Tag: Grant Anticevich

Florida Sunshine Unkind: Hot-shooting Gators race past Cal, 80-60

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By Morris Phillips

The Cal Bears desperately needed to make it to halftime within striking distance with an opportunity to regroup. But the hot shooting Florida Gators wouldn’t let it happen.

No. 23 Florida closed the first half on an extended 33-12 run that saw them turn a two-point deficit into a 19-point halftime lead. The Gators cruised from there, winning 80-60 at the Fort Myers Tip-Off at Suncoast Credit Union Arena.

“Credit the guys, not the adjustments,” Florida coach Mike White said. “I thought our energy level picked up.”

“We just got overwhelmed the last eight minutes of the first half,” coach Mark Fox said. “They’re an excellent team, but we’re certainly very disappointed in how we played.”

The Bears needed a credible shooting performance and some measure of a grasp on their opponent’s explosive offense, but they got neither. The Gators made 54 percent of their threes and 14 of 15 free throw attempts before halftime. Offensively, the Bears struggled with Florida’s quickness that made passing lanes disappear soon after they opened.

Jordan Shepherd, Cal’s leading scorer was limited to 15 points in 28 minutes on the floor, and Andre Kelly, coming off a 29-point, 15-rebound effort against San Diego, was limited to four shot attempts, and finished with nine.

“We didn’t get the ball entered as cleanly as we would like to,” Fox admitted.

The Bears committed 18 turnovers, and shot 41 percent in the first half when the game was decided. If shooting threes was the Bears’ method to stay close it never materialized. They attempted just four, and made one before the half.

Colin Castleton, the UF spindly big man, led the Gators with 16 points, eight rebounds. Tyree Appleby had 15, with a perfect performance from the line (7 for 7). Myreon Jones added 13, and Phlandrous Fleming Jr. had 11 off the bench.

“He created those shots,” White said of Castleton. “Outside of him, being prolific on the block, I do think we shared and moved it pretty well.”

The Bears got eight points from Lars Thiemann, and seven from Jalen Celestine, with both players coming off the Cal bench.

These two schools with big-time graduate journalism programs aren’t big on visiting the other’s campus. It’s never happened. This meeting was the third in the series, and all three have taken place in neutral buildings around the holidays. Cal won both previous meetings at the 1986 Rainbow Shootout in Honolulu, and the 1988 Great Alaska Shootout in Anchorage.

Cal concludes its Florida swing with a meeting with Seton Hall on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. The No. 21 Pirates lost the tournament opener, 79-76 to unranked Ohio State.

Cal In The Clutch: Bears trail by double digits but win in double overtime, 75-68

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By Morris Phillips

BERKELEY, CA–Andre Kelly tallied 11 of California’s 18 overtime points, and the Bears escaped with a 75-68 double overtime win over Southern Utah at Haas Pavilion on Thursday.

Kelly finished with 29 points, 15 rebounds to pace Cal with John Knight III leading Southern Utah with 31 points. While Kelly heated up late to rescue Cal from an offensive standpoint, Knight was held scoreless over the final 3:41 of regulation, and the first 9 minutes, 32 seconds of the two overtime periods. When Knight was cooking–he had 12 of his 31 in the second half–the Thunderbirds built a 44-34 lead with 13:41 remaining, necessitating a furious run and come back by the Bears to force overtime.

Bears’ coach Mark Fox turned to 6’7″ freshman Sam Alajiki during this stretch to guard Knight. That prompted a 8-0 run to get Cal within two, and also got the Bears some relief from Knight’s hot shooting.

“We were having a real hard time with that kid’s strength,” Fox said of his decision to insert Alajiki. “Sam is a real strong and powerful guy, we went with that lineup and he did a great job.”

The Bears drew even at 46 with 8:48 remaining, and again at 51 on Kelly’s layup with 4:40 remaining. But they didn’t experience a lead in the second half until Grant Anticevich hit a jumper with 28 seconds left. Maizen Fausett followed with a layup to force overtime for Southern Utah. Joel Brown’s layup attempt at the buzzer was blocked by SUU’s Dre Marin.

