By Morris Phillips

BERKELEY, CA–Utah needed to do two things: get their offense cranked up to take advantage of one of the nation’s worst defenses, and play the typically, stingy ball-hawking defense that Larry Krystkowiak-coached teams are known for.

To Krystkowiak’s dismay, the Utah offense kicked in immediately while his defense took its sweet time to show up.

But once both phases were in sync, the host Cal Bears couldn’t keep pace. Instead of igniting their fans, the Bears went quietly, trailing in all but the game’s first four minutes in a 82-64 loss.

“We did a good job defensively in the second half,” Krystkowiak said. “The first half was kind of a shootout and we were expending a lot more energy on offense, but we slowed the game down and got that figured out in the second half.”

The Utes won their fourth straight and remained in a second place tie with USC, two games behind league-leading Washington. The Bears remain winless in conference play, and haven’t captured a Pac-12 contest since February, a streak that’s approaching a year in length.

For the dwindling number of fans supporting the Bears at Haas Pavilion the streaks are even more dire. The 18-point loss marked the 13th time in 52 games under coach Jones that Cal has lost by double-digits at home. And at 5-15, 0-8, with 11 games remaining, the Bears are drawing closer to a second, consecutive 20-loss season, which has never happened previously in the history of the program.

“We all have pride. This doesn’t feel good. We’ll hit the reset button, come back together and figure it out,” Jones said.