Category: Cal Bears

by Morris Phillips and Michael Duca

BERKELEY–For the Cal Bears (8-1) Tyrone Wallace who finished up Wednesday night’s performance against the Wyoming Cowboys (8-2) with 17 points, eight rebounds, and five assists.Wallce is the guy that carries the team. Wallace is a very versatile player. He rebounds, he shoots, he scores, and he can pass. He’s not afraid to take big shots at crucial times during the games. He’s the one who has succeeded in the last nine games for the Bears. He’s developed himself on the team as a coachable guy.

The Bears will get better when point guard Brandon Chauca develops like former Cal Bear Jerome Randell, When Chauca gets established like he did so in the first six games he will . The Bears miss Jabari Bird and he’s Cal’s third best player.

There’s a lot of good confidence with Cal we have to remember the Bears enthusiasm and expectations given that their competing against Arizona whose the second best team in the country competing against UCLA. The Washington Huskies have got off to a hot start their undefeated there’s a lot of tough outs in the Pac 12 and with the Bears at 8-1 you can’t complain about that.

The game on Wednesday was really an ugly game. Part of it was that Wyoming slows the pace. They really know how to run the 30 second clock down as far as they could, before even shooting and both teams play great defense. It’s highly unusual to see two teams shoot below 30 percent and just for the first half somebody gets above one or two teams for the second half.

Rarely you see a half end 16-15 and both teams shoot so poorly, you could credit the defense but rarely two college teams should be more efficient than that. This is not the kind of performance that you want on offense especially at home and your trying to establish a program and get fans to watch these games and have people get excited about the team. That’s why most college teams play fast and try to entertain people without sacrificing and you want to play faster and be more entertaining.

Cal head coach Cuonzo Martin realizes on offense that these players are learning to win basketball games even when things don’t go well. On Wednesday night that was the case of Wyoming and over the weekend in Nevada. The Bears in Nevada trailed in the second half and also when they faced Fresno State in Fresno where they managed to pull it out. These were not Cal’s best performance and remember they don’t have a legitimate point guard. This is something that you can expect Martin to address and he will have to explore and address the issue of a point guard. They are without Bird who is a 20 point scorer.

The Cal Bears face Province (3-7) on Saturday night at Haas Pavilion for a 5:30 PST tip.

Morris Phillips and Michael Duca cover Cal basketball for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

By Morris Phillips

After a big second half comeback Sunday afternoon in Reno, and for the first time since Ben Braun’s final season in 2007, the Cal Bears have opened the season with seven wins in their first eight games.

A sign of big things to come?  Maybe not.  Braun’s Bears lost 15 of their final 25 games in 2007-08 and bowed out quietly in the second round of the NIT.  Braun was let go, star freshman Ryan Anderson decided to turn pro, and Jerome Randle did some serious, but effective, soul searching in order to rebound from a sophomore season in which he shot just 42 percent from the field.

Instead of a predictor of future success, Cal’s 7-1 record may instead be the residue of a carefully, choreographed early schedule that has seen the Bears face a series of mild challenges, all of which with the exception of Texas, have gone their way.

The Wolf Pack have had consistent successes in recent years under coach David Carter, the St. Mary’s (CA) alum, but have fallen on rough times this season without an obvious go-to offensive performer.  So while the Bears struggled through a first half shooting just 25 percent from the field, Nevada never moved beyond shouting distance.

After halftime, Nevada’s offense collapsed and Cal’s Tyrone Wallace took over.

Wallace tallied 26 of his career-best 29 points in the second half and the Bears rallied for a 63-58 win at the Lawlor Events Center.  If Cal’s early schedule hasn’t significantly cleared their murky season outlook which envisions them as a middle-of-the-road Pac-12 team, it has helped them identify an offensive focal point in the emerging Wallace, who did a little of everything on Sunday.

“He made some big threes, got the free throw line, penetrated, made timely passes,” Coach Cuonzo Martin said.  “I thought he played well offensively, got some big rebounds and our team fed off his energy and his ability to pass and make plays.”

“I knew my team needed me to take it to the next level, so I tried to go out there and defend and score,” Wallace said.

The junior from Bakersfield had a stocking-stuffer statistically with eight rebounds, four assists, two steals and a blocked shot.  Meanwhile, the Wolf Pack didn’t have anyone like Wallace, and they suffered because of it.  Nevada, missed 27 of 34 shots from the field after halftime, and did so in a decidedly Cal-friendly manner.  The Wolf Pack missed their first eight shots of the half while Cal surged, and then clanked their final six shots allowing the Bears to hold on.