Cal had not experienced an overtime game since February 2020 when they beat Utah 86-79. The Bears moved to 4-0 in overtime contests with Fox as their coach.

Southern Utah hadn’t endured a two-overtime game since their 2019 victory over Nebraska. Knight led the Thunderbirds in floor time with 49 minutes. Three other Southern Utah starters logged at least 44 minutes, and coach Todd Simon only got three points all evening from his bench.

Kelly was a gametime decision due to an ankle injury, but he responded with 11 of 16 shooting from the floor. He also buried a 3-pointer with 34 seconds remaining in the second overtime to give Cal its biggest lead, 73-65.

Andre had a very productive night,” Fox said. “I still think he can play a lot better.”

Anticevich had 15 points, eight rebounds and Brown played a team-most 46 minutes. He had seven assists, five rebounds but struggled with his shot. Brown finished with four points on 1 of 7 shooting.

Southern Utah got 14 points, eight rebounds from Fausett and Tevian Jones had 11 points, five rebounds. Jones was 0 of 6 from three, part of a subpar team effort from distance in which SUU missed 22 of 27 three attempts.

The Bears continue competition in the Rocket Mortgage Fort Myers Tip-Off in Florida on November 22 where they will meet No. 24 Florida. The Gators won easily on Thursday, defeating Milwaukee 81-45.

Bears In the Win Column: Cal holds off San Diego, 75-70

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By Morris Phillips

BERKELEY, CA–Five made 3-pointers in a span of less than three minutes–an anomaly for the 2021-22 Cal Bears–fueled the host club to their first win of the season, 75-70 over San Diego.

“(Jordan) Shepherd made a great play, I was open and shot it with confidence,” Joel Brown said of Cal’s first half run that fueled Cal’s evening. “From there, it opened up everything.” 

Grant Anticevich led Cal with 17 points, shooting 5 for 8 from the floor, and making all three 3-point attempts. The fifth-year senior has lead the Bears in scoring in two straight games.

The other three Cal Bears that have been in heavy usage thus far this season: guards Brown, Shepherd and forward Andre Kelly produced complimentary, balanced numbers as well. Leading scorer Shepherd had 14 points, three assists, Kelly had 13 points, eight rebounds, and Brown had 12 points and seven assists.

This time out the Bears weren’t tentative offensively or bereft of made buckets, they shot 50 percent from the floor for the first time. And they backed that with a 10 for 15 clip from three and 69 percent success at the free throw line. After the game was tied at 32 at halftime, the Bears pulled ahead in the first seven minutes after the break, using an 8-0 run that saw them down 43-38, then up 46-43. They then led for the final 13 minutes, 24 seconds of the game.

The Bears hadn’t been this efficient shooting threes since the 1996-97 season, and again, they weren’t expected to be dialed in like Steph with this group, this season.

“We made enough shots to win,” Coach Mark Fox said.

“The thing that probably drives me crazy more than anything is especially when it’s guys we deem as snipers,” said USD coach Sam Scholl, who obviously wasn’t fooled by Cal’s 28.1 percent shooting from three coming in. “Their snipers got off a few too many 3s.”

San Diego was paced by senior Joey Calcaterra with 18 points, and four made threes. Jase Townsend had 16 points, four assists and Terrell Brown 11 points, 11 rebounds, five blocked shots in a spirited performance for San Diego.

Jalen Celestine and Makale Foreman comprised the biggest co-conspirators for Cal off the bench, as both played extensive minutes for a second game after both were absent in the opener. Foreman was 3 of 4 for 8 points in 20 minutes, while Celestine went scoreless in 12 minutes. Lars Thiemann picked up the slack with Kelly in foul trouble, playing 12 minutes and scoring four points.

“We had a couple too many breakdowns on their good players and they made us pay,” Scholl said of his Toreros, who could have started the season 3-0 for the first time since 2013.

Cal hosts Southern Utah on Thursday evening at 7:00 pm with television coverage on the Pac-12 Network. Southern Utah has already gained a foothold in the Bay Area, losing to St. Mary’s in Moraga on Monday, 70-51.

