Category: Cal Bears

USF shoots past Cal, 79-60, beats Bears for the first time since 1997

Published on by moepeaLeave a comment

_DSC0813

Photo of USF’s Frankie Ferrari courtesy of Eric Taylor/1st String Sports

By Morris Phillips

BERKELEY — Losses of this magnitude don’t disappear from the consciousness easily. Normal losses linger, and this one was far from normal.

After the Dons’ 79-60 win at Haas Pavilion, the Cal Bears find themselves at the crossroads. At 2-6, they’ve had too many lopsided results, with Wednesday’s loss at home arguably their worst showing. The Dons led for 35 of the 40 minutes, and by as much as 29 before a late rally by the Bears in the game’s final minutes.

Haas Pavilion never warmed up, the crowd never got involved with the 10,000 seat building barely half full. And Coach Wyking Jones looked sullen postgame, claiming his team lacked competitiveness.

“We got beat by a veteran team that wanted it more than us,” Jones recounted. “It’s indicative of 14 offensive rebounds. They had more of a fight and Frankie [Ferrari] is a great point guard and did a great job of running the floor and leading the team. We are young and they are an experienced team and I saw that they [USF] wanted it more. I saw toughness.”

Under Jones, the Bears have lost 30 of their 40 games to date. The loss to USF was Cal’s fourth by double-digits at home to a non-conference opponent. Can Cal–with challenging non-conference opponents San Diego State and Fresno State to come, followed by Pac-12 competition–pull it together?

Of course, but more and more, it appears it will require a complete turn of fortunes. The first step: keeping a team together that’s having difficulties grasping and maintaining confidence.

“When you don’t see the ball go through the rim, the urgency to score builds. We start to panic a bit and that’s when you see silly fouls, not boxing out and losing focus,” Jones said. “We had some good looks that we would normally knock down, it just compounded on the defensive end and guys got more anxious to get a stop.”

Given, the Bears lack of size and physicality, offensive improvement will be easier to attain  than will defensive cohesion. But the Bears assist-to-turnover ratio must improve with the team having 82 turnovers and only 70 assists after 12 of each in Wednesday.

The Bears botched their final possession of the opening half, failing to get off a shot. Prior to that, a pass rolled through freshman Andre Kelly’s legs than out of bounds, another sailed over Justice Sueing’s head and ricocheted off the USF bench.

Meanwhile, USF looked confident, and built on their season start, at 8-1, their best in two decades. Moreover, the Dons showed little jet lag from a weekend in Ireland, where they narrowly suffered their first defeat, 85-81 to No. 21 Buffalo.

“I was curious to see how we were going to come out and start the game, and where our energy was going to be. We were coming back to play against a Pac-12 team,” said Charles Mindlend who paced the Dons with 17 points. “I was really happy with how we played.”

Center Jimbo Lull added 14 points, and sharpshooter Jordan Ratinho added 12 on four of nine shooting from three. The Dons enjoyed a 36-22 advantage with points in the paint.

Cal got 17 from Kelly, and 16 points from Darius McNeill. Last year’s leading scorer Sueing finished with four points. The sophmore forward has missed 44 of 68 shots taken this season.

Top reserve Juhwan Harris-Dyson played just two minutes before a previously diagnosed hand injury flared up.

The Bears welcome San Diego State to Haas Pavilion on Saturday for a 7:30 pm tipoff.

Cal Bears basketball podcast with Morris Phillips and Michael Duca: Cal looks to rebound from St. Mary’s loss, host USF Wednesday night

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

photo from calbears.com: The Cal Bears Justice Sueing (10) drives to the net against the St Mary’s Gales on Saturday night. The Gales snapped their four game losing streak beating Cal.

Join Michael Duca and Morris Phillips on this edition of Sportstalk as they host the Cal Bears basketball podcast. They discuss Cal’s loss to St Mary’s last Saturday night in Moraga ending St Mary’s four game losing streak. Malik Fitts scored 19 points–one of four St. Mary’s double-digit scorers–in the Gaels’ comfortable 83-71 win over Cal. St. Mary’s shot 55 percent before halftime, and led by 15 at the break.

