California’s Darius McNeill, right, drives the ball against Cal State Northridge guard Jonathan Brown (14) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2017, in Berkeley, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
By Morris Phillips
BERKELEY–The faster Cal’s youthful roster progresses the better. Even if some sacrifices have to made along the way. Especially after the team’s poor showing in Maui prompted changes by a coaching staff that was embarrassed, to be frank.
The disjointed pressing defense that bothered Wichita State for a half was scrapped. Senior Kingsley Okoroh was replaced in the starting lineup by promising, shooting guard Juwahn Harris-Dyson. And the offense emphasizing post play was replaced by a small ball attack relying on made jump shots.
On Tuesday, the offense flowed, freshman Darius McNeill provided the shooting, and Cal’s youngest players provided more than half their point total in an easy win over Cal State Northridge, 83-63.
“If Maui doesn’t turn out the way it turned out, me and my staff don’t go to the drawing board and try to figure it out,” coach Wyking Jones said. “The press is about reads, and we weren’t doing a great job making the right reads.”
McNeill made his first seven shots on his way to a game-best 22 points, and Okoroh was productive off the bench with six blocked shots and four rebounds in just 16 minutes. Veterans Marcus Lee and Don Coleman both scored in double figures. So if there are no more stylistic missteps, can the new look Bears score, defend and rebound against the more prominent opponents on the schedule?
“There’s four guys out there who can catch a pass, shoot it and can do good things off the bounce,” Jones explained. “It opened up the floor, gave us better flow — we could switch one through four. Defensively, it just gave us really better flow. I think that as long as my power forward and small forward continue to rebound the ball, this is what we’ll look like for the rest of the season.”
Against Big West opponent Northridge, the answers were there. The Bears led by 18 at the half, briefly by 29 in the second half, and limited the Matadors to 37 percent shooting. Tavrion Dawson, Northridge’s leading scorer and arguably the best player Cal faced in their now-concluded, three-game tour of the Big West, finished with 17 points, but missed nine of his 15 shots from the floor.
The Bears managed to block 11 shots despite the fact that Lee and Okoroh weren’t both in the starting lineup for the first time this season, and didn’t appear together at any point. Cal’s sextet of freshman, three starters and three reserves, scored 43 of the team’s 83 points.
GOOD KNOWLEDGE: As a trivia note, the names Irving and Theus appeared in a box score for the first time since December 1986 when Matadors coach Reggie Theus and Dr. J, Julius Erving faced each other for the final time as NBA adversaries at the temporary Arco Arena in Sacramento. On Tuesday, Reggie Theus Jr. played 19 minutes as a reserve for Northridge, while Jules Erving, Dr. J’s son, made his college debut for Cal, playing the game’s final minute.
California Golden Bears head coach Justin Wilcox with half smile during the NCAA Football 2017 California Bears vs UCLA Bruins at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Ca. on November 24, 2017 (Absolute Complete Photographer & Company Credit: Jevone Moore / Cal Sport Media / Cal Sport Media (Network Television please contact your Sales Representative for Television usage. (Cal Sport Media via AP Images)
On the Cal Bears football podcast with Morris:
1 For Cal to lose their last game of the season in the last eight seconds to UCLA by a field goal Bruins kicker JT Molson hit a 37 yarder that clinched it and the loss now leave the Bears one game short of for bowl eligibility
2 It was the last game of the regular season for Cal and that was a tough way to end it. First the week before they lost the Big Game to the Stanford Cardinal by three points and then last Saturday they had the lead towards the end of the game only to lose in the closing second it was a tough walk off the field after a game like that.
3 Cal Head coach Justin Wilcox says that in the off season he wants to regroup with the coaches and get a game plan ready to see if they could better execute for 2018
4 On many of Cal’s offensive plays they couldn’t finish the drives to get into the end zone
Morris covered Cal football for 2017 and covers Cal Men’s basketball and does the podcast each Monday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
California wide receiver Jordan Veasy, top, makes a touchdown catch as UCLA defensive back Darnay Holmes defends during the second half of an NCAA college football game, Friday, Nov. 24, 2017, in Los Angeles. UCLA won 30-27. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
By Morris Phillips
There’s no tougher way to lose a ballgame. Trailing all night, the Cal Bears got even with UCLA briefly in the third quarter, and then again with 2:20 remaining. But the Bruins put together one last drive against Cal’s depleted defense, resulting in J.J. Molson’s 37-yard, game-winning field goal with eight seconds remaining.