Rebel Rebel: Cal falls short at UNLV, 55-52 with Bears’ Shepherd held to 9 points

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By Morris Phillips

The Bears visit to the Vegas bright lights, and a meeting with the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels, hinged on one aspect: 3-point shooting.

The Runnin Rebels attempted more, made more and that allowed them to get past Cal, 55-52 at the Thomas & Mack Center. The Rebels were 10 of 29 from three, the Bears 4 of 14. That and some critical defensive stops in the game’s final two minutes decided a close game.

On Cal’s final possession, leading scorer Jordan Shepherd, who scored 27 points in Cal’s loss to UCSD was rushed into a lengthy 3-point attempt that drew iron but bounced away. Shepherd had a rough afternoon, missing 14 of his 17 shot attempts, and was held to nine points.

“We had about three actions we thought they might do,” UNLV coach Kevin Kruger said. “They guarded it absolutely perfectly.”

Shepherd missed a second 3-point attempt, and had his attempted layup blocked with 27 seconds left. All three stops were part of the Rebels big defensive stand that kept Cal scoreless in the final two minutes.

“We had a layup to win the game. I don’t know if there was contact or not,” coach Mark Fox said.

“That’s the final step for us. Learn how to close a game like this. Certainly I thought our defense was much better than it was the other night.”

Grant Anticevich led Cal with 11 points, 10 rebounds, and Andre Kelly had eight points, eight rebounds and Joel Brown started, and saw 29 minutes of floor time, but finished with seven points, four rebounds.

Cal was limited to 36.8 percent shooting from the floor. The Rebels with their constantly changing personnel groupings, which included four transfer players, stuck with man-to-man principles throughout. The Bears were just as good at their end by harassing UNLV into rushed shot attempts. They played zone predominantly and limited the Rebels to 37.5 percent shooting.

Jalen Celestine and Makale Foreman made their season debuts for Cal, but neither got it going offensively. Celestine played 24 minutes, scoring four points and Foreman was scoreless in six minutes, missing both his shot attempts.

UNLV got 12 points, five rebounds from Bryce Hamilton, and Michael Nuga contributed 10 points, six rebounds.

“We were picked, what were we picked, eighth? We wear UNLV on our chest with pride. We’re here to bring it back to what it once was.”

The Bears host the University of San Diego Toreros on Monday night at Haas Pavilion at 6pm.

Oh-Oh Opener: Cal upset at Haas by upstart UC San Diego, 80-67

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By Morris Phillips

BERKELEY, CA–Defend and start the season in the win column were the objectives for the Cal Bears, and neither were met.

Toni Rocak, the 6’8″ senior from Switzerland, had 27 points, eight rebounds as the UC San Diego Tritons, in year two of their four-year transition from Division II to Division I, pulled the upset on the Bears at Haas Pavilion, 80-67. The Tritons trailed 37-33 at the half, but took the lead in the first five minutes after the break, and maintained it, in a 47-point outburst that was littered with Cal defensive breakdowns.

The Bears were led by Jordan Shepherd, the transfer from Charlotte, who had 27 points, and Andre Kelly with 17. The Bears started fast, building a 28-17 first half lead, but led by just four at the break, and scored just 30 points in the second half. Cal didn’t settle for threes, making five of 18, but they were most hurt at the free throw line where they missed 10 of their 24 attempts. Cal shot 45 percent from the floor during the opening 20 minutes, only attempting 10 3-pointers, making three.

Rocak paced the Tritons in the opening half with 16 points, including four of six from the line. Rocak averaged just 12.8 points in 2020-21 in 17 minutes per game, and apparently is enjoying a bigger role with UCSD this time around. The Tritons opened the second half on a run, gaining a 45-43 advantage with 15:05 remaining. They held only one lead in the game’s first 25 minutes–2-0.

“We stuck with what we know and what we do and kept trusting each other,” Rocak said. “In those moments it’s easy for everybody to try to do their own thing but we stuck with being in group and being unselfish, and great things happen when we share the basketball.”

