Category: Cal Bears

By Morris Phillips

Knowing it could happen didn’t make it any easier to watch happen over almost all 40 minutes of basketball Wednesday night at Haas Pavilion.

Mike Montgomery warned his Bears that momentum could swing dramatically if they weren’t the most engaged team for the opening tip in their next assignment against Stanford.  But Cal played lethargically early as the national-story Bears from Saturday night morphed into lesser lights around campus in a 80-69 loss to Stanford.

Montgomery’s expressive face filled with hurt laced with befuddlement during the post-game rounds told the whole story:  his guys weren’t jacked from the start for the fourth time in the last five games just days removed from pulling the biggest upset of the season in beating Arizona.

“If you play well, if you play hard you can beat anybody,” Montgomery said.  “If you don’t, you can get beat by anybody.  It’s no more complex than that.  We have breakdowns and those hurt us.”

In fact, the difference between Wednesday’s game and those at UCLA and USC previously was probably no bigger than a matter of minutes.  Cal (15-8, 6-4) played eight quality minutes against the Bruins, maybe 10 or 12 against the Trojans, and only six plus against Stanford—right before halftime, and after they fell behind 38-20 to the Cardinal.

The Bears traded buckets early in the second half but faded late, failing to cut Stanford’s lead to single digits in the final ten minutes.  To be fair, Cal got the absolute most out of what little good basketball they’ve played lately by beating Arizona.  But in a balanced, deep Pac-12 race that won’t cut it, especially when Cal’s problems, according to starting forward Tyrone Wallace, are numerous.

“When we miss layups and they come back down and score, then obviously we’re going to be at a disadvantage,” Wallace said.  “They isolated a lot and we couldn’t really help off the shooters; so it hurts us there.  We just have to play better and people who are capable of making plays have to make plays.”

Against Stanford, what began as uninspired play and an 18-point deficit, then turned into Cal players pressing, probably leading to the missed shots.  The Bears shot 40 percent after halftime, and most of those were from outside the paint.  Once again, the freshman—basically half the rotation—were non-contributors.  Jabari Bird and Jordan Mathews fared worst, combining to shoot 1 for 11.

Meanwhile, Stanford continued their improvement over the last three weeks by challenging Cal in the paint just like they did at Maples, but much more effectively.  The disparity in free throws shot and made bore that out as did the overall shooting percentage, but the physicality of the visitors really hit home with Montgomery.

“We didn’t handle that very well.  As a result we got ourselves in a huge hole,” he said.

Dwight Powell paced Stanford (15-7, 6-4) with 22 points, six assists giving the Cardinal a little bit more half court creativity than in the first meeting.  Chasson Randle added 19, and Anthony Brown had 16.  Randle skillfully announced the night as Stanford’s with a pretty lay-in around Richard Solomon that put Stanford up 56-47 with 11:20 remaining.

Justin Cobbs had 24 for Cal and Wallace added 21.  Solomon missed his first six shots after making his first six against Arizona.  The Bears also missed nine of their 21 free throw attempts.

Ricky Kreklow returned after an 11-game absence to heal his broken hand and played nine minutes without scoring.

Cal fell to 11-2 at Haas Pavilion with both losses coming on this completed 3-game home stand.

Cal has a week off before traveling to Pullman to meet Washington State, then on to Washington on that Saturday.

by Morris Phillips and Michael Duca
Cal basketball commentary special to Sports Radio Service

BERKELEY–Boy howdy, what a difference a few days and games make for the Cal Golden Bears and for Justin Cobbs last Saturday night in that unforgettable buzzer beater with 0.9 second left to tip the undefeated Arizona Wildcats really put this team futher out on the map. A criple layup on a steal against Arizona State and missed the final shot that would have won the game in regulation for Cobbs.

For Cobbs to come back and get redemption against the the number one team in the nation the Bears have to feel extrremely good and in fact I know it did because we talked with Cobbs exclusively after that game. It wasn’t just that final shot, he was the only Cal Bear to score in the final 11:30 of that game.

Arizona who could have dominated or took a lead for most of this game could and was expected to be the winner of this match but they lead for only 16 seconds in the first half and for about 48 seconds in the second half. It always felt like this was Cal’s game. The question was whether or not they were going to hang on because what I expected was that game was going to be a parade to the foul line.

Arizona had all 16 of their free throws and they beat Stanford the other night by getting to the free throw line over and over again. This is what was concerning was whether they were going to win the game while the clock was running because Arizona wasn’t going to win the game when the clock was stopped.

Cal didn’t have a particularily have a great game against the Wildcats, they had to know there was a lot of speed on the court and the Bears didn’t react to it until the second half and they had a spectacular game plan against Arizona. They were able to compete with them somewhat on the floor, and they were unfortunate in that the Wildcats had a miserable shooting night.

