Pac-12 play starts for Cal, Stanford
Cal (6-7, 0-0) vs. Stanford (11-2, 0-0)
Maples Pavilion, Stanford, California; Thursday, 11 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Stanford hosts Cal as conference play starts for both teams. In conference play last season, Cal finished with three wins and 15 losses, while Stanford won eight games and lost 10.
TEAM LEADERSHIP: Stanford's Oscar da Silva has averaged 17.7 points and 5.8 rebounds while Tyrell Terry has put up 14 points and 4.8 rebounds. For the Golden Bears, Matt Bradley has averaged 17.5 points and 4.5 rebounds while Kareem South has put up 11.3 points.MIGHTY MATT: Bradley has connected on 36.5 percent of the 63 3-pointers he's attempted and has made 6 of 28 over the last five games. He's also made 85.7 percent of his foul shots this season.
WINNING WHEN: The Cardinal are 11-0 when holding opponents to 44.2 percent or worse from the field, and 0-2 when opponents shoot better than that. The Golden Bears are 6-0 when they make six or more 3-pointers and 0-7 when the team hits fewer than six from long range.
ASSIST RATIOS: The Cardinal have recently converted buckets via assists more often than the Golden Bears. Stanford has 27 assists on 65 field goals (41.5 percent) over its past three matchups while Cal has assists on 28 of 72 field goals (38.9 percent) during its past three games.
DID YOU KNOW: The Stanford defense has allowed only 58.8 points per game to opponents this season, ranking the Cardinal 13th among Division I teams. The Cal offense has averaged 65.8 points through 13 games (ranked 246th, nationally).