The Bears were heavily dependent on the quartet of Joel Brown, Grant Anticevich, Kelly and Shepherd with 6’9″ Kuany Kuany the fifth starter who logged just 13 minutes. 6’3″ guard Jarred Hyder was the first reserve off the bench, playing 15 minutes, and holdover Dimitrios Klonaras along with 6’7″ freshman Sam Alajiki were the remainder of the eight-man rotation. Junior center Lars Thiemann and freshman Obinna Anyanwu saw five minutes of action each, with Jared Celestine and Makale Foreman as the two most conspicuous absences from the Cal rotation.

“We just have to be sharper,” Kelly said of his Bears. “It was the first time with this group together. We’ll bounce back. We’ll respond the right way.”

“I’m very disappointed in our team’s play today,” Cal coach Mark Fox said. “It’s my responsibility to get it cleaned up and make sure this doesn’t define our season.”

Further information could clear up the status of Celestine and Foreman, both of whom played extensively in 2020-21, and are expected to be significant contributors going forward.

The Tritons got 18 points from Bryce Pope, and 10 from Matt Gray, who received his first ever starting assignment. Freshman Francis Nwaokorie was the most significant UCSD reserve, scoring nine points before fouling out in his first collegiate game. The win was UCSD’s first against a Pac-12 opponent, they had been 0-12 against Pac-12 competition previously. They also captured their first ever road win since transitioning to Division I. They went 0-7 last season. The Tritons and the Bears had met just four times previously with the last meeting in 1985.

The Tritons welcomed six new faces to their roster but it mattered little when the game was on the line. The Bears shot just 40 percent for the game as their offense and defense wilted in the second half.

The Bears travel to Las Vegas on Saturday to face the UNLV Rebels at 5pm. The first road contest of their season will be televised on the Stadium network.

How’s A Fast Start Sound?: Bears cruise past Cal State LA in exhibition opener, 92-58

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By Morris Phillips

BERKELEY, CA–No one knows if the Cal Bears will win enough to satisfy their fan base. No one knows how much time Coach Mark Fox will be afforded to turn things around in Berkeley. And no one knows if the Bears are talented or fortunate enough to win one game in the Pac-12, a conference that has gone from barren to loaded overnight.

But the Bears could grab uncertainty by the throat by winning early, and taking advantage of their one strength: continuity.

That process began on Monday night, in the wire-to-wire, exhibition win over Division II opponent Cal-State Los Angeles, 92-58.

Four of the five starters for Cal on Monday have at least one season in the program, as do 11 of the 14 players that saw action. Starter Grant Anticevich is in his fifth year, Andre Kelly his fourth, and Joel Brown his third. A fourth starter, Kuany Kuany and top reserve Jared Hyder are back for their second seasons.

That experience is key because none of the Bears are considered impact players and no one thinks anyone on the roster has an NBA future. That type of guy, guard Matt Bradley, transfered to San Diego State taking his team-best 18 points per game with him.

But Bradley was the only one to depart the program. So if anything, Cal has an opportunity to surprise more talented teams that might not be up to speed immediately due to them having to integrate a top freshman or key transfer into their starting lineup or core rotation.

The Golden Eagles of downtown Los Angeles typify the prevailing upheaval throughout the college game. They return only one contributor and essentially have an entirely new team. They lost their first exhibition to UC Riverside by 34 points, and they didn’t figure to be much more competitive against Cal.

They weren’t.

Cal shot 62 percent from the floor, led by as many as 39, and won by 34 as well. Anticevich missed just two shots and finished with a game-best 23. Kelly put up 17 points in 17 minutes of action, and he too only missed two shots.

Jordan Sheppard, the lone newcomer for Cal to start the exhibition, scored 11 points, and seven-footer Lars Thiemann added 10.

Sheppard, who spent the last three seasons at Charlotte of Conference USA where he averaged nearly 12 points per game, spoke highly of his new teammate Anticevich after the game.

“That’s the Grant we see every day,” Sheppard said. “It’s nothing new to us. There’s more to come. He played great, unbelievable.”

Freshmen Sam Alajiki and Obinna Anjanwu made their debuts, but for the most part, played tentatively. The pair combined to miss six of their eight shots.

Freshman Marsalis Roberson from Oakland was held out, and sophomore Monty Bowser did not see action.

