Tag: Cal

By Morris Phillips

Going 2 ½ months between road wins isn’t ideal, but the Cal Bears probably didn’t even notice the lengthy wait after they survived the frantic, final minutes on Thursday night at the Alaska Airlines Arena in Seattle.

Leading by 10 points with three minutes remaining, the Bears saw their lead dwindle to a point, before pulling out a critical 78-75 victory over the fast-sliding Washington Huskies. The matchup between the Pac-12’s sixth and seventh-best teams promised to decide plenty in terms of the Pac-12’s NCAA tournament prospects, but things remained up in the air until Matisse Thybulle’s missed two free throws with four seconds remaining that would have allowed the Huskies to cap a furious rally and tie the game.

“We gave up a couple of threes in the corner,” Coach Cuonzo Martin said in trying to explain UW’s rally that almost sent the Bears back to the team bus in a state of shock. “When you miss free throws, they get their heads up. If you have a 10-point lead, it has to go to 15. You can’t miss free throws. They make plays. It changes the ball game. It changes the momentum and that is what happened.”

After dropping their first five conference road contests—all by fewer than 10 points—the Bears wake up Friday with a much clearer NCAA complexion. Cal won at Washington for the fourth straight year by riding big performances from their freshmen, Jaylen Brown and Ivan Rabb, and surviving a rash of missed free throws late. Now, a win on Sunday at Washington State will propel the Bears back into the race for the Pac-12 regular season title.

Brown led the Bears with 23 points, and Rabb took advantage down low with 8 points and 14 rebounds.   Cal’s bench outclassed Washington’s with 38 points and 24 rebounds, but the Bears still needed to survive UW’s ability to block shots, force turnovers along with their late surge.

“We missed a lot of easy shots,” UW Coach Lorenzo Romar admitted. “We couldn’t get the ball in the basket.”

Cal limited the Huskies to 33 percent shooting for the game, and held a healthy 50-42 edge on the glass. But in a game this important, those disparities didn’t deter Washington, who was looking to win for only the third time in their last nine games. Washington’s 16-5 surge in the first half left the game tied at the half, and with the Bears near collapse, they were just three points better than UW after halftime.

“We did a lot that they we were supposed to do and we let, what, 12 plus free throws on the board,” UW’s Dejounte Murray said. “You give us at least four or five of those, and it gives us the win.”

Marquese Chriss led UW with 17 points, and Murray added 14, but missed six of ten free throw opportunities.

The ragged nature of the game was no surprise given the team’s different struggles and their youth. Cal started two freshmen, and UW started three. The Huskies had been 5-1 in conference play and in first place before their struggles commenced with a series of narrow losses. Now UW needs a miraculous run to avoid a fifth-straight season without an NCAA bid.

“We have to bring it,” Romar said. “We don’t have very many opportunities to go out and not come out on top right now.”

The Bears resume play in Pullman on Sunday at 5:30pm. Washington State has dropped 12 straight games after a loss at home to Stanford on Thursday.

 

 

 

By Morris Phillips

What a big game on Saturday at Haas Pavilion… for Oregon State.

Unlike the more relevant Cal Bears, the Beavers haven’t made an NCAA tournament appearance in a generation, personified by Gary Payton in attendance Saturday, cheering on his son, Gary Payton II.  The elder Payton was the key figure on OSU’s 1990 tournament team, the last time the Beavers qualified.

Coming off a critical victory at Stanford, Oregon State came in tantalizingly close to breaking their 26-year drought, projecting as a 9-seed if it were Selection Sunday.

Unfortunately for OSU, Saturday wasn’t Selection Sunday.  Instead it was the second act in Cal’s resume building weekend, and the closing act in Jabari Bird’s emergence.

The Bears established an early lead and maintained it in an 83-71 win, their 17th consecutive at home.  Bird followed up his career-best 24-point outing with 23 against OSU.

“We’re trying to make the tournament so I knew I had to step my game up to be a better teammate,” Bird said.  “I’m just trying to be focused every game and be aggressive.”

Bird didn’t just impact the scoreboard, he did so efficiently, inside and out.  Along with a couple of crowd-pleasing dunks, Bird canned four 3-pointers against Oregon State and shot 9 of 14 in both victories over the weekend.

Tyrone Wallace assisted Bird with 17 points, Jaylen Brown contributed 15 points, eight rebounds and Jordan Mathews had 14 points.  The Bears broke open the game early with a 8-1 run that put them up 15-7 just seven minutes in.