Cal was also led by senior David Kravish, who contributed 11 points and six rebounds while Jordan Mathews had a tough afternoon, missing seven of his eight shots in a five-point performance.

Nevada center A.J. West was the only member of his team to finish in double figures with 13 points and six rebounds.

No California basketball coach has started his career as successfully as Martin has since Ben Cherington opened 7-0 in 1916.  The lofty start had the new coach saying complimentary things about his players.

“They do a tremendous job of representing California,” Martin said.  “They want to win games, and for us those are great things to go through.  Of course, you’d like to win games by 20 points, but to go through tough things and find a way to win games together, it only helps you grow.”

The Bears next take on a third Mountain West opponent in Wyoming on Wednesday at Haas Pavilion.  The Bears hope to have injured Jabari Bird back for that one while Wyoming is hopeful their star, Larry Nance Jr. will continue to regain his full strength after injury issues to start the season.

by Michael Duca

RENO NV–The Cal Bears (6-1) Jordan Matthews was 0-6 before he got his first two pointers in the Bears last game against the Montana Grizzlies (2-4) in their two point 78-76 win on Wednesday night at Haas Pavilion and Matthews wound up with 13 points. He was having a poor game up until the time he hit a nothing but net shot that tied up the ball game in regulation something he predicted he would do at the half.

Matthews came alive when he needed to and that wasn’t a fun way to spend an evening that was not a well played game by Cal or Montana. The best defense Cal had all night was their free throw defense as the Grizzlies were under 50 percent at the free throw line. Cal guard Tyrone Wallace did well in the first half scoring nine in the first half and all of the second half he made rebounds with 29, 14 from defense and 15 on offense.

Talking with head coach Cunozo Martin, Martin said that the game had no flow for the first 35 minutes, the Bears got walked on when Montana went on a 19 point run to take an eight point lead. It was not a well played game and they got blocked on an in bounds pass. On offense it didn’t take long to go through with their senior David Kravish who finished the ball game with 14 points.

Kravish is one of the best players along side either team he scored 6-14 points in the second overtime which proved critical in the Bears come back. Kravish also chalked up a go ahead basket with under 30 seconds to win the ball game for Cal. Wallace said of the game, “it showed a lot of toughness and heart, we made plays when we had to.”

Matthews got hot in the second half scoring all his 13 points in the of the game, Matthews also converted two three pointers including a three pointer 17 feet out in the corner to tie up the game, “that’s a play we work on in practice everyday, it’s for any situation, it was set up perfectly.” said Matthews. The high scorer for Montana on Wednesday night was Jordan Gregory who had 23 points and 12 rebounds for a his career high and Jermaine Edmonds scored 12.

The Bears gear up to face the Wolf Pack (2-5) in Reno Nevada on Sunday afternoon at 1:00 PM, the Wolf Pack are struggling they have lost five straight and the Bears are coming off a three game win streak. The Bears head to Reno missing their most important guard Jabari Bird whose been averaging 11.7 points per game. Bird is suffering from a foot injury.

Martin was asked what did the x-ray on Bird’s foot showed and Martin replied “a foot” and so I guess were not allowed to know what the exact problem Bird is having with his foot right now. Bird has been sporting a boot and Martin is not sure when Bird will be back in and he’s sorely missed on defense right now. He’s day to day. Cal tips off at 1:00PM on Sunday afternoon in Reno.

Michael Duca does Cal commentary each week and Morris Phillips is your game day Cal beat writer for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

By Morris Phillips

Cal’s opponent looked strangely familiar on Wednesday night.

The attention to detail was apparent.  The baseline out-of-bounds plays were familiar and effective.  And the desire to beat a superiorly talented team on the road was recognizable as well.

Consequently, the Bears had their hands full Wednesday night with Coach Travis DeCuire and his Montana team.  Despite trailing by eight points twice in the second half, the Bears surged late in regulation and got past the Grizzlies, 78-76 in double overtime.

DeCuire served as Mike Montgomery’s associate head coach for the final two of six seasons the pair were in Berkeley.  DeCuire was a compelling recruiter, talented coach and the guy Montgomery campaigned for to replace him when he retired last spring.