Justice Sueing paced the Bears with 16 points. Matt Bradley had 15, and Paris Austin had 12. The Bears again struggled with ball movement and offensive cohesion with their absurdly low assist total of six jumping off the stat sheet. As the Golden Bears drop a tough one 83-71.

The Bears host the USF Dons Wednesday night at Haas Pavilion for an 8:00PM tip

Cal Bears podcast with Morris Phillips: Surprise for Cal to be bowl eligible as they head to the Cheez-It Bowl

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

photo from azbigmedia.com: The Cal Bears will take on the Horned Frogs from TCU Wednesday December 26th for the Cheez It Bowl at Chase Field in downtown Phoenix

On the Cal Bears football podcast with Morris:

#1 Cal Bears head coach Justin Wilcox call Cal’s invitation to the Cheez-It Bowl a reward for the players.

#2 After losing nine straight Big Games and taking the loss last Saturday to Stanford, the Bears certainly welcome the chance to be in this bowl game.

#3 The Cheez-It Bowl will be on Wednesday, December 26th, which will be played on artificial turf at Chase Field in downtown Phoenix.

#4 Speaking for the school, Wilcox said it was important for the students, faculty, a reward for players what does this do for the university.

#5 Cal (7-5) and the TCU Horned Frogs (6-6) almost have identical records and season. Morris tells us how he sees this matchup.

Morris does the Cal Bears podcasts each Monday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Wrong Exit: St. Mary’s too much for Cal in neighborhood clash, beat the Bears 83-71

Published on by moepeaLeave a comment

By Morris Phillips

MORAGA — St. Mary’s first four-game losing streak since February 2007 essentially ended when the Cal Bears’ charter bus left Berkeley on Saturday and took a full hour to cover the 14 miles between the campuses.

That’s too long to travel, and if the Caldecott Tunnel could speak, the tunnel would confirm that fact. Instead of a timely arrival, the Bears experienced a hasty one, and bad things continued after the opening tip at McKeon Pavilion.

Malik Fitts scored 19 points–one of four St. Mary’s double-digit scorers–in the Gaels’ comfortable 83-71 win over Cal. St. Mary’s shot 55 percent before halftime, and led by 15 at the break.

Both rebuilding programs entered the clash needing a victory with the Gaels’ slide their first in more than a decade. The Bears beat Santa Clara on Monday, but dropped three of four prior to that. But it was apparent early on, Cal’s defense wasn’t going to be good enough to break into the win column.

Tanner Krebs’ 3-pointer with 8:57 remaining increased St. Mary’s lead to 28-18.

“We weren’t communicating enough on defense,” Cal’s Justice Sueing said. “That’s something we have to work on the next couple of days.”

“They came in with a game plan that they’re gonna use their secondary scorers to beat us, and they did a very good job of that,” coach Wyking Jones said.

Initially, Cal struggled to limit the Gaels’ dribble penetration. But that issue compounded when the St. Mary’s 3-point shooters started to get looks. The end result wasn’t pretty: the Gaels shot 60 percent from the field, canned 13 threes, and briefly led by 25 points in the second half.

The 60 percent shooting by their opponent was easily Cal’s worst showing of the season to date.

The West Coast Conference’s leading scorer, Jordan Ford, finished with 16 points and seven assists, off his average of more than 23 points a game. Dan Fotu added 16, and Krebs 11.

Justice Sueing paced the Bears with 16 points. Matt Bradley had 15, and Paris Austin 12. The Bears again struggled with ball movement and offensive cohesion with their absurdly low assist total of six jumping off the stat sheet.

The Bears host the USF Dons on Wednesday night, their third consecutive neighborhood clash, at 8:00 pm.

No O: Bears’ offense missing in ninth consecutive Big Game loss to Stanford, 23-13

Published on by moepeaLeave a comment

By Morris Phillips

BERKELEY — If you’re a California Golden Bear, only one word applies: agonizing.

After eight consecutive Big Game losses to Stanford, the Cal Bears envisioned a new day, a portal in which they could charge through and disconnect the dominance the hated Cardinal had come to possess.