The win was Cal’s 10th at home against teams currently ranked in the top 100 nationally, and continued their improbable run to the NCAA tournament that could see them go undefeated at home, but qualify despite losing 11 of 13 on the road.

With just two home games remaining, against USC and UCLA, the Bears (17-8, 7-5)look plenty capable of winning out at Haas Pavilion.  Given that, can they capture one or two on the road with suddenly reeling Washington and downtrodden Washington State up next?  To date, the Bears are 0-6 away from home in conference play.

“In most cases, and you obviously have to give credit for the opposing team for winning their games, but turnovers, key breakdowns, and missed free throws, those things cost you a game,” Coach Cuonzo Martin said.  “You can’t have those mental breakdowns at the level where it’s a close game and all of a sudden it goes from six to eight and now you’re down and you have to fight your way back in it.  That’s been our dilemma on the road, to just really execute every possession on offense and defense, taking good shots and not getting rid of the ball too quick.  We’ll get better at it.”

The Bears aggressively attacked OSU’s zone defenses with unselfish passing and driving the ball smartly, and the results showed in a second straight 80-point outing.  Just as importantly, with Wallace back on the floor, Cal’s free throw shooting slightly improved with the team converting 59 percent of their 44 attempts as the Beavers fouled frequently as a late-game strategy for getting back into the game.

If anything, the biggest surprise of the game was OSU’s defense wasn’t consistently effective as it was on Thursday at Stanford, or on January 9 in their 77-71 win over Cal in Corvallis.

“We were soft defensively, and I think there were some guys who weren’t ready for what this game was going to be,” OSU Coach Wayne Tinkle said.  “We had to play catch up most of the game, and I know we didn’t defend like we were supposed to.”

The coach’s son, Tres Tinkle led OSU with 22 points, but no other Beaver managed more than seldom-used reserve Derrick Bruce’s 11.   The stat-stuffing Payton II finished with 10 points and four steals, but wasn’t the transcendent force he was in the teams’ first meeting.

The Bears visit Washington on Wednesday night.  The Huskies have dropped four of five, including an 81-80 heartbreaking loss Saturday at Colorado.

 

 

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By Morris Phillips

The first person to find out how difficult a challenge the Cal Bears’ defense will offer in 2016 was undoubtedly Josh Scott.

Scott, Colorado’s leading scorer and inside presence, just happened to have his annual trip to Berkeley coincide with the emergence of Cal’s 7’1” Kingsley Okoroh, basically a skyscraper under construction, a guy who had until Friday night had done his best work at team practices. That all changed in the Pac-12 opener when Okoroh entered the game three-and-a-half minutes in and immediately made things tough on Scott.

Okoroh would go on to score a career-best 10 points, five rebounds and four blocks as Cal enjoyed a wire-to-wire victory 79-65 victory over Colorado. Cal’s front line of Kameron Rooks, Ivan Rabb and Okoroh shut down Scott and Colorado, holding the Buffs to a season-worst 32 percent shooting from the field.

“We had trouble scoring against their size, and while it was something we tried to work on, we don’t have seven-foot guys to practice against,” CU Coach Tad Boyle said.

Just seconds after Okoroh entered the game, Coach Cuonzo Martin was forced to remove Rabb, who picked up his second foul. Briefly, and for the first time ever, Martin had his two seven-footers, Okoroh and Rooks, on the floor together, as Rooks replaced Rabb. The already struggling CU attack would go on to miss its first nine shots from the field as Cal built a 10-0 lead. The 6’9” Scott found Okoroh a tough guy to get around, as he missed eight of his first 10 shots, and finished 4 of 16 from the field. Scott, considered a contender for Pac-12 Player of the Year, finished with 16 points and seven rebounds, off his team-leading averages of 19 and 9.

“It’s not easy to defend a guy like Josh one-on-one,” Martin said. “When you can defend him one-on-one, you don’t have to double the post as much. If you’re consistently having to double the post, it could be a long night. I thought we did a good job on him.”

The Bears entered the contest ranked first in the conference in field goal percentage defense, and showed that their defense will continue to be highly regarded in Pac-12 play with the considerable step up in competition. A major component to that defense is Martin’s commitment to play both Rooks and Okoroh, even though the pair often don’t impact the game statistically, they make things easier for their teammates, especially Rabb, on both ends of the floor.

Okoroh’s breakout was quite a surprise though. The sophomore from England had scored just five points all season coming in.

