California Golden Bears (13-17) vs. Stanford Cardinal (12-17)
March 7, 2024 11:00 pm EDT
The Line: Stanford Cardinal -4.5; Over/Under: 152
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The California Golden Bears and the Stanford Cardinal meet Thursday in college basketball action from Maples Pavilion. California is 13-17 overall following a loss to Utah on Saturday. As for Stanford, they’re 12-17 so far and coming off a loss to Colorado. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
California Golden Bears
The Bears’ year kicked off on a 10-13 run, then came a pair of losses to UCLA and Washington State in mid-February. California would take out Washington, Oregon State and Oregon in succession over the next three games before another pair of defeats by Colorado and Utah.
In the Utah matchup on Saturday, the Bears faced a 10-point deficit 42-32 by halftime. California was outscored 46-27 from there on the way to a blowout loss 88-59. Leading the way was Jalen Cone on 19 points with four rebounds and three assists in 35 minutes.
Stanford Cardinal
Over on the Cardinal’s side, they were 11-9 at the 20-game mark this year. Stanford has won just once since then (over USC), taking losses to Arizona, UCLA, Washington, Washington State, Oregon, Oregon State Utah and Colorado otherwise over the last nine outings.
Matched up against Colorado on Sunday, the Cardinal managed a 44-37 deficit in the locker room. Stanford didn’t get any closer on a 37-34 run the rest of the way and fell 81-71. Maxime Raynaud was tops on a double-double with 26 points and 12 rebounds in the defeat.
ANDREW’S FREE CALIFORNIA VS STANFORD PREDICTION
I’ll lean toward California here. Both teams could use a good showing, though. The Golden Bears shot just 34.4 percent from the field and got out-rebounded 47-29 in their latest loss to Utah. It was California’s lowest points total of the year (59), coming after four straight games with 69 or more points scored.
These teams last met up on January 26 in a close 73-71 home win for the Golden Bears. Neither side shot very well (41 percent or below), but the rebounding numbers were very similar. California is going to have to be better from the line in this road rematch (66.7 percent), but if all goes well they should have a decent shot at a cover.
