By Morris Phillips
The Golden Bears now have surprising losses to Division I newcomer UC San Diego in consecutive seasons.
And not only that: only four UCSD players returned from the 80-67 win in the season opener for both teams in Berkeley a year ago, so essentially Cal has fallen to two, different groups of Tritons.
The one constant? 6’3″ junior guard Bryce Pope.
Pope spearheaded the host’s first half surge that saw UCSD lead by as many as 18 points, then hold on for a 64-62 win. Last season, Pope laced Cal with 18 points on four threes. On Tuesday in front of a raucous, sellout crowd in La Jolla, Pope led the Tritons with 19 points including five 3-pointers, and the back breaker with 12 seconds remaining.
Coach Mark Fox didn’t like what he saw from his Bears early, as they dug themselves into a 28-10 hole, and in his opinion, didn’t follow the game plan.
“We did nothing that we wanted to do in the first half defensively,” Fox said.
At halftime, Fox admitted that he eschewed making changes, but simply asked his guys to play with greater attention to the original plan. And they did, cutting a 37-27 halftime deficit to one point twice in the game’s last three minutes. But the Bears never grabbed a lead, and they were sent home with a defeat when Pope connected from distance, increasing UC San Diego’s lead to 64-60 with 12 seconds left.
Devin Askew, who led Cal with 13 points, cut the lead in half with a driving layup, but he couldn’t connect on a desperation runner at the buzzer from 30 feet that would have given Cal the win.
Fox, beginning his fourth season as head coach, saw his record drop to 35-61, and he certainly didn’t come to Berkeley to be a conduit energizing other UC system schools. But that’s where he stands with an 0-5 record against UCLA, 0-2 against UC San Diego and a 2019 win against UC Davis, as well as an eye-opening loss 75-65 to the Aggies in this season’s opener.
His frustration was evident in post-game remarks on the Cal radio network.
“Does the bus have to run over you before you concentrate?” Fox said. “We played with much more purpose in the second half than we did in half number one.”
The Bears missed seven of their first eight shots, and committed eight turnovers in the game’s first eight minutes. Again, they played better approaching halftime, and during frantic, second half rally, but the desired result didn’t materialize.
Starters Lars Thiemann, Kuany Kuany and Grant Newell also scored in double figures for Cal, as that trio had an exemplary 18 of 21 performance from the foul line. But the Bears didn’t fare well defensively on the perimeter and they certainly missed Jalen Celestine, Jarred Hyder and DeJuan Clayton–all out with injuries–in that regard.
The Bears return home for a Friday night meeting with the Southern Jaquars from the SWAC conference in search of their first win.
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