Just one problem: Cal’s offense needed to provide a touchdown (or two) to wrap the whole bundle in a tidy, holiday bow. Instead, they filled Memorial Stadium with missed opportunities.

Three possessions ending in a punt to start the game, two more of those to start the second half, a pair of passes picked off in spectacular fashion by Stanford’s Paulson Adebo, a fumble and a missed field goal. Throughout, the Cal offense teased, but didn’t produce.

A lot of action between the 20’s but no finishes, which added up to six points in a 23-13 loss that felt more lopsided before and after a cosmetic Cal touchdown in the game’s final 30 seconds.

“We had a lot of missed opportunities,” said quarterback Chase Garbers. “It hurts, but we have one more game to play, so we can’t keep ourselves down on this loss. We have to focus on the next game.”

The Bears had to feel confident coming in as the gap between the teams has narrowed. The Cardinal uncharacteristically lost four of five mid-season, while the Bears entered with a stretch of four wins in five games. The Butte County fires provided an extra week of preparation, and the game was now nicely positioned as a regular season-ending home game.

But underlying the whole, comfy setup was the fact that everyone in the Bay Area with a television and access to a local newspaper knew the Cal offense is lacking, beset by defections at the receiver spots, injuries along the offensive line, and inexperience at quarterback. On Saturday, Stanford knew best and proceeded accordingly.

“We needed our defense to pick us up, which they did,” Stanford coach David Shaw said. “We got two red zone stops and forced them to kick two field goals early on. The second half was all about the defense. We got a lot of stops and really stifled their running game. Paulson Adebo made two unbelievable interceptions.”

The 10-0 Stanford lead earned in the game’s first 11 minutes may have been Shaw’s most significant get. Capped by Cameron Scarlett’s 46-yard touchdown dash, the early lead put the pressure squarely on the Bears while allowing the Cardinal to settle into their preferred, conservative offense approach.

For the remaining three quarters, Stanford’s offense played to its strengths, running Bryce Love and throwing the ball to leaping marvel, JJ Arcega-Whiteside. They avoided for the most part running plays in the middle of the field where Cal’s duo of Evan Weaver and Jordan Kunaszyk awaited.

Still, Cal’s defense made plays, and once again single-handedly kept the entire team within striking distance.

But that fell apart, on three consecutive Cal possessions in which Garbers’ deep ball was misthrown and picked in the end zone, Greg Thomas missed a 36-yard that would have cut Stanford’s lead to 13-9, and Adebo picked Garbers again.

That stretch left Cal trailing 23-6 with 2:27 remaining, and their seemingly game-long quest to produce one touchdown, was now a quest to produce two touchdowns and a field goal.

“We know that Stanford is a heck of a program,” Wilcox summarized. “They’ve been winning for a long time and we have a lot of respect for their coaches and the way they play. Each and every week we are trying to improve, and that means winning. At the end of the day, it means winning. That’s what it’s all about.”

Three takeaways from Stanford’s 23-13 win over Cal in the 121st Big Game

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Photo credit: gostanford.com

By: Ana Kieu

The Stanford Cardinal won their ninth straight Big Game at Memorial Stadium against the California Golden Bears on Saturday. With the win, Stanford (8-4, 6-3 Pac-12) not only preserved bragging rights, but also kept the Axe away from Cal (7-5, 4-5 Pac-12). Congratulations to the 2018 Cardinal squad!

Now, let’s take a look at three takeaways from Stanford’s 23-13 win over Cal in the 121st Big Game.

Early bird gets the worm
Okay, the game wasn’t scheduled at 10:00 am or earlier than that, but its kickoff was set for noon, which was close enough.

Anyhow, Stanford jumped out to an early lead on their first two drives of the game to grab a 10-0 lead on running back Cameron Scarlett’s first score and held on against Cal to extend the longest winning streak in the Big Game, which was established in 1892.

The Cardinal took an early lead and never looked back. That’s the way the game should be played, especially against a rival or archrival.

The other PA 
No, we’re referring to the initials of Stanford cornerback Paulson Adebo, who’s a redshirt freshman.