The Bears open their regular season schedule on November 9, 2pm at Haas Pavilion again the UC San Diego Tritons. That occasion will be only the second time the Bears have actual fans in the building since February 2020 with Monday being the first.

Cal rallies only to fall short in 61-58 loss to Colorado in the Pac-12 Tournament

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By Morris Phillips

A year after the onset of COVID-19, and the abrupt departure of sporting events across America, the mindsets of the Cal Bears and Colorado Buffaloes heading into their Pac-12 Tournament quarterfinal had similar themes.

A year ago, the youthful Bears ended their season with a win–against rival Stanford no less–and the Buffaloes were left with the sour taste of an upset loss to 11th-seeded Washington State.

Great memories for Cal, bad memories for Colorado, and the overwhelming unlikelihood that both teams would leave Las Vegas this year with the same emotions.

Colorado, despite an awful start–and bunch of resistance from Cal–held on to beat the Bears, 61-58 and advance to the tournament semifinals against USC on Friday night.

“You got to figure out a way to win when you don’t play
your best, we did that tonight, and we weren’t at our best,” CU coach Tad Boyle said. “And again Cal had a lot to do with that and I’ve got great respect for what Mark Fox is doing. They have had a rough year in terms of wins and losses, but, man, they have been in every game and tonight’s another example.”

“They didn’t give up and they made it hard on us.”

Remarkably, in the 23 years of the Pac-12 Tournament, only two 11th-seeded teams have managed to win games–Washington State last year against Colorado, and Cal in their opener on Wednesday also against Stanford. Given that, being 11th in the Pac-12 isn’t a harbinger for success, and it wasn’t again Thursday. After both teams waited an additional hour to hit the floor while USC and Utah battled through two overtimes, a sloppy game broke out. In the end, the Buffaloes’ defense reigned supreme, as they held Cal to 38 percent shooting and stopped leading scorer Matt Bradley dead in his tracks.

With Bradley shadowed by 6’3″ master defender Eli Parquet–along with a host of others providing double teams–Cal’s leader missed his first six shots as the Buffs built a double-digit lead with 11:41 remaining. Bradley would find some light down the stretch and finished with 10 points, but Colorado’s strategy was a success: take Bradley away, and force his teammates to respond, which never really happened.

“They trapped him on ball screens on the wings as well, and so we went to some isolations for him, and I thought that a couple times we didn’t come, on the pass out we didn’t come meet the ball,” coach Mark Fox said of the defense against Bradley. “I think that he finally got a little bit of rhythm in the second half. I probably played Matt… 38 minutes last night was a lot… and in hindsight I probably should have tried to save a couple minutes on him last night because I thought he looked a little fatigued today.”

“But I won’t be critical of our players. Execution in that situation wasn’t as clean as we wanted, but I thought our intent and our decision was the right way.”

Cal led for the game’s first 16 minutes after a 7-0 start to the game. But the Buffs missed good looks as often as Cal forced bad ones, best referenced by McKinley Wright IV’s poor start in which he missed six of his first seven shots. Once Jabari Walker converted a 3-point play, and 7’0″ Dallas Walton surprised everyone with a 3-point shot on the ensuing possession to put the Buffs up 20-16, they took control.

Cal trailed 61-52 with a 1:05 remaining, and then managed a desperation run in which Jalen Celestine scored six, quick points and Makale Foreman could have tied the game with a 3-point shot with five seconds to go. But Foreman ‘s shot bounced away and third-seeded Colorado survived.

“That’s his shot, he hits that shot all the time and when I see it I thought it was going to be good, obviously it didn’t go in but he shoots that shot all the time and that’s a shot that we like for him to take,” Grant Anticevich said of Foreman’s attempt to tie the game.

The Bears finish the season 9-20, their third 20-loss campaign in the last four years.

Ducks harass mistake-prone Cal, win 73-64 in regular season finale

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(photo from calbears.com)

By Morris Phillips

BERKELEY, CA–The most bizarre–and challenging–regular season of Cal Bears basketball has come to a close. Unfortunately, there was nothing far out and strange about Saturday’s loss to Oregon at Haas Pavilion.

