Fields is kept in check by tough Bears defense

By
Vittorio Tafur, Chronicle Staff Writer

Sunday, January 3, 2010

(01-02) 21:01 PST -- Landry Fields does it all for Stanford. The problem for him is that, as a result, sometimes he has five guys guarding him.

Cal's Theo Robertson and Omondi Amoke took turns chasing and bumping the Cardinal swingman, Patrick Christopher was hanging around if Fields tried to turn the corner, and then there was Max Zhang.
Cal's Max Zhang comes up to block Stanford's Landry Fields in first-half action.
Photo: Michael Macor / The Chronicle



Twice in the early going, 7-foot-3 center blocked Fields' shots, once coming out of nowhere to swat him at the rim and later spiking down a postup attempt.

All told, Fields missed six of his first seven shots and 11 of his first 14 in Stanford's 92-66 loss in Berkeley. The 6-foot-7 forward finished with 20 points on 9for-24 shooting.

"Credit goes to Cal, but I also think I was pressing a little bit," Fields said. "I calmed down some in the second half, but ... it was just one of those nights."

He worked until the end, finishing with 10 rebounds and four assists.

Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins said Cal defenders moved their feet well against Fields.

"They were aggressive ... and did a good job of disrupting him," he said. "He's a terrific player, and I think the more he can experience situations like this, the better we're going to be."

Dawkins went small in the second half, having Fields often bring the ball up as a point power forward. And it worked for a couple of minutes as the Cardinal scored 10 of the first 13 points to cut the deficit to 48-35.

"We made a little run, but we couldn't sustain it," Dawkins said.

Dawkins doesn't have much in the arsenal besides Fields and shooting guard Jeremy Green (23 points). The rest of the roster scored 23 points, as its bench was outscored by Zhang and the Cal reserves, 40-14.

Cal's Max Zhang dunks in the first half against Stanford on Saturday.Photo: Michael Macor / The Chronicle


Fields tipped his cap to Cal's unassuming big man.


"You have a guy like that, you just plant him in the paint and let him disrupt things," Fields said.

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