Before the game, Stanford (15-15, 8-10) honored its two seniors: team manager Ryan Cole and star center Josh Sharma. It was an emotional moment. Sharma was flanked by his parents and other close family members, and a recording of Coach Haase played where he talked about how much Josh has meant to the program. Such a thing was sure to light a fire under the Cardinal and get them going out of the gate. But it didn’t.
Cal (8-22, 3-15) jumped to a quick 19-2 lead, mostly led by the 7’3” Connor Vanover. The lanky freshman went 6-7 in the first half, including 4-4 from deep.