“Coach Martin always has confidence in me,” Okoroh said. “Today, he finally said I can do it. I hope to keep doing it.”

Only Cal’s cold shooting from distance kept this one within shouting distance during the first half. After halftime, Jordan Mathews heated up, canning five 3-pointers as Cal built its lead to 20. Mathews finished with a season-high 22 points for the second game in a row.

Opening night in Pac-12 play provided a couple of big surprises as No. 21 Utah and No. 25 UCLA fell on the road. In what figures to be the most competitive and balanced conference race in years, the Bears got a foot up on the competition by snagging its best win of the season to date over Colorado (11-3, 0-1).

If Cal (11-3, 1-0) can win on Sunday against the Utes, they’ll finish the weekend with the two most impactful wins in the conference on opening weekend.

By Morris Phillips

How good are the No. 5 Virginia Cavaliers?

Good enough to shoot an unsightly 18 percent from the field for an entire first half, trail for nearly 40 of 45 minutes, lead for only 32 seconds, and win by the slimmest of margins against a Cal Bears team that appeared to grow by leaps and bounds on Wednesday night.

Excruciatingly, leaps and bounds weren’t enough to give unranked Cal their biggest win of the season. But all that watched—California Coach Cuonzo Martin, Virginia Coach Tony Bennett, the ESPN broadcast crew and a national television audience—could see that the youthful Bears are rounding into shape.

“We came up short, but we will learn from it,” Martin said. “I thought our guys did enough to win the game. But it was another lesson that down the stretch of the game you need to execute what you are trying to do.”

“You just keep playing,” Bennett said. “I want to credit Cal for how talented they are, how hard they played, and how well they played. We didn’t start well; we had a hard time. We were a little impatient offensively and were not dialed in defensively. We thought we prepared well for it but were not.”

Coming in, Martin and the Bears had the right mindset to pull a major upset. Cuonzo’s former team, Tennessee, had smoked the Cavaliers in Knoxville two seasons ago exploiting Bennett’s defensive system that has traditionally been one of the most physically intimidating in all of college basketball. Against the Hoos, teams accustomed to their familiar spots on the offensive side of the floor often lose interest in finding those spots once bumped, pushed and bruised by Virginia’s muscle-bound defenders.

So what was Martin’s directive for his Bears? Don’t back down, make some outside shots early, and be relentless on the glass at both ends.

And for all but 32 seconds, Martin’s strategy had Cal even or ahead.

Virginia came up empty on its first six offensive possessions of the night, and fell behind unable to get its leaders—Malcom Brogdon, London Perrantes and Anthony Gill—untracked offensively. The Cavaliers’ early struggles allowed Cal to establish a lead, neutralize the crowd of 13, 265 assembled at John Paul Jones Arena, and gain traction by relying on their athleticism and competitiveness.

At halftime, the Bears held a surprising 27-20 lead, but it could have been worse for the home team. Virginia had just four made baskets at the half, only one of those from Brogdon, Perrantes and Gill, and Cal was plus nine on the glass. The Bears’ perimeter guys—Jabari Bird, Tyrone Wallace and Jordan Mathews—didn’t light it up, but they combined for four made threes, and that loosened the Virginia defense ever so slightly.

Martin’s lineup adjustment implemented just a few games ago—bringing Bird off the bench, starting 7’0” Kameron Rooks—was benefitting freshman Ivan Rabb beautifully. With Rooks or 7’1” Kingsley Okoroh on the floor for 38 of the game’s 45 minutes, Rabb managed a career-best 42 minutes alongside one of his big men, which kept him out of foul trouble, and made him a real factor on the glass with 12 rebounds, five of those on the offensive end.

But as soon as Cal felt comfortable, Virginia changed the tone after halftime.

The Bears would enjoy their final double-digit lead—46-35—with 11 minutes remaining. After that Cal would be held scoreless by Virginia for nearly seven minutes, then score just one basket after leading 50-43 with nearly eight minutes remaining.

But instead of a surge, Virginia methodically chipped away.

“We were running harder offensively with our cuts and guys were attacking at the right time,” Bennett recalled of his team’s comeback. “I just kept saying, ‘Get a score, get a stop, score, stop, there is still time.”

Down the stretch, with driving lanes closing, and shots errant, the Bears turned to Jaylen Brown, working the middle of the floor against a smaller defender. Brown’s free throws with 42 seconds remaining in regulation got the Bears even, but working against Brogdon in the middle of the floor with 5 seconds remaining and a chance to win, Brown was stripped by Brogdon right as the 6’7” freshman made his move.

