Jan. 4, 2002
By RICK EYMER
Associated Press Writer
STANFORD, Calif. - With its leading scorers held to season lows, Stanford turned to Julius Barnes.
Barnes, starting his fourth game of the season, scored a career-high 27 points as No. 12 Stanford opened Pac-10 play with a 82-62 victory over California on Friday night.
"I've been putting in a lot of work on my outside shot and it's been paying off," said Barnes, who was a reserve in Stanford's first six games. "Luckily the ball has been going in lately."
Josh Childress, whom Barnes replaced in the lineup, added 13 points and Matt Lottich had 12 as the Cardinal (8-2, 1-0) beat Cal for the 10th consecutive time.
"I'm not surprised about what he did," Stanford coach Mike Montgomery said of Barnes. "His shots look really good. He's been a streaky player in the past, but with more playing time he's gaining confidence."
Barnes, who left the game with seven minutes to play, averaged 8.5 points as a reserve compared to nearly 16.8 points as a starter.
"There's something about starting that makes you feel good," Barnes said. "It's a special feeling running out on the court as a starter. It gives you a lot of confidence."
Casey Jacobsen and Curtis Borchardt, Stanford's top two scorers, were held to a combined 16 points.
"You'd think teams coming in would be pleased with a defensive effort like that on Casey and Curtis," Cal coach Ben Braun said. "Not against Stanford. They're too deep. Barnes and Lottich hit some wondrous shots. That distanced Stanford from us specifically."
Joe Shipp scored 15 points and Brian Wethers added 14 for the Bears (9-2, 0-1), who had a five-game winning streak stopped.
Jason Kidd was a freshman at Cal the last time the Bears won at Stanford, in the 1992-93 season. Montgomery owns a 14-2 mark at home against Cal.
None of the current Bears have ever beaten Stanford.
The teams meet again on Sunday, marking the first time they've played back-to-back games since the end of the 1989-90 regular season. Stanford and Cal have never played back-to-back games to start conference play.
The Bears played without 6-foot-11 senior forward Solomon Hughes, the team's second leading scorer and ranked third in the nation in field goal percentage (69.6). He's been unable to practice since Tuesday because of a strained right knee and remains questionable for Sunday's rematch.
"Not having Solomon changes the game for us," Cal's Jamal Sampson said. "Without him in the middle we started taking too many 3s and fell behind instead of catching up."
Freshman Amit Tamar, a 22-year-old from Jerusalem, took Hughes' place in the starting lineup. Tamar sat out Cal's first eight games for playing alongside professionals on the Israeli National team.
Stanford went on a 15-2 run midway through the second half on the strength of five 3-pointers - two by Lottich - within a three-minute stretch to take a 62-46 lead. The Cardinal led by as many as 22.
The lead changed hands 13 times in the first 11:30 of the game before Cal opened a five-point edge.
Stanford grabbed the advantage after Childress, who scored two points in his previous two games combined, made a 3-pointer sandwiched between Barnes' three free throws late in the half. The Cardinal led at halftime, 34-31.