By Morris Phillips

BERKELEY–The faster Cal’s youthful roster progresses the better. Even if some sacrifices have to made along the way. Especially after the team’s poor showing in Maui prompted changes by a coaching staff that was embarrassed, to be frank.

The disjointed pressing defense that bothered Wichita State for a half was scrapped. Senior Kingsley Okoroh was replaced in the starting lineup by promising, shooting guard Juwahn Harris-Dyson. And the offense emphasizing post play was replaced by a small ball attack relying on made jump shots.

On Tuesday, the offense flowed, freshman Darius McNeill provided the shooting, and Cal’s youngest players provided more than half their point total in an easy win over Cal State Northridge, 83-63.

“If Maui doesn’t turn out the way it turned out, me and my staff don’t go to the drawing board and try to figure it out,” coach Wyking Jones said. “The press is about reads, and we weren’t doing a great job making the right reads.”

McNeill made his first seven shots on his way to a game-best 22 points, and Okoroh was productive off the bench with six blocked shots and four rebounds in just 16 minutes. Veterans Marcus Lee and Don Coleman both scored in double figures. So if there are no more stylistic missteps, can the new look Bears score, defend and rebound against the more prominent opponents on the schedule?

“There’s four guys out there who can catch a pass, shoot it and can do good things off the bounce,” Jones explained. “It opened up the floor, gave us better flow — we could switch one through four. Defensively, it just gave us really better flow. I think that as long as my power forward and small forward continue to rebound the ball, this is what we’ll look like for the rest of the season.”

Against Big West opponent Northridge, the answers were there. The Bears led by 18 at the half, briefly by 29 in the second half, and limited the Matadors to 37 percent shooting. Tavrion Dawson, Northridge’s leading scorer and arguably the best player Cal faced in their now-concluded, three-game tour of the Big West, finished with 17 points, but missed nine of his 15 shots from the floor.

The Bears managed to block 11 shots despite the fact that Lee and Okoroh weren’t both in the starting lineup for the first time this season, and didn’t appear together at any point. Cal’s sextet of freshman, three starters and three reserves, scored 43 of the team’s 83 points.

GOOD KNOWLEDGE: As a trivia note, the names Irving and Theus appeared in a box score for the first time since December 1986 when Matadors coach Reggie Theus and Dr. J, Julius Erving faced each other for the final time as NBA adversaries at the temporary Arco Arena in Sacramento. On Tuesday, Reggie Theus Jr. played 19 minutes as a reserve for Northridge, while Jules Erving, Dr. J’s son, made his college debut for Cal, playing the game’s final minute.