At one point the Wildcats were shooting 26% in the first half which about the only way you could survive when you give a team 11 offensive rebounds in one half. Cal on their behalf was shooting 50% and everything was falling the way it needed to but it was particularily intriging by the way Cal head coach Mike Montgomery had three freshman out on the floor just eight minutes into the game.

Montgomery pointed out given that Arizona State’s seven foot center hit a basket low post and he had to have a guy who looks like someone that will be able to guard him, it’s when the big men start moving around and are fluid on the floor that looked like the defender had problems keeping up with him because he was really quick. You have to credit Montgomery for his scouting, for seeing where Cal could exploit certain weaknesses that Arizona had and for going out and doing it and executing it perfectly.

Morris Phillips and Michael Duca do Cal basketball commentary each week for Sportstalk Radio

By Morris Phillips

After Justin Cobbs scored Cal’s final 12 points including a step back jumper with less than a second remaining, and before a sellout crowd could celebrate the biggest win by the Bears in the history of Haas Pavilion, an assist was needed from someone who had been here before.

Up stepped 66-year old Coach Mike Montgomery initially to emphatically usher the onrushing crowd off the floor with time still remaining in the game.  Cobbs’ big shot set off a stampede and had his teammates dancing on the court, but only a timeout on the floor prevented the crowd and the Cal players that had been sitting on the bench from picking up a crushing technical foul for delay of game.

Then Montgomery turned his attention to defending the Wildcats and keeping the No.1 team in the nation from orchestrating a miracle, last second shot.  So hyped up was Cal’s huddle that at the conclusion of the timeout it was obvious that the Cal players weren’t sure what defense they needed to be in.

So Montgomery simply called a second timeout.  Afterwards, he comically described the scene as “chaos with the team manager trying to draw up a play.  I felt like I should say, ‘Hey, I’ve got some experience, it just might take a little longer than it used to for me to draw something up.’”

With Cal ready for back screens and a player under the basket to defend the hoop in case any of the screens worked, the Bears saw the Wildcats throw an errant pass ending the game without Arizona attempting a shot.

After three straight losses, just as many lethargic starts and whole lot of soul searching, the Bears bounced back with a 60-58 win over No.1 Arizona.  The Bears couldn’t beat last place USC, but under the bright lights focused on the nation’s top-ranked team, they pulled off the upset of the college basketball season and gave their own NCAA hopes a tremendous boost.

Admittedly, the Bears caught Arizona on their worst night.  Two minutes in, Wildcats’ forward Brandon Ashley appeared to break his foot while trying to grab a rebound.  Arizona’s stellar starting five had propelled the Wildcats to 21 straight wins without a loss, and almost immediately one of those five pieces was missing.

Then leading scorer Nick Johnson starting missing shots.  The velvet-smooth Johnson came in averaging 17 points a game, but missed 13 of his 14 shots and finished with more turnovers (5) than points (4).  Arizona would go on to shoot a season-worst 32 percent.  And with the game on the line, Coach Sean Miller’s squad didn’t have their usual dossier of answers.

“We’d always found a way to be on the positive end of it,” Miller said.  “Tonight in that same moment, we didn’t make the shots and we didn’t get the big stop.”

With 2:12 remaining, Cal forward David Kravish came up with the big block from behind on Arizona center Kaleb Tarczewksi who was poised to dunk.  Right before that freshman Jabari Bird committed a turnover when he could have called a timeout or conceded a jump ball with the possession arrow in Cal’s favor.  T.J. McConnell raced off with the steal and gave Arizona its’ final lead, 58-56.

The Wildcats would then go the final 2:47 without scoring again.

After McConnell’s bucket, Cobbs would get Cal even with a pair of made free throws.  Then Cal would miss it next three shots before Cobbs hit the tough shot in the final second.

“He really got off his feet on the last shot and rose up. It looked good the whole time,” Montgomery said.

Cal couldn’t have been sure where they were headed coming in.  Six straight wins, then three consecutive, frustrating losses had the team riding a rollercoaster.  But Montgomery knew his team just needed a win, so he and his staff begin dissecting Arizona.  Despite the 21 straight wins and the Wildcats’ unflappable nature, Montgomery felt some hope.

“They haven’t been blowing people out.  They’ve made plays when they had to,” Montgomery explained calmly, probably just as he did in pre-game meetings with his team.

Montgomery went on to say that 80 percent of the baskets scored by Johnson, Tarczewski and super freshman Aaron Gordon—UA’s top three scorers—came in the paint.  So Cal devised a way to set up a wall inside to keep the three from getting to their comfort zones.

