Category: Cal Bears

By Morris Phillips

In 1923, when Sam Houston Normal Institute was renamed to Sam Houston State Teachers College, the school’s nickname, “Normals” had to go as well. To capitalize on a regional phrase of the day, “Tough as a Bearkat,” the nickname Bearkats was born at the college in Southeast Texas even though no such animal actually exists.

But animal experts know that the kinkajou, a 10-pound mammal found in the South American rainforests is often referred to as a bearcat, even though the animal is neither related to the bear or cat families. Small, cuddly and docile, the kinkajou are often kept as exotic pets, but if startled or alarmed by loud noises, the little critters can pull an about face and scream, or in rare occasions, even bite.

With that background, fast forward to Monday night on Pete Newell Court where the Bears and the Bearkats met for the first time ever in a non-conference basketball game that didn’t figure to be particularly competitive given that Cal is ranked 14^th nationally and Sam Houston State is retooling after losing five seniors from a 26-win club that participated in the College Invitational Tournament last spring.

But before you could say “blowout,” the Sam Houston State Bearkats, maybe startled by a noisy Haas Pavilion or just plain agitated for no obvious reason jumped out to a 7-0 lead prompting Coach Cuonzo Martin to call a timeout to see where his team’s collective heads were. And it was at this moment that a fascinating tidbit of information was revealed to Martin and the announced crowd of better than 8,000:

(Dramatic pause) Super frosh Jaylen Brown is as talented as advertised.

Brown struck back at the Bearkats by coming up with a stocking-stuffer of performance with 18 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and two steals in Cal’s 89-63 win that moved them to 4-0 on the season ahead of their first true tests this weekend in Las Vegas with San Diego State up first at Orleans Arena on Thanksgiving night.

“I’m excited to go to Vegas and see what we’re made of,” Brown said. “We’ve been preparing all week and all season. All the suicides, yelling, screaming and encouragement, this is what it’s for.”

Brown surprised the world of college basketball by choosing Cal over the traditional bluebloods like Kentucky and Duke. And now that Brown and fellow freshman Ivan Rabb have meshed their talents with Cal’s holdovers, the potential for a special season is apparent. But when speed bumps like SHSU’s fast start on Monday arise, Martin has to make sure he has conductors, and not passengers, along for the ride.

“A lot of good coaches are happy with the team playing the right way,” Brown said of the early timeout. “He didn’t say anything about the score, he just said keep playing basketball and things will fall the right way.”

“We just maintained,” Martin said. “I know we had two breakdowns where they made threes in the first half, but outside of that we just maintained.”

Cal’s response was immediate. The Bears countered with 10 straight points to take the lead starting with Brown’s layup and including a pair of Jordan Mathews three-pointers.   Cal went on to shoot 55 percent in the first half, opening up a 15-point halftime lead. After making three of their first five shots from the field, the Bearkats went cold, missing 22 of 30 to close the half. During Cal’s 15-0 run midway through the half, Sam Houston State missed 12 consecutive shots.

The second half began with Cal focused from the start. The Bears pushed the lead to 24 before the first TV timeout and cruised from there. The Bears led by 30 on a couple of occasions before settling for a 26-point victory.

Leading scorer Tyrone Wallace also contributed 18 points, Mathews had 17 and Jabari Bird chipped in with 10 points. Wallace moved into the list of Cal’s top-20 all-time scorers passing David Kravish with 1,277 points with his effort.

Sam Houston State was led Dakari Henderson with 13 points. Jamal Williams added 12 points, four rebounds and three assists. The Bearkats were out-rebounded 46-31 and couldn’t sustain much offense near the basket, attempting just eight free throws in the game, making four.

“We just got into a stretch where it was about 23-20 with seven minutes left in the half and had a couple of really crucial turnovers that turned into baskets for them and got them going,” SHSU Coach Jason Hooten said. “Once they got going, we couldn’t really stop them.”