In fact, it was more of the same: Cal played hard, and played focused, but we’re simply outclassed by the Ducks in a 74-63 decision.

LJ Figueroa led Oregon with 20 points, 14 rebounds, and five steals as the Ducks scored the game’s first four points and led start to finish, and by as much as 19 points in the second half. Eugene Omoruyi had 21 points, and Chris Duarte, 17 for the Ducks, who have won seven of eight.

“He definitely was the difference in the game,” UO coach Dana Altman said of Figueroa. “His activity defensively, early boards, I thought he was really good. Thought he played his tail off and did some really good things.”

Figueroa did a little of everything, but his work as the point man in the Ducks’ aggressive zone kept Cal’s offense from finding any rhythm as referenced by their paltry total of 14 assists, with eight of those coming from the two guys Cal most needs to score, not facilitate, Matt Bradley and Grant Anticevich. When Figueroa wasn’t disrupting Cal’s attack, his steals led led to a decisive 27-11 edge for Oregon in points off turnovers.

“Those easy baskets they get really impact your defensive numbers,” coach Mark Fox said. “I thought our half court defense finally looked like it did a year ago, but the turnovers, the easy baskets were really the difference in the game.”

Fox admitted that the season began with his coaching staff concerned that their point guard play might be lacking, and as the season turned to conference play, Pac-12 opponents forced the issue on a nightly basis. The Bears saw the majority of their opponents build a wall at the 3-point circle and severely limit Cal’s dribble penetration leading to tough perimeter shots or turnovers. The Ducks, with the smallish, quick lineup may have been the best at it, as they again stopped Cal at the point of attack as they did in an easy win in Eugene in January.

Bradley was made to suffer the most, as Cal’s leading scorer finished with 12 points and four turnovers. Ryan Betley led Cal with 13 points and Andre Kelly added 12. The Bears trailed 34-27 at the break after shooting 39 percent from the floor. Their shooting improved to 52 percent in the second half, but they still fell behind 70-51 before an 8-0 run with three minutes left brought some respectability.

The Bears (8-19, 3-17) last place finish in the Pac-12 comes with an alarming distinction: among Power 5 conference schools (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, SEC) only Boston College will finish the season with a lower power rating according to current Real Time RPI rankings. The Eagles, who fired coach Jim Christian mid-season on February 15, currently rank 261 out of 347, while Cal comes in at 246. What’s really disturbing is the company Cal keeps with them finishing far lower down the Division I ladder than the worst Power 5 teams typically finish with North Carolina A&T (11-10 in the MEAC) one spot ahead of Cal, and Manhattan (6-11 in the MAAC) one spot behind.

“It’s been a tough year to have a tough year,” Fox said of a season where his team has been isolated from other students, their campus environment and even themselves (only once did the team dine together in what was a socially distanced meal held outdoors) along with the mounting losses.

Fox is hoping that his team’s spirits will improve with fans and their parents present for the first time this season at the Pac-12 Tournament starting March 10. But even then, the players won’t be able to interact with their families due to COVID-19 protocols, limiting them to friendly waves and blown kisses from the arena floor into the stands.

And while several conference teams, including Oregon, play makeup games to cover for the season’s numerous postponements, the Bears must wait 12 days for the inevitability that they will at some point suffer their 20th and season-ending loss in Las Vegas.

Bears go cold after halftime and lose 59-57 to visiting Oregon State

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By Morris Phillips

BERKELEY, CA–The last time Oregon State won at Haas Pavilion before Thursday night, President Obama lent relevance to the occasion with a good-natured phone call of congratulations.

Flash forward 12 years, and this time, no one was present to feel the Bears’ pain.

After pulling within two points of a tie, Cal went the final 94 seconds scoreless in an aggravating 59-57 loss to OSU.

Roman Silva scored 13 of his 15 points after halftime, and Ethan Thompson added 12 as the Beavers broke a nine-game losing streak in Berkeley, and beat Cal for the third time in a season for the first time since 1989.

Cal made its first seven shots of the ballgame and led 14-2 only to see OSU seize control with a 9-0 run to start the second half. The Bears shot 28 percent after the break, and missed 10 of their 11 3-point attempts as Matt Bradley, who finished with 20 points (14 after halftime), became their only reliable option with the game on the line.