Game over and season over for the Bears. The heart breaking 30-27 decision left the Bears (5-7, 2-7) a game short of bowl eligibility. In a season in which the Bears were tabbed to fare much worse, they surprised and came just short of gaining far more.
“It really hurts among the team, especially the guys who walked off the field in their last football game,” Coach Justin Wilcox said. “There’s not a lot you can say that makes them feel a lot better. I talked to them about how much we appreciate them for everything that they’ve done. I’ve got to do a better job of helping us moving forward. All of our coaches and support staff do. Our guys came to compete every week. We just didn’t play good enough football today in a lot of ways to win the game.”
On Friday night at the cavernous Rose Bowl, Cal’s penalties and their inability to finish drives with touchdowns stood out. But so did the physical nature of their defense and Patrick Laird running the football. Laird finished with 178 yards rushing on 32 carries, and helped the Bears overcome a 27-17, fourth quarter deficit with his powerful running.
But in the end, the Bears couldn’t come up with a couple more plays, or overcome their mistakes.
“We were moving the ball well at times; we just didn’t capitalize in the red zone,” Wilcox said. “I wish it was one thing. Penalties definitely showed up, third-down conversions. We were settling for field goals. It’s hard in this conference to win games making field goals all day.”
The Chaminade Silverswords, the giant killers from Honolulu, were at it again. The Division II powerhouse took advantage of their esteemed position as host school of the Maui Invitational and bagged another one, this time blowing past Cal, 96-72, in the tourney’s seventh-place game.
But unlike upsets over Texas, Oklahoma, Stanford or the big one over Ralph Sampson and No. 1 Virginia in 1982, Chaminade couldn’t claim all the credit this time. That’s because Cal was listless from the start, falling behind 10-0 which drew the ire of first-year coach Wyking Jones.
“For me, in all the years that I’ve been coaching, I’ve never been so embarrassed in my life by the lack of effort from our guys,” Jones said. “So for me, it’s about going back to the drawing board, myself and my staff, and figuring out what changes we need to make because there definitely needs to be some changes.”
Chaminade shot 56 percent from the field for the game and made 14 three-pointers. They grew more accurate after halftime, shooting 67 percent, and briefly increasing their lead to 30. The Silverswords lost to Notre Dame by 27, and Michigan by 38 earlier in the tournament, but registered the first-ever win over a Division I opponent by as many as 24 points against Cal.
“How about those Silverswords, huh?” Coach Eric Roivard gushed. “Incredible performance. We got our butts kicked the last two days. Notre Dame just beat us. And for these guys to just bounce back, get up at 6:00a in the morning, get a little bit of breakfast, watch film of a Cal team that we’ve never seen live before, and to follow the gameplan and to execute what we were trying to do, I give these guys all the credit.”
AP File photo: Wyking Jones fields questions during a NCAA college basketball press conference to announce his new appointment as California men’s basketball coach in Berkeley, Calif. Jones faces a daunting task in his first season coaching California guiding an inexperienced roster that lost its star power.(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)
By Morris Phillips
The Chaminade Silverswords get a healthy 96-72 win past the Cal Bears to conclude the Maui invitational. The Bears who were swept in three games the first on Monday night by the Wichita State Shockers 92-82 and on Tuesday by the VCU Rams 83-69 and then there was Wednesday night 96-72 and it was a game where nothing was going right in the words of Cal head coach Wyking Jones.
The shots were falling for the Silverswords but the Bears just couldn’t find a way to shut down their offense as they were slow on defense and hit only five shots out of 13 from three pointland and the Bears Justice Sueing was the team leader in offense with 23 points, “”In all the years that I’ve been coaching, I’ve never been so embarrassed in my life from the lack of effort from our guys,” Cal first-year coach Wyking Jones told the AP. ”For me, it’s about going back to the drawing board, myself and my staff, and figuring out what changes we need to make because there definitely needs to be some changes.”
