bench would repeatedly stand and cheer, but during this game I can see perfectly clear. Food for thought.
16:51 – Zona 34, UCLA 29
Kyle Fogg opens the half with a 3-pointer, then breaks Tyler Lamb’s ankles on a step-back jumper. Eleven points (and three fouls) for the senior.
Fogg's sharp shooting has the Wildcats in the lead thus far. Marcus Gedai/Staff
Halftime – Zona 29, UCLA 23
UCLA hasn’t had any turnovers in the last 10 minutes. It’s not surprise, then, that the Bruins have cut Arizona’s lead to six going into the break. Pretty even halftime stats. Other than a few more threes by Arizona, the teams’ stats are almost identical — 10 turnovers each, 5 assists each, field goal percentages in the 30s.
Arizona cheerleaders, no doubt happy with the score. Marcus Gedai/Staff
5:59 – Zona 21, UCLA 11
Smith should not be missing layups, like the two he just missed. Hill hits another three, and Howland immediately subs in a Wear.
7:41 – Zona 16, UCLA 9
The Bruins can’t hang on to the ball. That’s 10 turnovers now — a number one more than their total points. They’re also shooting 28.6 percent from the field. Arizona’s eight turnovers are the reason the Wildcats aren’t up double digits. In other news, UCLA’s gargantuan center Joshua Smith has four points off the bench and only one foul. Arizona can’t match up with him, but the ‘Cats are doing a good job denying him the ball, pressuring UCLA’s perimeter players.
10:02 – Zona 11, UCLA 6
Eight turnovers for UCLA in the first 10 minutes of the game. No wonder the Bruins have dug themselves into an early hole. Reggie Miller looks a little more engaged now that his alma mater is playing. He shakes his head as Jones bricks a 3-pointer.
14:15 – Zona 7, UCLA 4
Back-to-back threes by Solomon Hill early in the game. This one could be close too. The Wear twins are active on the boards for UCLA, but they should guard Hill at the 3-point line. The Bruins just forced Arizona into a shot clock violation — that’s likely defensive-minded head coach Ben Howland’s favorite play. Not a lot of offense so far.
Magic was in the air in Oregon State's upset of Washington. Marcus Gedai/Staff
Game 1: Washington vs. Oregon State
Final – UW 84, OSU 86
Down one with under 20 seconds to go, Wroten misses two free throws. He’s still a freshman, after all. Luckily for Washington, Cunningham missed both of his free throws. Wroten is fouled once more with 8.7 seconds remaining — and misses both again. So Cunningham goes to the line again – and swishes them both to clinch the game.
OSU fouls Ross so he can’t tie the game with a three. He makes the first and purposely misses the second — but it didn’t hit rim. Ball Oregon State. Game Oregon State. And just like that, the top seed has been upset. Both Oregon State fans in the audience embrace.
Maybe Lazeric Jones should have worn different shoes. The senior guard shot 5-for-16 in UCLA's loss to Arizona. He did have a team-high 17 points and five assists. Marcus Gedai/Staff
5:20 – UW 73, OSU 67
Lazeric Jones’s shoes were delivered right next to me a moment ago. Someone handed the UCLA guard’s baby blue shoes to another person, who was instructed to give them Jones. Not sure why Jones gets a personal delivery — or what happened for him to need shoes separate from the rest of the team.
7:07 – UW 69, OSU 64
Tony Wroten’s game is actually similar to another Washington guard — current Kings guard Isaiah Tomas, the MVP of the Pac-10 Tournament the last two years. Both players like to drive, create contact, bounce off the defender and take short jumpers. At 6-foot-5, 205 pounds, Wroten is probably better suited for this style of play than Thomas, but he doesn’t earn as many trips to the foul line as the diminutive Thomas. Wroten is doing alright — he has 19 points so far this afternoon.
11:10 – UW 55, OSU 54
Reggie Miller, wearing jeans and a sweat jacket, looks bored sitting behind the OSU bench. Meanwhile, the Huskies have woken up to take the lead.
15:41 UW 44, OSU 51
Abdul Gaddy is not necessarily the Washington guard you would expect to lead the Huskies’ comeback. But the junior has two baskets and assist already in the second half. He looks calm running the offense, and nonchalantly dribbled over a screen and pulled up for a 3-pointer. Washington is doing exactly what it needs to in the first five minutes of the half — chip away at the lead. The Huskies have already cut it in half.
Halftime – UW 33, OSU 46
On the last possession, Washington plays good enough defense to force Oregon State into a bad last-second shot. But nobody boxes out Joe Burton — he makes a put-back to give the Beavers a 13-point lead at the half. Still predict the Huskies to win this one, but it might be a little closer than expected. They’ll be fine once — or if — Ross (seven points, 3-of-9 shooting) heats up in the second half.
3:01 – UW 31, OSU 37
Both teams are sloppy, but Oregon State is starting to make some shots. The Beavers are understandably playing with a sense of urgency, but I don’t see them keeping this lead for that much longer. The Huskies can’t just play on cruise control, though.
6:40 – UW 22, OSU 22
Terrence Ross should know better than to throw a bounce pass to a 7-footer on a fastbreak. Like Aziz N’Diaye was going to catch a pass at his knees and then life the basket ball up to dunk.
15:18 – UW 8, OSU 7
Tony Wroten, the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, has lived up to his billing thus far. He can pretty much get to the hole at will, with five early points. Then again, the three times he’s drived — for two baskets and one turnover — it’s been to the left side. We’ll see if he goes right at all.
16:41 – UW 3, OSU 2
Jared Cunningham air balls a 3-pointer, then missed an alley-oop layup. And he’s one of the best players in the conference.
Pre-tipoff
Less than 20 minutes until game time, and there are seven fans in attendance. I’m joking, of course, but I’m not that far off. There are honestly as many, if not more, media people than paying fans. Maybe that’s why the press sit court-side at the Pac-12 tournament here at Staples Center — at least the powers that be know the media will show up.
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