By Morris Phillips

Referees are calling fouls at a maddening rate, coaches are feeling powerless in how to reduce all the additional fouling and foul calls, and the California Bears appear poised to take advantage of the situation with their unselfish play.

The Bears’ persistence with their shot selection paid off big time against UC Santa Barbara on Monday as Cal paraded to the line for 38 attempts—making 29—in a fairly comfortable 85-67 win. Afterwards, Gauchos coach Bob Williams expressed his frustration with the numerous foul calls, but not without crediting Cal and their aggressive, offensive play around the hoop.

“It’s tough to play that way,” Williams said when asked about the heavy number of fouls and free throw attempts. “It takes some rhythm out of the game but they’re also good athletes and a half step quicker than us or a full step in some of the match-ups, so they got by us and created fouls. I’m not arguing with the fouls that were called. It’s more we got to learn to play better defense so we’re not fouling.”

Not surprisingly, what drove Williams batty had Cal coach Cuonzo Martin feeling quite satisfied.

“It’s reading and making plays,” Martin said. “At the start of every practice, it’s about penetrate, pitch and understand who is who. You make plays from that. You have to be aggressive, be willing to share the ball, and I think they’re doing great with that.”

In starting 2-0, the No. 15 Cal Bears have looked like a team comprised primarily of big, powerful guards and a trio of significant post players should look. They can pass, penetrate with quickness and force, and when opportunities arise, find their bigger teammates around the basket. Jordan Matthews’ smart look ahead pass on the break to high-flying teammate Jaylen Brown for the dunk was an example of that. Brown’s dunk put Cal up 33-19 with 6:14 remaining before halftime.

But in simpler terms—making the smart pass—Cal succeeds as well. Stephen Domingo flashed across the lane on the dribble with 9:01 remaining and made the no-frills dump off, bounce pass to Ivan Rabb for the dunk and a 73-51 Cal lead. In fact, for long stretches against overmatched UCSB, the Bears appeared to be running offensive drills designed to get point blank shot attempts every time.

The Bears jumped all over the Gauchos early with their defense. UCSB was held scoreless for nearly 5 ½ minutes to start the game, finally breaking through on a layup by Ami Lakoju to make the score 8-2. But once the offensive jitters wore off, the referee’s whistles kicked in. With Cal attacking the basket, and referees instructed to reduce the physicality of the game with a renewed emphasis on hand checking fouls, the Bears took 21 foul attempts in the first half alone.

Eventually, the Gauchos found some success in a switch to a matchup zone that had Cal “settling” for perimeter shots before halftime, according to Martin. But that was short lived. The Bears ended the first half on a 9-0 run to go up 19 at half.

Not surprisingly, Tyrone Wallace was the biggest beneficiary of his team’s aggressive approach. Wallace, who has NBA scouts salivating over his powerful moves in high screen-and-roll situations, finished with a team-best 24 points, four rebounds and six assists.

For the second game in a row, all five Cal starters finished in double figures in scoring with Brown scoring 17, and Matthews 16. Rabb, the super freshman from Oakland, played just 18 minutes due to early foul trouble, but was 10 for 10 from the foul line.

Brown, Cal’s other big addition, supplied the crowd pleasing steal and breakaway dunk in the second half that put Cal up 69-47, marking their largest lead of the evening. Brown admitted he wasn’t happy with his four turnovers, but acquitted himself well with 6 of 10 shooting and seven rebounds.

Michael Bryson led UCSB with 23 points despite missing 10 of his 18 shot attempts. Oakland product John Green contributed 12.

The Bears continue their season-opening homestand on Friday when American Athletic Conference opponent East Carolina invades Haas Pavilion for an 8pm tipoff.