By Morris Phillips

Going undefeated for an entire season at home? Beating every conference opponent in the same season? Accomplishing both just weeks after the season hung in the balance?

Yeah, those are big feats the Cal Bears are pursuing this weekend. But Coach Cuonzo Martin would prefer all the dramatic antidotes and nervous anticipation would stay outside the gym and away from his Bears. With Cal riding a six-game win streak and chasing a Pac-12 regular season title, Cuonzo is determined to play it cool.

“I can’t control what they read, because they get information from the TV and their phones and I can’t control that,” Martin said when asked what preparations would be like for Sunday’s home finale against USC. “But my job is to make sure they understand the task at hand. And the most important thing is winning the basketball game and protecting our home court. And whatever happens after that—history is what it is. But we have to make sure we protect our home court.”

Cal was on task Thursday, whipping UCLA 75-63, leading from start to finish in front of a noisy, sold out Haas Pavilion crowd. Only poor free throw shooting kept the Bears from again topping 80 points, and doing so without any significant drop off on the defensive end. The Bruins fell behind 13-1 just minutes in and shot a chilly 33 percent in the opening 20 minutes.

Then Cal finished UCLA with a crisp, offensive show after halftime as the Bears shot 53 percent and scored 42 points to close it out.   Jabari Bird hit five 3-pointers and led Cal with 20 points.

The Bears (20-8, 10-5) moved within a game of first place Oregon with three games remaining. Cal also trails Utah by ½ game with the Utes set to face Arizona on Saturday in a conference showdown. If Cal can win out, and beat Arizona a second time, the Bears would at the very least finish in second place alone if not win the Pac-12 outright.

“It would be historical,” Bird said. “No Cal team has done that here for a long time and it would definitely be big for us to get that done in front of a home crowd.”

For the first time in many seasons, the Bruins and Bears had only Thursday’s meeting to sharpen their claws, as the teams don’t meet this year in Los Angeles. The Bears made their statement to their longtime rivals early on the scoreboard, but also in simply being the more athletic and skilled team, which marked a clear delineation from the schools’ previous histories.

Even Bill Walton, the UCLA great turned broadcaster, gave a rousing speech in the Bears’ locker room before the game.

Sounds crazy, right? Not to Cal’s Brown who credited Walton’s speech for his scorching start Thursday. Brown scored eight of Cal’s first 13 points.

“He gives the best motivational speeches I’ve ever heard,” Brown said. “He just got me so pumped up for this game. I think coming out I scored like eight in a row.”

Brown finished with 16 points, Tyrone Wallace had 14 and Ivan Rabb finished with 10. The Bruins were led by Brice Alford and Tony Parker, both with 15 points.

UCLA (15-13, 6-9) dropped its sixth game in its last nine all but insuring the Bruins will need a flawless regular season finish as well as a deep Pac-12 tournament run to get NCAA tournament consideration.

“There’s still hope,” Coach Steve Alford said.

The Bears have beaten every Pac-12 opponent this season with the exception of USC. The Trojans have dropped four of five, including a 20-point loss at Stanford on Thursday. After the Trojans, the Bears will finish in Arizona, where they will have the opportunity to beat Arizona and Arizona State for the second time and possibly finish 13-5 in conference.