Adebo may not be a household name in the Cardinal’s world. Well, at least not yet. But please keep in mind that Adebo tied the school record with 22 passes defended on the season–in both pass break ups and interceptions.

Vaughn Bryant also held that record with 22 passes defended with 18 pass break ups and four interceptions.

Almost perfect
Stanford kicker and punter Jet Toner has made 14-of-15 field goals this season. Toner currently owns the highest field goal percentage in school history in a single season with .929 and in a career with 34-of-40 and .850.

Toner ain’t perfect, but he’s almost perfect and that’s nearly the same thing, right? When there’s a healthy Toner, there’s likely going to be a higher chance of a Cardinal win in the end.

Stanford beats Cal 23-13 for ninth straight Big Game win

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Photo credit: @StanfordFball

By: Ana Kieu 

BERKELEY, Calif. — After a disappointing postponement due to the poor air quality from the Camp Fire in Butte County, the Stanford Cardinal paid a much-anticipated visit to Memorial Stadium to take on the California Golden Bears in the 121st Big Game on Saturday afternoon.

The Cardinal entered the game with an eight-game win streak in hopes of making it nine in a row. Both Stanford and Cal fans in attendance were fired up, dancing to hit songs such as “Tell Me When To Go” by E-40. The in-stadium DJ picked the perfect rapper to blast as E-40 is a Vallejo, Calif. native and Bay Area sports fan.

The Cardinal also welcomed free agent tight end and Stanford alum Coby Fleener as their honorary captain for the game. Fleener most recently played for the New Orleans Saints from 2016-17 after spending three years with the Indianapolis Colts from 2012-15. Fleener was a second-round pick of the Colts in the 2012 NFL Draft. 

The Cardinal opened the scoring as Jet Toner kicked in a 26-yard field goal to give his team a 3-0 lead with 9:15 left in the first quarter. 

K.J. Costello threw a pass to Cameron Scarlett for a 46-yard passing touchdown and Toner kicked in the extra point. The Cardinal made it a 10-0 game with 4:37 left in the first. 

The Cardinal was up 10-0 at the end of the first. 

The Bears, however, avoided a shutout, thanks to Greg Thomas’ 40-yard field goal. Stanford’s lead was reduced to 10-3 at the 10:14 mark of the second quarter. 

Thomas kicked in a 24-yard field goal to bring the Bears within six, cutting Stanford’s lead to 10-6 with 4:58 left in the second. 

Toner kicked in a 19-yard field goal to expand Stanford’s lead to 13-6 with just one second left in the second. The Cardinal brought a 13-6 lead to the locker room to end the first half. 

The PA announcer announced an attendance of 57,858 in the third quarter. 
The Cal fans made it very loud and clear that Memorial Stadium was Bears territory, but the Cardinal held onto a 13-6 lead at the end of the third. That helped the Cardinal fans feel better about their team. 

And the Cardinal fans had another reason to not fret about the possibility of a Bears comeback in the fourth quarter. Toner kicked in a 21-yard field goal to extend Stanford’s lead to 16-6 with 3:43 left in the fourth. 

As if the confidence level wasn’t already high enough, Stanford added a touchdown just 1:16 later. Scarlett rushed for a 3-yard rushing touchdown and Toner kicked in the extra point to expand Stanford’s lead to 23-6.

Cal took its third and final timeout with 48 seconds left in the fourth. Guess what happened next? Cal scored to pull within 10, cutting Stanford’s lead to 23-13 with 10 seconds left. Chase Garbers threw a pass to Jordan Duncan for an 11-yard passing touchdown and Thomas kicked in the extra point.

The Bears’ down-to-the-wire effort didn’t work today. The Cardinal won 23-13 to extend their Big Game win streak to nine games. 

Cal Bears basketball podcast with Michael Duca: Freshmen Kelly and Bradley get the ball more often in helping Cal beat Santa Clara last Monday

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

photo from sfgate.com: Santa Clara forward Hendrik Jardersten (3) dunks the ball against Cal during the second half of Monday night’s game at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley 

On the Cal Bears basketball podcast with Miguel:

#1 A big welcome to Cal (2-3) freshmen Matt Bradley and Andre Kelly. Can they get better with Bradley and Kelly in the lineup?

