By Morris Phillips

Having turned their season from barely relevant to NCAA worthy all within a tidy five-game win streak, the Cal Bears couldn’t have hit the Haas Pavilion floor on Saturday with any greater motivation to keep things moving.

But for much of the first 20 minutes, the Bears were stuck in the mud.

“We were not ready to play,” Coach Mike Montgomery admitted.  “I don’t think there’s any question about that.  I don’t want to take anything away from Washington State.  They came out aggressive.  They played hard.  We weren’t ready to play.  You could tell.”

“We came out a little relaxed today, and like I said we weren’t moving, we were standing around in the perimeter.  So he just said, ‘you guys earned this 4-0 record, don’t give it up now,” Justin Cobbs recounted.

Cal’s sluggish start along with Washington State’s inspired play gave the Cougars a 18-10 lead early.  But the Bears found some motivation, starting sharing the basketball, scored the next 14 points and rolled to a 76-55 win that kept them undefeated in Pac-12 play at 5-0.

Cal can’t fast forward to March, but what they’ve accomplished in their winning streak can’t be minimized.  The Bears, along with No. 1 Arizona are the only remaining undefeated teams in conference play, in what figures to be a four or five NCAA-bid league.  So if the Bears don’t challenge the Wildcats for the league crown—and they’ll get their initial shot at Arizona on February 1 at Haas—a .500 showing over the final 14 games could be enough to merit a spot in the field of 68.

Not bad for a team that looked at lot more like UC Riverside than “UC us on Sportscenter?” back in December.

Once the early doldrums ended, the Bears showed off their crisp ball movement and one end, and credible defense at the other that have been the hallmarks of the winning streak.  WSU was limited to 27 percent shooting in the second half as the Bears outscored the Cougars 42-22 over the final 20 minutes.  Offensively, the Bears’ nifty passing allowed them to compile 20 assists on their 29 made baskets.

The combination turned a competitive ballgame into a rout in a hurry.  The Bears opened the second half by scoring 20 of the first 24 points, capped by Jordan Mathews’ breakaway layup that put Cal up 54-37 with 11:15 remaining.

The Bears were led by Cobbs with 16 points and seven assists.  Cal also got 13 points from Tyrone Wallace and 12 from Richard Solomon.

The Cougars got 18 points from Que Johnson and 17 from D.J. Shelton.  WSU played without leading scorer DaVonte Lacy for the fourth straight game due to a rib injury.

Up next for Cal is a disjointed trip to Los Angeles for a meeting with UCLA on Wednesday, then back to Berkeley for classes Thursday and Friday before returning to the Southland for a matinee with USC on Sunday.