Virginia Commonwealth guard Jonathan Williams (10) dribbles through the California defense during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game, Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017, in Lahaina, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)
By Morris Phillips
In day two of the Maui Invitational, the Cal Bears were undoubtedly headed down one of two distinctly opposite paths. Either as the pressuring force that put Wichita State on their heels for 25 minutes on Monday, or the group that wilted in the final 15 minutes when the Shockers turned to a trapping defense.
Seven minutes into their consolation bracket matchup with VCU, that path was clear. The Bears had already coughed up seven turnovers, scored just six points, and trailed by 17. The youthful Bears were on the ropes, unable to cope with the same pressure that they hoped to unleash themselves.
“We don’t have the kind of experience or depth where we can start off slow and then make a run late,” coach Wyking Jones said of Cal’s early hole that lead to an 83-69 loss. “And so, that kind of was our demise today.”
Both teams came to Maui with youthful rosters and a whole lot to prove. But only VCU made a statement, forcing 18 Cal turnovers that lead to 29 fast break points.
“Right off the bat, I thought our guys were really locked into the game plan on the defensive end,” VCU coach Mike Rhoades said Tuesday of his Rams’ fast start that resulted in their 26-point halftime lead. “And our biggest thing is we’re just, we’re still young, we’re still inexperienced. The more we play, the better we’re going to get.”
De’Riante Jenkins paced VCU with 27 points, 11 rebounds and three other Rams contributed nine points each. The Rams shot 50 percent from the field and made 12 three-pointers.
Cal received 21 points from Don Coleman, and 11 points, 10 rebounds from Marcus Lee. The Bears shot 46 percent in the second half to cut VCU’s big lead, but only 43 percent for the game, and they missed 11 of their 15 three-point attempts.
Cal will face Chaminade in Wednesday’s seventh-place game.
Wichita State center Shaquille Morris, right, blocks a shot from California guard Darius McNeill, left, during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game, Monday, Nov. 20, 2017, in Lahaina, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)
By Morris Phillips
Without doubt, the Cal Bears saw the skill and fury of No. 6 Wichita State on Monday in Maui, but not until the unranked Bears shredded the Shockers’ defense and built an 18-point lead with 16 minutes remaining.
What transpired in the final minutes was all Wichita State–primarily their depth inside–enough to eviscerate Cal’s big lead and craft a double-digit win for the Shockers, 92-82. In the process of the topsy-turvy affair however, the Bears may have developed an identity, one they hope will carry them further than the bottom-feeder expectations they were labeled with in the pre-season.
“Ultimately experience won out today,” Coach Wyking Jones said of what derailed his Bears in the final minutes. “But the guys definitely gave us everything that they had. At the end of the day, what I’ve been preaching the whole time is that hopefully we get better game in and game out. So I felt like we got better today.”
Don Coleman scored 26 of his 35 points in Cal’s full court pressure-fueled first half. But as soon as Cal extended their nine-point halftime lead to 58-40 with 15:32 remaining, WSU responded with a trapping defense of their own that changed the tide. Wichita State’s 10-0 run got them within seven, and then an 8-0 run capped by Samajae Haynes-Jones jumper tied the score at 76 with 5:19 remaining.
Burly senior Shaquille Morris scored six of his team-best 25 points in the ensuing three minutes as the Shockers seized controlled, buoyed by foul trouble that enveloped both Cal posts, Kingsley Okoroh and Marcus Lee. Both Okoroh and Lee would foul out, combining for just four points and nine rebounds in 32 combined minutes.
Landry Shamet energized WSU with 23 points in 24 minutes on the floor. Frontcourt reserve Rauno Nurger chipped in 11 points, six rebounds as the Shockers only other double-figure scorer. Shamet and Nurger combined to shoot 13 of 16 from the floor.
Cal got 20 points from Justice Sueing and 16 from Darius McNeill. Cal’s two freshman starters helped initially in repelling WSU’s run, combining for 15 of their 36 points after Cal achieved their biggest lead, but neither scored a basket in the game’s final four minutes.
“I don’t know if you guys know it or not, but (Sueing) was out for six weeks with a stress fracture,” Jones said. “He was out so long my staff and I kind of forgot what he really did for us or provided for us. So we’re all kind of seeing it like you all are seeing what he was able to bring to the table, night in and night out. He plays with a lot of poise and a lot of confidence.”