#2 In the Bears’ 78-66 victory at Haas Pavilion Monday night, Darius McNeill told Bears head coach Wyking Jones to let him stay in the game. Turns out there was a method to the madness as McNeil was feeding Bradley and Kelly, who helped score some important points. 

#3 It was Bradley’s 13 points of the Bears 15 points in the final 6:33 of the game that pulled them away from the Santa Clara Broncos. 

#4 Jones said that it was the players trust in each other and passing the ball that made a difference in this one.

#5 The Bears’ tipoff against the St. Mary’s Gales (2-5) Saturday night in Moraga with the Gales on a slide. Can the Bears take advantage of the Gales with home court advantage?

Michael Duca does the Cal Bears basketball podcasts each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com 

Balanced Bears good early and dominating late in 78-66 win over Santa Clara

Published on by moepeaLeave a comment

By Morris Phillips

BERKELEY — After an eight-win season, the Cal Bears needed to get better, and they did that, with Coach Wyking Jones welcoming freshmen Matt Bradley and Andre Kelly.

But an influx in talent doesn’t always mesh, and new mouths to feed means old mouths can occasionally go hungry. So with Santa Clara breathing down Cal’s collective necks in the final minutes of Monday’s 78-66 victory for the Bears, Jones witnessed a selfless act from one of his leading, returning scorers, Darius McNeill.

“I told him to check in to the game for Matt, and Matt scored three buckets in a row, and he said, ‘Coach, just keep him in the game.  Just keep him in the game.’ And for me, that’s a step in the right direction as far as him being able to sacrifice his own personal stats, minutes, whatever you want to call it, and say ‘You know what coach, it’s about the team, it’s not about me.’ So that’s what we’ve been preaching, and that’s what culture is all about.”

With Bradley scoring 13 of his team-best 15 points in the final 6:33 of the ballgame, the Bears pulled away, winning for the second time this season. Five Bears finished double figures, led by Bradley and Juhwan Harris-Dyson, who put up his 15 points on seven of eight shooting.

“It comes in those guys trusting each other and having each other’s back,” Jones said. “Just being able to withstand them cutting it to one and still being able to make plays and make a run and get stops when we needed it.”

The Bears played like strangers in Shanghai, losing their season opener in China to Yale by 17 points, and compiling no assists in the first 20 minutes while shooting a frigid 20 percent. After a bounce back win over Hampton, and the cancellation of the Detroit Mercy game due to the Butte County fires, Cal was awful defensively in losses to St. John’s and Temple in Brooklyn. But on Monday, the defense was credible, and the offense had diversity and purpose.

Cal jumped out to a 14-0 lead, holding the Broncos scoreless for nearly eight minutes. Nine steals at the break, and 13 for the game, showed that the Cal defensive intensity was present, as was Santa Clara’s propensity to cough it up. But with Kelly and point guard Paris Austin spearheading the impressive start, and Bradley playing the role of the closer, it mattered little that holdovers McNeill and Justice Sueing missed 10 of their combined 15 shots, while McNeill was limited by foul trouble.

Harris-Dyson came off the bench and shut down Santa Clara’s Tahj Eaddy, while being the beneficiary of some nice setups from his teammates on the offensive end. Dyson hadn’t contributed as much offensively since his February breakout against Stanford with 13 points.

The Bears led by 12 at the half, only to see Santa Clara shoot 56 percent after the break and cut the Cal lead to 53-52 with 7:03 remaining. But the Broncos collapsed at that point, allowing the Bears to get to the rim repeatedly in a 19-6 run that pushed their lead to 14 with 1:33 remaining.

“Cal did a great job of taking us out of what we wanted to do,” said SCU coach Herb Sendek. “But, perhaps no stat was more significant for us than our 22 turnovers.”

Cal (2-3) visits St. Mary’s on Saturday in a rematch of last year’s renewal of the East Bay rivalry at Haas Pavilion. The Bears didn’t fare well in that one, losing to a veteran Gaels team that would be invited to the NIT. This one could be more competitive as both schools welcome a bunch of new faces to the matchup.