But instead of choosing DeCuire, athletic director Sandy Barbour decided to give the post to Tennessee coach Cuonzo Martin.  DeCuire returned to his alma mater where he was the all-time assist leader during his playing career when head coach Wayne Tinkle took the Oregon State job.  In terms of intrigue, the schedule did the rest with only the second ever meeting between the two schools scheduled for Wednesday in Berkeley far before the coaching changes.

DeCuire talked about what was uncomfortable regarding his homecoming, stuff that undoubtedly got pushed to the back burner once the opening tip took place.

“It’s hard to not want guys to do well and you want them to no do well against you,” DeCuire explained.  “So it was very difficult coming in and preparing.  I would’ve rather not played these guys but at the end of the day it’s a game and when the ball goes up in the air you want to win.”

That desire was present in the Bears from the opening tip, but seemed to disappear after halftime.  A game that Cal led by six at the break, got a lot closer in a hurry as the Bears would commit 13 turnovers in the second half and overtime.  Montana opened the half with a 21-7 run and the ballgame would remain tight until its conclusion.  With the Grizzlies picked to finish fifth in 12-team Big Sky Conference, the Bears had to pull it together or suffer a loss that would no doubt affect their potential seeding come March.  According to Martin, it created a teaching moment for the young Bears, who had won five of six coming in with the only loss to No. 5 Texas.

“I love the big situations like this,” Martin said.  “Young men grow character from this.  I always tell the guys, ‘There is power in your path.’  In order to gain something, you have to go through something.  You have to go through something.”

And the Bears did, surviving the turnovers, the nip-and-tuck nature of the game, and the growing pains of freshman guard Brandon Chauca, who was inserted into the game in the first half and quickly displayed what Martin saw in the dimunitive guard during the recruiting process.

By Morris Phillips

In the college game, the least important game on a team’s schedule can gain a great deal of importance if you lose it.  So with Cal spending their Thanksgiving weekend in Fresno and facing the struggling 1-5 Bulldogs, the proceedings seemed breezy, but the tone changed in the final minutes when Cal’s 15-point lead shrunk to five.

Over the final 10 plus minutes against Fresno State the Bears scored just eight points, but their defense never faltered in a 64-57 win that improved Cal’s early season record to 5-1.  The Bears held Fresno State to 36 percent shooting on the afternoon, blocked six shots and maintained a narrow edge (38-33) on the glass.

“It’s a win,” Coach Cuonzo Martin said.  “Anytime you can get a road win, get it and keep moving because I’ve always said the great thing about getting a win, if you don’t think you played great you can always bounce back, watch film and feel good about it.  It’s tough when you lose the game.”

For Fresno, the final minutes were another reminder that that they’ve been limited by the absence of starting point guard Cezar Guererro, who is ineligible to play for the first semester.  In the final three-and-a-half minutes, the Bulldogs missed six of their final seven shots and could never get closer than 60-55– the smallest deficit of the half—which came with just 1:12 remaining.

“As we got to the end in terms of executing, guys taking care of the basketball, we didn’t do so good a job,” Fresno State coach Rodney Terry admitted.  “We didn’t make the right decisions in terms of just taking care of the basketball and putting yourself in position to win the game.”

Cal was led by nearby prep product, Tyrone Wallace, who contributed 21 points and 10 rebounds.  David Kravish added 14 points.

For Fresno, senior guard Marvelle Harris was a one-man game, scoring 27 points and adding five rebounds.

The Bears return to action on Wednesday, when they face Montana at Haas Pavilion.

By Morris Phillips

Gifted a third chance to gain a sixth win, bowl eligibility, and an important exclamation point to a bounce-back season, the Cal Bears came up short, losing to BYU in the final moments of their season finale at Strawberry Canyon.

Like just about everything that has gone on inside the Cal football program over the last three seasons, the result was hard to swallow.  The Bears failed to win any of their final five home games, and in addition, simply didn’t play well against rivals USC and Stanford in their previous two games.  But against BYU, the Bears were in a nip-and-tuck battle, holding seven-point leads in the second and third quarters, only to come up short when Christian Stewart connected with Jordan Leslie for a 38-yard touchdown catch with 2:39 remaining in the game.

Making the result even more painful was Cal’s final drive in which quarterback Jared Goff threw incomplete into the end zone on his final four attempts.  Trying to maximize his opportunity to tie the game and send it into overtime, Goff threw to talented, red zone receiver Kenny Lawler on all four plays.  But BYU proved capable, breaking up all four plays and fighting threw the fatigue of defending Cal on 14 snaps in the final minutes of the game.

