SETTING THE SCENE
2023 opens with a rivalry, as the Cardinal travels to Berkeley for the first meeting this season with California. The action gets underway on Friday, Jan. 6 at 6 p.m. on ESPNU.
THE OPENING TIP
• The Cardinal is 5-9 (0-4 Pac-12) to open the campaign, including home wins over Pacific (88-78), Cal Poly (80-43) and Green Bay (85-40) and neutral site wins over Florida State (70-60) and Loyola Chicago (75-62).
• Through 14 games, Spencer Jones leads the team with 12.3 points per game, and joined Stanford’s 1,000-point club on Dec. 29 with a 25-point outing against Colorado. Jones paces the program in Pac-12 play with 18.0 points per game, which ranks fifth in the league. He also ranks second in made free throws, third in made threes and third with 2.8 offensive rebounds per game.
• Harrison Ingram, who was Stanford’s first Pac-12 Freshman of the Year since Casey Jacobsen in 2000, withdrew his name from the 2022 NBA Draft to return to The Farm for his sophomore campaign. He is averaging 9.1 points, 4.6 rebounds and a team-best 3.0 assists per game.
• The Cardinal returns eight of its top nine rotation players from a year ago, ranking sixth nationally in minutes continuity, per KenPom, while also bringing in the program’s first transfer in 12 years and the first graduate transfer in program history in Michael Jones (Davidson). Jones had a game to remember in the season opener, with his 31 points the most by a Stanford player in his team debut on record. The 31 points remain tied for the best single-game mark by a Pac-12 player this season.
• Stanford split last season’s meetings with California, and is 13-11 over the last 24 meetings in Berkeley. The Cardinal has won three of the last four matchups in the Bay Area since the 2020-21 campaign.
HAASE PAVILION
Stanford is looking for its fourth win in the last six tries at Cal’s Haas Pavilion, and its ninth win over its
rival in the Jerod Haase era. The Cardinal gave up just 51.5 points to Cal last season, which was the team’s best defensive mark against any Pac-12 program. The Cardinal has won six of the last nine regular season contests with the Golden Bears. Spencer Jones and Harrison Ingram lead all returners with 9.5 and 9.0 points per game, respectively, against Cal last season. Head coach Jerod Haase played his first season at Cal, alongside Jason Kidd in the Bears’ backcourt, before finishing his college career at Kansas.