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		Bears blast Stanford in conference opener By Morris Phillips January 2, 2010

	The first half of the Pac-10 conference opener between Cal and Stanford couldn’t have provided a greater contrast. While the Bears executed almost flawlessly, enjoying a parade of layups, fast breaks and wide open jumpers, the Cardinal struggled mightily, flubbing simple handoff passes and point blank shots. The Bears cruised to a 20-point lead at the half, behind 63 percent shooting, on the way to a 92-66 wipeout of Stanford. Cal’s 26-point margin of victory was their largest against their rival since February 1986 when the Kevin Johnson-led Bears routed the Cardinal, 81-53. The difference in offensive execution and the play of the point guards held the key to the lopsided first half. Stanford point guard, Jarrett Mann, who actually came in as the Pac-10 leader in assists at just under six a game, is not a quick, penetrating guard or is he surrounded by teammates that are gifted passers. Also injuries have left the Cardinal without a low-post scorer, all of which makes it difficult for Stanford to gain offensive rhythm. Meanwhile, Cal (9-4, 1-0), with Jerome Randle using the threat of his long-range shot to set up his quick moves to the basket, has really started to gel. Randle finished with 24 points, to lead all scorers, and seven assists, despite teammates dropping a few of his creative deliveries to the post. When Randle wasn’t attacking the basket, Theo Robertson and Patrick Christopher were, resulting in several crowd pleasing dunks and fast breaks. But crisp offensive play couldn’t outdo the breakout performance of Cal center Max Zhang, who finished with 13 points and four rebounds in just 18 minutes before leaving to nice hand from the near-capacity crowd. Zhang’s continued growth, even if, in this case, was against an undersized opponent, bodes well for the Bears and their attempt to capture their first Pac-10 crown. Randle best described the benefits of Zhang’s improved play. “If he can block shots and get rebounds and putbacks like that, it’s going to be hard to them to just contain the four people that we have—me, Patrick, Theo and Jamal. Now they have to guard Max as well. So he’s really a key,” Randle said. Defensively, the Bears put the clamps on the conference’s second leading scorer, Landry Fields, holding him to 20 points--on 9 of 24 shooting--slightly below his average of better than 23 points per game. Fields and Jeremy Green, the Cardinal’s primary threats, combined to miss 11 of their 13 3-point attempts, as Stanford’s attempt at a comeback materialized only briefly after halftime, and ended just as quickly. After Fields blew in for a dunk with 17 minutes remaining to cut the Cal lead to 13, the Bears recovered quickly, pushing the margin back to 20 just two minutes later, after Randle’s layup put the Bears ahead, 58-38. The Bears benefitted from Oregon’s upset of Washington on Saturday, as well as UCLA’s loss to Arizona leaving the Bears along with Oregon and USC as the only undefeated teams in early conference play. The Bears host UCLA on Wednesday and USC on Saturday to complete their lengthy homestand.