In overtime, the Bears led by six, but Virginia, again, didn’t quit. Rabb’s tip-in gave Cal a 60-54 lead with 2:23 remaining, but they would score just two more points.

On the game-winning play, with Cal ahead by two, the Cavaliers ran a play that freed Perrantes for the game-winning three with 10 seconds left. Wallace immediately rushed the ball up the floor to the basket, but missed with two seconds remaining.

The Bears fell to 9-3 while Virginia improved to 11-1, with 10 wins a row since their early loss at George Washington. The Bears will look to regroup for their home game December 28 against Davidson.

By Morris Phillips

If you’re buying Coach Cuonzo Martin’s panache and confidence, then it’s just a matter of time. The Cal Bears merely need continue working and refining, and they’ll be one of the Pac-12’s best teams, and sure to find a broadcast slot on CBS and TNT’s wall-to-wall coverage come March Madness.

But first things first, in this case, the young team’s first taste of adversity in the form of two humbling losses in Las Vegas over Thanksgiving, in which the Bears’ offense disappeared against San Diego State and the defense was lacking against surprising Richmond. When the Bears took the floor Tuesday night, back at Haas Pavilion against Seattle you could see it: this was a team in rehearsal, making adjustments, as much as trying to repel any upset hopes of the Redhawks.

“Like coach said, nobody is going to give you a break,” Jordan Mathews pointed out. “It doesn’t matter what team, you just have to come with it every night.”

What Cal fashioned in response was a mixed bag, but ultimately effective. The Bears stifled Seattle on the defensive end while playing in spurts offensively as they rallied late for a 66-52 win, their fifth in seven games thus far.

The Bears were led as usual by Tyrone Wallace with 17 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists and three blocks, an all-conference type evening if there ever was one. Wallace’s overall brilliance and critical offense down the stretch carried the Bears and in part covered for each of his teammates, all of whom seem to be grasping to find their total, individual games.

Matthews contributed 12 points, Jabari Bird and Jaylen Brown added 11 each for the Bears. But none of those three managed to convert half their shots as Seattle stubbornly sat in their 1-2-2 zone conceding perimeter jump shots while gamely challenging the refs to spare them in the paint with a couple of favorable whistles. The strategy paid dividends early as the Bears missed 14 of their first 19 shots.

Late in both halves, Cal put it together, first turning a three-point deficit into a nine-point halftime advantage, courtesy of Bird’s closing run in which he hit four baskets, including three 3-pointers. Then with the game in the balance, Cal squeezed a third of their offensive output into the final 8 ½ minutes, outscoring Seattle 22-9. Wallace was the catalyst for the finish, scoring 14 of his 17 in the final stretch.

“Guys look to me to make plays,” Wallace said. “When the game is close you have to deliver, so I just tried to go out there, be aggressive and help my team win.”

Seattle Coach Cameron Dollar, a familiar face from his days as a UCLA Bruin who battled Cal in the era of Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Jelani Gardner, knew the Bears would be downright defensive, a direct result of their struggles in Vegas to corral the Richmond Spiders and high-scoring Terry Allen, who registered a career-best 34 points by parading to the free throw line 21 times to support his equally-damaging 8 of 14 shooting from the field. Dollar got all that he expected as the Bears blocked 10 shots and held the Redhawks to 34 percent shooting.

“They do a great job of shutting down lanes, driving lanes, and contesting shots, and they made it really hard on us all night to score, but we kept fighting and gave ourselves chances to win,” Dollar said.

One tangible result of the two previous losses was right there in Martin’s starting lineup as he opted to start 7’0” Kameron Rooks in place of Bird, looking for a bigger presence in the paint defensively and a guy to counteract all the physicality directed at freshman Ivan Rabb as the team’s only interior presence. The strategy worked as Cal was stingy around the rim with Rooks playing 29 minutes and compiling three of the 10 shot blocks.

“Sometimes I think it takes a physical toll on Ivan to bang and do all those things,” Martin said. “And so now Ivan doesn’t have to be that guy the whole time, and it’ll keep him out of foul trouble as well.”

The Bears don’t get another NCAA resume-builder on their schedule until they meet St. Mary’s on Dec. 12 and then again on December 22 at Virginia. For now, they’ll turn their attention to Saturday’s trip to Wyoming to face the rebuilding Cowboys at 12:00 PST.