Nick Kerr, son of Warriors Coach Steve Kerr made his Cal debut in the second half playing the final minute. The grad student transfer received a healthy dose of applause from the Haas crowd upon his appearance.

By Morris Phillips

Referees are calling fouls at a maddening rate, coaches are feeling powerless in how to reduce all the additional fouling and foul calls, and the California Bears appear poised to take advantage of the situation with their unselfish play.

The Bears’ persistence with their shot selection paid off big time against UC Santa Barbara on Monday as Cal paraded to the line for 38 attempts—making 29—in a fairly comfortable 85-67 win. Afterwards, Gauchos coach Bob Williams expressed his frustration with the numerous foul calls, but not without crediting Cal and their aggressive, offensive play around the hoop.

“It’s tough to play that way,” Williams said when asked about the heavy number of fouls and free throw attempts. “It takes some rhythm out of the game but they’re also good athletes and a half step quicker than us or a full step in some of the match-ups, so they got by us and created fouls. I’m not arguing with the fouls that were called. It’s more we got to learn to play better defense so we’re not fouling.”

Not surprisingly, what drove Williams batty had Cal coach Cuonzo Martin feeling quite satisfied.

“It’s reading and making plays,” Martin said. “At the start of every practice, it’s about penetrate, pitch and understand who is who. You make plays from that. You have to be aggressive, be willing to share the ball, and I think they’re doing great with that.”

In starting 2-0, the No. 15 Cal Bears have looked like a team comprised primarily of big, powerful guards and a trio of significant post players should look. They can pass, penetrate with quickness and force, and when opportunities arise, find their bigger teammates around the basket. Jordan Matthews’ smart look ahead pass on the break to high-flying teammate Jaylen Brown for the dunk was an example of that. Brown’s dunk put Cal up 33-19 with 6:14 remaining before halftime.

But in simpler terms—making the smart pass—Cal succeeds as well. Stephen Domingo flashed across the lane on the dribble with 9:01 remaining and made the no-frills dump off, bounce pass to Ivan Rabb for the dunk and a 73-51 Cal lead. In fact, for long stretches against overmatched UCSB, the Bears appeared to be running offensive drills designed to get point blank shot attempts every time.

The Bears jumped all over the Gauchos early with their defense. UCSB was held scoreless for nearly 5 ½ minutes to start the game, finally breaking through on a layup by Ami Lakoju to make the score 8-2. But once the offensive jitters wore off, the referee’s whistles kicked in. With Cal attacking the basket, and referees instructed to reduce the physicality of the game with a renewed emphasis on hand checking fouls, the Bears took 21 foul attempts in the first half alone.

Eventually, the Gauchos found some success in a switch to a matchup zone that had Cal “settling” for perimeter shots before halftime, according to Martin. But that was short lived. The Bears ended the first half on a 9-0 run to go up 19 at half.

Not surprisingly, Tyrone Wallace was the biggest beneficiary of his team’s aggressive approach. Wallace, who has NBA scouts salivating over his powerful moves in high screen-and-roll situations, finished with a team-best 24 points, four rebounds and six assists.

For the second game in a row, all five Cal starters finished in double figures in scoring with Brown scoring 17, and Matthews 16. Rabb, the super freshman from Oakland, played just 18 minutes due to early foul trouble, but was 10 for 10 from the foul line.

Brown, Cal’s other big addition, supplied the crowd pleasing steal and breakaway dunk in the second half that put Cal up 69-47, marking their largest lead of the evening. Brown admitted he wasn’t happy with his four turnovers, but acquitted himself well with 6 of 10 shooting and seven rebounds.

Michael Bryson led UCSB with 23 points despite missing 10 of his 18 shot attempts. Oakland product John Green contributed 12.

The Bears continue their season-opening homestand on Friday when American Athletic Conference opponent East Carolina invades Haas Pavilion for an 8pm tipoff.