Stanford Cardinal vs California Golden Bears Prediction, 2/21/2026 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Stanford Cardinal vs California Golden Bears

Date: Saturday, February 21, 2026

Location: Haas Pavilion in Berkeley, CA

TV: ACC Network

The Stanford Cardinal (16-10) are headed to Haas Pavilion on Saturday where they will go up against the California Golden Bears (18-8).

The Stanford Cardinal faced off with Wake Forest and went home with a loss by a final score of 68-63 in their last contest. Stanford finished having earned a 42.3% FG percentage (22 out of 52) and converted 10 of their 29 3-pointers. When they shot from the free throw line, the Cardinal knocked down 9 of their 14 attempts for a rate of 64.3%. When talking about grabbing boards, they compiled a total of 27 with 7 of them being offensive. They also dished out 8 dimes in this matchup as well as forcing the other team into 10 turnovers and getting 6 steals. In regard to defense, Stanford allowed the other team to go 41.9% from the floor on 18 of 43 shooting. Wake Forest dished out 7 assists and had 5 steals in this game. In addition, Wake Forest snagged 23 rebounds (4 offensive, 19 defensive), but didn't notch a block. Wake Forest finished the game at 87.5% from the free throw line by knocking down 28 of 32 attempts. They converted 4 of their 17 tries from three-point range. With respect to personal fouls, the Cardinal ended up finishing with 22 while Wake Forest finished the game with 14 personal fouls.

Ebuka Okorie is a guy who had an impact for the contest. He notched 26 points on 10 of 21 shooting. He played for 38 mins but didn't pull down any boards. He finished the game at 47.6% from the field and also distributed 2 dimes.

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Stanford comes into this game with a mark of 16-10 on the campaign. They lose possession via turnover 11.0 times per game and as a squad they are committing 18.0 personal fouls on a nightly basis. As a unit, Stanford is collecting 34.2 rebounds per contest and has accounted for 312 assists for the campaign, which has them ranked 326th in the nation in terms of passing the rock. The Cardinal are connecting on 34.5% from downtown (235 of 682) and 72.4% from the charity stripe. They average 75.4 points per contest (198th in the nation) while connecting on 43.0% from the field.

Defensively, the Cardinal are able to force 12.9 turnovers every game while drawing 18.8 fouls. They are giving up 33.4% on 3-point attempts while they are 138th in college in points per game allowed (72.5). The Cardinal defense is allowing a field goal percentage of 45.9% (648 of 1,411) and they relinquish 32.9 boards per contest as a team. They are 10th in the nation in allowing assists to their opponents with 278 relinquished for the campaign.

When they last stepped on the court, the California Golden Bears got the win with a final of 86-75 when they played Boston College. The Golden Bears were able to pull down 20 defensive rebounds and 4 offensive rebounds for a total of 24 for this game. They also coughed it up 7 times, while recording 6 steals in this matchup. Boston College committed 15 personal fouls for the matchup which took the Golden Bears to the free throw line for 16 tries. They were able to make 12 of those for a rate of 75.0%. When it comes to shooting from 3-point land, California made 14 out of 29 tries (48.3%). When the final whistle blew, the Golden Bears ended up shooting 30 out of 54 from the floor which gave them a shooting percentage of 55.6%. The Golden Bears permitted Boston College to make 29 of their 60 attempts from the field which left them with a rate of 48.3% for this game. They finished shooting 36.4% from three-point range by going 8 out of 22 and finished the contest at 9 out of 16 at the charity stripe (56.3%). When discussing how they attacked the glass, California permitted Boston College to grab 29 in total (11 on the offensive glass).

Chris Bell pitched in for the Golden Bears in this game. He racked up 22 points in his 34 minutes on the court and had 1 assist in the game. He converted 8 of 13 in this contest for a rate of 61.5%, and totaled 2 rebounds.

California has a win-loss mark of 18-8 this season. The Golden Bears are responsible for committing 18.7 personal fouls every game while shooting 78.3% from the charity stripe. Their rate of earning assists is at 14.0 times per contest (179th in the country) and they turn it over 10.3 times per game. California has scored 2,053 pts for the season (79.0 per game) and they grab 34.5 boards per game. As an offensive team, the Golden Bears are shooting 45.0% from the field, which is ranked 199th in the country.

The Golden Bears on defense are ranked 153rd in the country in points per game surrendered with 73.0. They have forced 11.3 turnovers per game and allow teams to shoot 43.2% from the field (126th in college). The California defense allows 30.6% on 3-pointers (196 of 641) and their opponents are knocking down 65.6% of their free throw attempts. They concede 14.3 dimes and 36.5 boards per game, which is ranked 261st and 296th in the country.

Who will win tonight's NCAA game against the spread?

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take Stanford

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