Then Cal vowed to start faster, show some passion from the start and not let the Wildcats break out early.  Richard Solomon definitely got the message: the 6’11” center made his first six shots, the last which gave Cal its biggest lead, 28-19, just 15 minutes in.

Cobbs led Cal with 19 points and seven assists.  Kravish added 14 points and 11 rebounds and Solomon had 12 points.

Tarczewski led Arizona with a career-best 18 points.

Experience means a little something, right?  Montgomery beat the No.1 ranked team for the fifth time in his career on Saturday night, his first with California after pulling off the feat four times while coaching Stanford.

The Bears start the second half of conference play on Wednesday at Haas Pavilion when Stanford visits.

by Michael Duca and Morris Phillips

BERKELEY–Are the Cal Bears the team that lost two games in a row in Los Angeles over the weekend and kind of fell out of the picture? Yes they are. They are both, they are and so much more, the loss to UCLA was no surprise. UCLA has an exremely good under performing team this year and on their home court, the last time Cal beat them on their home court it was very long ago.

USC was explicable and inexcusable, it was a team that has not won a single game in conference all year and went out and demonstrated yet again later in the weekend folding against Stanford. You might lose a game against a team like that and they explode and catch fire 73% for the night but SC didn’t do that all they did was go out and jump off to an early lead and held it all night.

You can not allow something like that to happen if your a strong contending team for a conference championship, the Pac 12 is among the strongest basketball conferences in the nation this year they will get at least six teams in the tournament and unless something drastic happens in the second half of the sesaon Cal is probably going to be second or third Pac 12 team.

That’s impressive because they obviously came into the season picked sixth or seven behind Stanford, Arizona State, and the one surge with the win streak allowed them to kind of put themselves on the map. What can be expected, is Jabari Bird going to be a factor? Can Richard Solomon continue to produce? Will the Bears rely too much on Justin Cobbs?

Bird will be a minor factor, we knew that all along, anybody who listened to Cal head coach Mike Montgomery he told everybody before the first tip off in the first practice Bird will play but he’s not going to be as big and effective as everybody wants him to be. He is the local kid that everybody has heard about.

That’s not how things work in Montyland, freshman don’t get to play a huge role, they get to play A role, and they get to become comfortable at the faster pace of the NCAA game in front of the hostile crowds that they never really faced in high school. How many hostile crowds did Jabari face in high school going around in the Bay Area?

Seriously, so Montgomery knows what he’s doing and Montgomery is the reason that Cal was picked sixth or seventh than second in the conference because everybody looked at players and nobody looked at the coaches which is why their ahead of Stanford or Arizona State who they were picked to be behind. It’s always impressive because obviously Montgomery is not the only wonderful coach in the Pac 12 currently it’s a conference full of great coaches.

Michael Duca and Morris Phillips do Cal Bears basketball commentary each week for Sportstalk radio

By Morris Phillips

If you’re trying to figure out where the Cal Bears are ultimately headed in 2014, you didn’t get many clues on Wednesday night.

The Pac-12 co-leaders that had appeared locked in over the last three weeks just looked distracted in losing to last place USC, 77-69.  The Trojans had lost all five conference games before leading the Bears at the Galen Center from start to finish.

“We stunk,” Coach Mike Montgomery admitted. “For whatever reason, we can focus all the time.  We can’t mentally focus on what it takes in this league.”

USC did most of their damage inside the paint where freshman forward Nikola Jovanovic scored a career-best 23 points and 7’2” Omar Oraby contributed nine points and seven rebounds.  The Trojans’ inside duo combined to shoot 12 of 15 as USC enjoyed a 44-26 edge in points in the paint.  USC also controlled the glass with a 37-33 advantage, and stopped David Kravish and Richard Solomon, who came in averaging a combined 33 points, but managed only 19 against USC.

“I hope that wasn’t reflective of how good a team we are because that wasn’t very good tonight,” Montgomery said.

The loss took the anticipation away from Cal’s meeting with UCLA on Sunday, a game that had the Cal win streak continued, could have vaulted the team into the Top 25 nationally.  While the Bears remain one of only two teams with less than two losses in Pac-12 play, their fifth loss overall drops them behind four-loss UCLA, Colorado, Utah and Oregon in the pecking order for NCAA tournament consideration.

The Trojans shot 56 percent in the first half and led by nine at the break.  But Cal couldn’t get any closer than seven—on two occasions—in the second half.  The Bears’ bench that had been so effective in the win streak wasn’t on Wednesday.  The six Bears that saw action off the bench played a combined 31 minutes but scored just five points.

