By Morris Phillips

calbears.com photo: Cal Bears Ivan Rabb looking to dish a pass against the San Diego State Aztecs at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento on Monday night

SACRAMENTO–For those wondering how homegrown Cal star Ivan Rabb goes from 12.5 points, 8.6 rebounds a game as a freshman to living up to the belief that he could be a first-team All-American in his sophomore year, well, that process began Monday in Sacramento.

The results were mixed.

Rabb–the Bears’ unquestioned centerpiece and the first Cal player since Jason Kidd to be honored as such by the Associated Press before a season–missed the team’s first two games while dealing with a sprained toe, pushing back his debut to Monday against San Diego State.  But Rabb and the Bears looked disjointed in a 77-65 loss to the Aztecs.

“Obviously, I was a little rusty,” Rabb said.  “I think I was kind of disinterested at first.  Kind of trying to feel for the game too much instead of going and demanding the ball like I did more in the second half.  It’s not all on coaches, it’s on me. I have to be more aggressive to start the game.”

In the first half, with SDSU flashing double teams at Rabb on the catch, the 6’10” forward struggled, scoring just three points.  The Bears as a group struggled as well with just six made baskets as they fell behind 42-25 at the break.  In the second half with Rabb energized, the sophomore poured in 16 points and the Bears got with eight points on a couple of occasions.  But clearly Coach Cuonzo Martin had issues with his team’s play at the offensive end where the Aztecs benefitted from 16 Cal turnovers juxtaposed against just seven assists on 17 made baskets.

“I thought they did a great job of setting the tone early,” Martin said.  “Taking away our options offensively, getting out in passing lanes, forcing us to make one-on-one plays.  I thought they did a good job of capitalizing on quick shots, of fast shots, shots we didn’t necessarily want in the offense.”

Rabb led the Bears with 19 points, 11 rebounds, and he had an effective, running mate in Charlie Moore with 17 points on the heels of the freshman’s 38-point explosion against UC Irvine.  But Rabb and Moore didn’t get much help, the other seven Bears that saw action shot 6 for 32 and missed 8 of 11 three-point attempts.

Both the Aztecs and Bears were looking to integrate newly, healthy faces into their lineups on Monday on the big stage of the new Sacramento NBA arena, but in the first half, SDSU looked cohesive with those new faces, while the Bears did not.

The Aztecs’ experienced post guy from Sacramento, Malik Pope punctuated his season debut by scoring SDSU’s first six points of the game, and finished with 14 points, five rebounds.  Key reserves, Max Hoetzel and Valentine Izundu were on the floor for parts of the Aztecs’ first half 11-0 run that saw them lead by as many as 19 points before the half.  Both Hoetzel and Izundu missed San Diego State’s most recent game against San Diego Christian with knee and ankle issues respectively.

“Even though his stat line doesn’t look like it, he was huge,” Coach Steve Fisher said of Izundu, who played 18 of the first twenty minutes after starter Zylan Cheatham picked up two fouls.  “He altered shots, he changed shots, he blocked a shot, he rebounded the ball, he pushed and guarded the post, and really was important to that getting and growing the lead in the first half.”

For Cal, while they got Rabb back on the floor, Jabari Bird missed his second straight game with back issues.  Bird played well in 33 minutes in Cal’s opener against South Dakota State, and practiced over the weekend, but didn’t get cleared to play Monday.  Grant Mullins returned after missing the UC Irvine game, but couldn’t find his shot, missing nine of the 11 shots he took on Monday.

In a game that saw Cal rebound the ball decisively after halftime—they were plus 13 for the game in that category—the Bears suffered to take advantage of their mastery of the glass.  San Diego State harassed Cal into 32 percent shooting for the game, and had a hand in their 16 turnovers as well.

Clearly, the Aztecs built on familiarity with Cal that started last year in Las Vegas when SDSU stormed back in the second half and stunned Cal despite trailing by 15.  In fact, a stat line in the Aztecs’ post-game notes said it all: In the second half of last year’s game, and the first half of Monday’s game, SDSU outscored Cal by 39 points.

“The one thing that we’re better at–that hurt us last year—is we’re better with the ball.  We have been more careful, taken more pride in not turning the ball over.  And that wins for you.  We didn’t have a lot of foolish turnovers.  And we competed hard.  So I told our players, ‘Good win.  And an extremely important win.”

Cal was one of four Pac-12 teams to lose Monday–joining Oregon, Washington State and Colorado—as the conference took a step back in terms of building post-season resumes.  The Aztecs took a step forward in that regard after an embarrassing 21-point loss at Gonzaga last week.  After losing to their Mountain West opponent Monday, the Bears will need better showings against key non-conference opponents Seton Hall, Wyoming and Virginia in the coming weeks.

The Bears return to the floor on Friday night at Haas Pavilion against the Cowboys of Wyoming at 8pm.