By Morris Phillips

As much as the Cal Bears needed it to not be the case, Saturday night’s Pac-12 showdown was undoubtedly all about the Arizona Wildcats.

No. 7 Arizona didn’t play well early, and the meeting between league rivals headed in opposite directions carried some intrigue approaching halftime.  But once the Cats started to look like the Cats, Cal was outclassed as Arizona cruised to a 73-50 victory.

The Bears wanted things to be about them as they were in last season’s big upset of Arizona at Haas Pavilion, but this time Cal offered little other than an inspired defensive effort in the game’s early stages.

Upon closer inspection, what better explained why the game was close early–the last tie score came with 3:23 remaining at 17 apiece—was Arizona’s mistakes and tentative play.  The Wildcats had six turnovers in the game’s first 11 minutes, and nine for the half.  Also, Arizona went more than five minutes scoreless, allowing the Bears to erase an early double-digit deficit.  Granted an opening, the Bears again struggled to make shots.  Cal needed almost 10 minutes to compile three made baskets and finished the opening half with just 19 points.

“It’s easy to say what you’d like to do, but sometimes there is a reality to what we are doing,” Coach Cuonzo Martin said in an attempt to explain his team’s offensive shortcomings.  “Scorers score the ball.  Some guys aren’t built to do it. We will get them better.  We will continue to get them better.”

The box score illustrated how deep Cal’s issue are.  Only four Bears scored, and the other six that saw action took just one shot, Christian Behrens’ point blank miss after an offensive rebound in the first half.  Cal’s bench went scoreless and the team attempted just four free throws while the Cats converted 23 of 26.  Only two Bears, Jordan Mathews and Jabari Bird, are legitimate shooters from distance, and Bird continues to work himself back after an extended absence due to injury.

So from Arizona’s perspective–given Cal’s lack of firepower—the Cats merely needed to weather the early storm, not get rattled or draw upon the experience of last season’s upset in a negative way.  Brandon Ashley, the San Francisco native who was lost for the season in last season’s meeting, said he thought little of the experience during Saturday’s game.  And his teammates may not have played their best games, but their effort was consistent from Coach Sean Miller’s perspective.

“I was excited about our effort level.  We were really a team that gave everything we had,” Miller said.

Cal has dropped eight of nine, and remain in last place in conference play at 1-6 along with USC.  Arizona has won four straight after a two-point loss at surprising Oregon State.  The Wildcats claimed first place in the Pac-12 to themselves with 5-1 Utah idle on Saturday.

The Bears will attempt to regroup at Washington and at Washington State next weekend with the trip to Pullman up first on Thursday night.