Justin Cobbs led Cal with 22 points and Jordan Mathews added 18 points, but missed nine of his 14 shots from the field.  Freshman Jabari Bird continued to work his way back into shape following an ankle injury that cost him several games.  Bird was 0 for 3 and went scoreless in 11 minutes of action.

by Michael Duca

BERKELEY–The Cal Golden Bears are the avis of the Pac 12 their number two and their right behind Arizona and Arizona is only ahead of them because they played one more game which they won that game. Cal is undefeated in the conference and their off to their best start since 2007. They didn’t get off to a great start against Washington State they were trailing early and as head coach Mike Montgomery said “if were not ready to play we can’t play well against anybody.”

They snapped out of it late in the first half and went on a huge run 23-4 and they really put that game in the cooler, this is a team that can do that, they defend on the rebound. If you look at the box score and look at the distribution of the rebounds Cal’s Richard Solomon is going to get ten or 11 a game and David Kravish is probably going to get six or seven or maybe even eight or approach double figures on occasion as the other low post.

Cal’s Tyrone Wallace is averaging somewhere in the neighborhood of six rebounds a game Justin Cobbs gets more than his fair share of rebounds. Everybody is taught by Montgomery to look for the ball, everybody can help rebound you can position yourself and watch how other teams shoot the shoot around and see where the ball tends to come off the iron when they miss.

As you practice as you play, everybody on the floor is aware of the fact that they have a duty to throw themselves on the floor and scrap for the rebound because that’s how you complete a defensive stop if the team shoots misses you got half of a defensive stop the other half is to get the ball.

The Bears have one big test coming up this week, they should be able to handle USC, but UCLA (14-4) kind of annointed themselves as the best team in the conference. If not the best team to compete with Arizona for the top spot and they had their hats handed to them pretty well by Utah. That was a signature win for the Utah program that was completely down in the dumps two years ago.

To beat UCLA is a great win for Utah and a very serious loss for UCLA one that knocked them out of the top 25. You know that the Bruins are going to be pardon the expression loaded for bear this week in games against Stanford and Cal. Their looking to redeem themselves and to get back into the thick of it. So that game at Pauley Pavilion is going to be is going to be a supreme test for the Bears.

This game will be a toss up and it’s no telling who is the hands down winner when Cal gets to UCLA but there is no better X’s and O’s coach than Montgomery. If there are weaknesses on UCLA that can be exploited he’s going to tell his kids what they are and how they going to do it. If they execute this plan that is another thing entirely, but their going to know how to do it.

Michael Duca does commentary on Cal basketball each week for Sportstalk radio

By Morris Phillips

Now that the Cal Bears have established themselves as a pretty good club and a real contender in the Pac-12 race with a well-timed win streak, they appear focused on the finer points.

Against the visiting Washington Huskies, defense was at the top of their improvement list and it appeared to be razor sharp.

Cal throttled Washington, 82-56, to move into a first place tie atop the Pac-12 with No. 1 Arizona, holding the Huskies to 24 percent shooting and 17 points in the first half.  Offensively, the Bears place five guys in double figures, shooting 55 percent from the field, and 60 percent from three.

“Defensively, they did a really good job,” Coach Mike Montgomery said.  “Justin (Cobbs) was really good on (Washington’s C.J.) Wilcox.  Wilcox ended up with 18, but a lot of that stuff was late.  He did a terrific job.  I think our big guys are causing some people problems inside.  They beat us at point of attack but both Richard (Solomon) and David (Kravish) are in there.”

The Bears have won five straight and seven of eight, the perfect response to what was a pretty blah December in regards to the team’s NCAA tournament prospects.  Helping the push are outside developments like the season-ending injury to Colorado star Spencer Dinwiddie and Arkansas’ big upset of Kentucky on Tuesday.  The Bears beat Arkansas earlier in Hawaii and that win takes on a bit of extra significance as the Razorbacks continue to play well.

The Bears fell behind 8-2 on Wednesday, but things fell into place quickly at that point.  UW went ice cold and Cal finished the first half on a 28-9 run.  Another run to begin the second half boosted Cal’s lead to 21 after reserve Jeff Powers hit a three, was fouled, and completed the rare, four-point play at the free throw line.

“Their size bothered us as much as anyone we have played in a long time,” UW Coach Lorenzo Romar said.  “These guys were on the offensive glass, they blocked shots (and) they really made it tough for us to score.”

Washington came in off wins in five of their last six games, including an upset of ranked Colorado.  Their defense figured to give Cal problems just as Creighton did in Omaha with their zone bunched into the lane forcing the Bears to shoot jump shots.  But Cal shredded the strategy with their quality shooting from distance and hot run in the first half in which they outscored UW 20-3.

Cal now faces Washington State on Saturday at 1pm at Haas Pavilion with an opportunity to improve to 5-0.  On the horizon for the Bears are a trip to Pauley Pavilion to see UCLA on January 26 and a home game against the top-ranked Wildcats on February 1.