Still coach Mark Fox pointed to his Bears’ defensive liabilities which allowed OSU to enjoy 38 points in the paint and mask an 0 for 10 showing at the 3-point line.

“It’s the defensive possessions in the second half that were the difference in the game,” Fox said. “We did not defend to the level that you need to to win.”

In 2009, then OSU coach Craig Robinson called for a pivotal switch in the second half to a trapping, full court press that befuddled Cal in a 65-61 loss. After the game, Robinson–Michelle Obama’s brother–received a call of congratulations from brother-in-law Barack Obama from the White House. This time, the teams played in an empty gym as mandated by COVID protocols and the only cheers were the self-congratulatory ones emanating from the OSU bench as Cal committed turnovers on both of their final possessions.

“We do good in spurts and stuff like that, but I think if we can finish games strong and have success, we’ll be okay.” said Andre Kelly, who finished with 15 points but conceded that his defense was subpar.

The Bears (3-16, 8-18) assured a last place finish with Thursday’s loss and they will open the Pac-12 Tournament as the 11th seed on March 10 matched against the sixth-seed. Arizona will not participate in the conference tournament as part of their self-imposed penalties surrounding recruiting impropreties that resulted in the imprisonment of former assistant coach Book Richardson.

The Bears conclude their home schedule on Saturday night when Oregon visits. The Ducks defeated Stanford 71-68 at Maples Pavilion.

Ice Cold Cal comes up empty in 62-51 loss at Washington

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By Morris Phillips

If awful shooting at Washington State didn’t get the job done, even worse marksmanship at Washington wasn’t going to cut it either.

Call it Cal’s easily forgotten weekend in the Northwest, one that almost assures that the Bears will finish the Pac-12 regular season in last place.

The Bears fell 62-51 to UW Saturday night, shooting a season-worst 27 percent from the floor, two nights after they shot 36 percent in a 31-point loss at Washington State. After fighting back to trail just 45-42 with 9:07 remaining, the Bears failed to make a basket over the game’s final eight minutes.

“When we got back initially, we didn’t have the poise to seize the moment,” coach Mark Fox said. “You can’t miss 10 or 11 free throws, the shots on the floor, and win on the road.”

Quade Green led the Huskies with 17 points, and Jamal Bey added 15 as the Huskies celebrated senior night with a pre-game ceremony and by welcoming fans into Hec Edmondson Pavilion for the first time this season. Governor Jay Inslee’s “Healthy Washington” edict just announced on Friday allowed 200 family members and friends of the UW program to provide a vocal presence at one of nation’s oldest on-campus arenas.

The Huskies (5-17, 4-13) had dropped four, consecutive home games. They also lost to Cal in Berkeley, 84-78 on February 9.

“Our defense was better tonight against them,” Washington coach Mike Hopkins said. “I thought there was some really good post defense. We did a good job on their 3-point shooters, knowing where they were, taking away their space.”

What Hopkins’ described in positive terms for his Huskies, was characterized more negatively by Fox. While the Bears’ coach liked his team’s movement on offense and play execution, the shots didn’t fall. Shaking up the starting lineup seemed to motivate Grant Anticevich and Andre Kelly, who came off the bench. But the play execution and motivational tactics couldn’t keep Cal in the game.

“I thought Andre really responded well, gave us a double-double,” Fox said. “I thought he answered the bell. I thought Grant was more active tonight.”

Matt Bradley led Cal again with 13 points, but he missed 13 of his 16 shots. Anticevich missed 11 of 15, Ryan Betley and Makale Foreman both missed four of five.

Joel Brown was a late scratch for Cal due to swelling in his Achilles.

The Bears were even at 10, but then they trailed 24-14. They would go on to trail for the game’s final 29 minutes, and by as much as 14 (42-28).

The ensuing 14-3 run for Cal was as good as it would get… all weekend.

The Bears (8-17, 3-15) return to Haas on Thursday to face Oregon State. They’ll see Oregon on Saturday. Both games start at 7pm.