“We didn’t have any timeouts left, so they had a good feeling that we had to pass the ball,” Goff said.  “They played good coverage and dropped a lot of people.  I was trying to find a hole in there, trying to throw it up to Kenny and see if he could make a play.”

“At the end of the day, our guys in the secondary made plays,” BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall recounted.  “We dropped eight four straight times.  We got just enough pressure, the secondary held and made critical plays at the right time, and that’s what I’ll remember.

In contrast to BYU’s heroic last stand, the Bears allowed Stewart to throw two fourth quarter touchdowns to basically, wide open receivers to propel the Cougars to a fourth-straight win.

“To come up short is real disappointing,” Stefan McClure said.  “But I couldn’t be more proud of my teammates—just the way they fought every single game.  We fought all the way to the last play.  We went out swinging.”

The Bears finished the season (5-7, 2-5 in the Pac-12) with losses in six of their final seven games after a promising 4-1 start that included wins over Northwestern and Washington State.  But few of the Bears’ successes happened in front of their fans at Memorial Stadium.  Instead, Cal suffered narrow losses to UCLA and BYU at home as well as lopsided performances against Washington (31-7) and Stanford (38-17).   Against BYU, the Bears entertained with 566 yards in total offense, and did so by running 1o1 offensive plays, which should have crippling to the BYU defense.

Instead, the Cal defensive group grew tired, allowing 540 yards and the two critical, fourth quarter touchdowns.

“We were close this year at times to really becoming a good football team, but ultimately just couldn’t,” Coach Sonny Dykes admitted.  “We made too many mistakes to overcome it, and that cost us tonight.  We gave up too many big plays, defensively.  We had a hard time stopping them at the end of the ballgame.  I think it’s pretty obvious what we have to improve.  We’ve certainly got to get better on the back end of our defense.  We know that.  We’ll work very hard to do that with our players.  We’ll address some of those issues with recruiting and just continue to develop the players we have.”

It just now, the Bears will have to do all that beginning with spring practice, as the 12 to 15 additional practices and additional game at the end of this season have evaporated.

by Michael Duca

BERKELEY–The game against the Cal Poly Mustangs was close for quite awhile last Wednesday night but the Cal Bears pulled away and won it 72-52. The Bears started pulling away with 11 minutes left in the game. Until it was a three point game, right when I turned to Jeff Faraudo of Bay Area News Group and said their letting Cal Poly hang around too long they stopped letting them hang around.

It took Cal 30 minutes of play to really solve the way Cal Poly was defending the game running the shot clock down as close to zero as they could. Extending possession making a lot of passes with a lot of ball movement. On defense they were packing it in low.

Cal was kind of filling up the lane and forcing Cal Poly to take shots that they didn’t really want to take at that time and it took them a little while to really solve it but they eventually did. They executed a three guard offense and three guards scored in double figures Jabari Bird (18), Jordan Matthews (17), and Tyrone Wallace (16).

Basically Cal on defense collapsed in the lane making it impossible to drive the lane, you have to move the ball around a lot and find an open shooter. On offense Bird played well, Matthews used his speed to get the transition game going in the last ten minutes of the game. Christian Behrens had a really nice night he had a career high with nine rebounds.

Behrens could stand to put on a few pounds he still is in general in Cal terms a lightweight compared to a lot teams in the Pac 12. That really showed in the Texas game during the 2K Tournament which they lost, Texas had four guys who were 6’11 and were bigger. All of those four weighed at least 250 pounds and they were able to go in and physically dominate Cal.

The one thing that Cal does not have at this point is bulk down in the key as a senior David Kravish looks like he’s missed a couple of meals. The kids all have sufficient stamina to play 40 minutes that’s not an issue but what’s more an issue is just the ability to be a physical presence in the lane. When your 6’10 290 lbs you take up a lot more space in the key.

When your 6’10 220 lbs you get the leverage to spread out your base and have the physical mass just to move people off the block or just from keeping them from getting the position. Cal Poly was a good basketball team that Cal faced on Wednesday night they compete all night long and if you go back to last year they were the NCAA Tournament team and Cal was not an NCAA Tournament team.

Cal now gets set to play at Fresno State on Sunday for a 3:00 PM (PST) tip

Michael Duca does Cal basketball commentary each week on http://www.sportsradioservice.com