The Bears will face Virginia Commonwealth in the consolation bracket on Tuesday. VCU fell to Marquette, 94-82 in the tournament opener. Malik Crowfield hit five three-pointers and paced the Rams with 17 points.
Wichita State will face Marquette in the semifinals. Coach Gregg Marshall didn’t like what his team showed early against Cal, but Marshall’s bench didn’t disappoint, outscoring Cal’s reserves 30-7. The Bears got just two baskets from their six players that got time off the bench as the Bears wilted visibly late.
“I was disappointed in the way we played in the first half. Give Cal credit. Their zone was interesting and made it hard for us. We looked like the Bad News Bears for the most part. But the things that made this program pretty good over the years has been our grit and determination, and we certainly showed that in the second half.”
California Golden Bears running back Patrick Laird (28) challenges the Stanford defense, during a NCAA Football game between the California Golden Bears and the Stanford Cardinal at the Stanford Stadium in Stanford, California. Valerie Shoaps/CSM (Cal Sport Media via AP Images)
Cal Bears Football podcast with Morris:
1 Cal ‘s loss to the Stanford Cardinal 17-14 in the Big Game last Saturday was one for the ages. Cal quarterback Ross Bowers set out to do all he can but he fell short but Bowers’ and head coach Justin Wilcox’s credit the Bears who were predicted to have maybe two wins this season did a lot better than was expected.
2 Wilcox coached one of his beat games despite the loss, the Bears faced long odds to win this game and they gave the Cardinal everything they got and got within of field goal of making this game interesting
3 Cal’s defense did it’s job keeping the contest to a low scoring game they kept the pressure up and Stanford running back Bryce Love was limited due his injured ankle.
4 Cal was prepared but Stanford’s defense put the stops on Bower’s passing and run game and held Stanford to just two touchdowns
5 The Bears play UCLA next week Morris makes a prediction for Friday night’s upcoming game
November 18, 2017: Stanford Cardinal quarterback K.J. Costello (3) is sacked during a NCAA Football game between the California Golden Bears and the Stanford Cardinal at the Stanford Stadium in Stanford, California. Valerie Shoaps/CSM (Cal Sport Media via AP Images)
By Morris Phillips
The losses to Stanford–now eight and counting–are difficult enough to process for the Cal Bears. But the latest one, both close and winnable, hurt that much more.
Stanford squeezed past Cal, 17-14, in the 120th Big Game Saturday night, and this time it was a hard fought ball game essentially decided when Ross Bowers was intercepted by Ben Edwards on a deep pass attempt to Jeremiah Hawkins that would have setup Cal with first-and-goal with 7:25 remaining. Stanford would go on a lengthy drive and exhaust the clock, winning by only three, when six of the previous seven Big Games were won by the Cardinal by at least 13 points.
“We played to win and we had our opportunities and that’s why this one hurts so much,” coach Justin Wilcox said of his Bears. “There’s a few plays here or there, both sides of the ball, that could have changed the outcome of that game.”
Undeniably, Wilcox had the Bears well prepared. Cal neutralized Heisman trophy candidate Bryce Love, fed standout Stanford defensive lineman Harrison Phillips a steady diet of double teams, and played efficiently and methodically on offense with Ross Bowers and feature back Patrick Laird. But in the end 14 points wasn’t enough for Cal to lead at any point, or impact a scoreless, fourth quarter.
“We knew each and every possession would be so critical. And we had some opportunities to get some stops in the first half and, obviously, the fourth quarter got to be able to get off the field there and get the offense the ball back,” Wilcox said. “Don’t get me wrong, I love our guys and the way they compete. They played hard, played their butts off, and we just needed another play here or there, and we didn’t quite have it.”
A missed 47-yard Matt Anderson field goal before halftime stood out because the ball careened backwards off the cross bar, but this time Cal had numerous chances when previous Big Games in the Stanford streak were basically decided by halftime. That Cal failed to secure bowl eligibility with a win made the proceedings that more agonizing.
“We just needed another play here or there,” Wilcox said.
The Bears finish the regular season at UCLA on Friday with a chance to even their record (5-6, 2-6). Stanford finishes their regular season at home against Notre Dame on Saturday. The Cardinal (8-3, 7-2) can qualify for the Pac-12 Championship Game on December 1 if Washington defeats Washington State on Saturday.
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