By Morris Phillips

Maybe the Cal Bears aren’t worthy of an NCAA bid this season.

It certainly appeared as such in Cal’s 63-59 loss to Utah at Haas Pavilion on Wednesday night.

A tentative defensive effort and 39 percent shooting were the Bears’ biggest flaws in their eighth loss in their last 12 games, but their body language and desire could be questioned as well as the team blew a first half advantage and allowed the Utes to overtake them in the final 10 minutes.

The Bears fell to 18-12, 9-8 with one regular season game remaining at home on Saturday against Colorado.  Utah won its’ 20^th game of a season under Coach Larry Krystowiak for the first time and caught the Bears in a three-way tie for fourth place in the Pac-12 along with Stanford.

“Brandon Taylor hit a bigtime three to give us some leeway and I think we showed some toughness tonight,” Utah’s Delon Wright said of the win.

Taylor’s three with 10:51 remaining gave Utah a 39-36 lead they would not relinquish and then he struck again from distance with 51 seconds remaining with Cal still within striking distance.  Taylor finished with 13 points, Jordan Loveridge added 12 and Wright had 11 for the Utes.

Cal got 19 points and 14 rebounds from Richard Solomon but Justin Cobbs had another tough night offensively finishing with six points and seven rebounds.

In a season where the NCAA bubble is uncharacteristically soft and unpopulated the Bears aren’t finished in regards to the tournament.  But it would be hard to imagine the Bears would make the cut without a win over Colorado and a win in their Pac-12 quarterfinal likely against fellow bubble team Stanford or a rematch with Utah. 

If the Bears survive it will make for an NCAA team unlike any other that Mike Montgomery has ever produced with the late season slide and so many question marks.  But the Bears still have a path but their play and shooting will have to improve dramatically in the final games.  Illustrating vividly Cal’s struggles in a close, winnable game the Utes shot just 29 percent in the second half and survived. 

Cal managed just 13 assists juxtaposed against 13 turnovers on the evening.