Tag: Matt Bradley

Bears start Coach Fox off with an impressive 87-71 win over Pepperdine

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By Morris Phillips

BERKELEY — After a pair of last place finishes in the Pac-12, a coaching change, and a great deal of personnel upheaval, the Cal Bears looked like a breath of fresh air in dispatching Pepperdine 87-71 in their season opener.

Coach Mark Fox, how about that improvement from last year’s 8-23 nightmare?

“I don’t know what happened last year,” Fox said emphatically. “We won’t even look at it.”

If anything can be learned at this early stage about Fox, who coached previously at Nevada and Georgia, he’s exceedingly positive while being extremely demanding. So far, 17 players, none of them new to the program–or old–according to Fox, have bought in.

Simply, the Bears are an empty slate, neither doomed to their recent past or promised to be improved. So far, improvement appears to be the path based on their come-from-behind win against the Waves.

Matt Bradley scored 25 points, and Paris Austin came up with 14 points, three assists keying a 52-point second half that carried the Bears after they trailed Pepperdine 37-35 at the half.

Andre Kelly, the beneficiary of some nifty passes from Austin, and newcomer Kareem South were Cal’s two other double-digit scorers, coming up with 16 points and 14 points respectively.

The Bears trailed by as many as seven points in the first half, and were still behind 49-46 with 14:35 remaining when Pepperdine went scoreless for five minutes and Cal took control. Bradley and Austin each scored six points in a 17-0 run that put the Bears up 63-49 with 10:05 remaining. The Waves banked on their 3-point shooting and lost, missing 19 of their final 25 attempts from distance.

Bradley experienced foul trouble in the opening 20 minutes and sat for a long stretch. But the second half was all his. The sophomore finished 8 for 11 from the field and made 5 of his 7 attempts from distance.

“I said, `Now you’re not in foul trouble. You can go and be aggressive and just play like you’ve practiced,'” Fox said of his halftime directive to Bradley.  “And to his credit he did just that.”

“When I came back in the second half it was second nature,” Bradley said. “I wasn’t really thinking much, I was just playing and felt really good.”

If the Bears have a focal point offensively, it undoubtedly would be the burly Bradley. The 6’4″ guard has started his Cal career by making 55 of 113 3-point attempts. On Tuesday, Bradley matched his career-best with five made threes.

Austin came off the bench and repeatedly burned the Waves with his dribble penetration and ability to finish. Remarkably, Austin registered just three assists even as it seemed had much more with his composed approach and pinpoint passing.

Colbey Ross led the Waves with 19 points, seven assists, but 17 of those came before halftime. Sophomore Kessler Edwards paced Pepperdine in the second half, scoring 15 of his 18 points after the break.

The Bears appear to be a much deeper and more balanced team than they were in 2018-19 as nine players saw action Tuesday.  They also expect to get big contributions from forward Kuany Kuany and big guard Juhwan Harris-Dyson, neither of whom played against Pepperdine. Fox hinted that the pair could return from injury rather soon with the Bears next scheduled to host UNLV on November 12.

Not On Senior Day, You Don’t: ASU survives upset bid from Cal in 69-59 win

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By Morris Phillips

With a squad as youthful as Bobby Hurley’s Sun Devils, success on Senior Day is only attainable if all hands are on deck.

Arizona State had something less than that in a first half in which they shot 26 percent and trailed the winless Golden Bears by six.

But their response after halftime was immediate. A 28-10 run put Arizona State in control, on their way to a 69-59 win at Wells Fargo Arena.

“Our approach was better. Our aggression was better without fouling,” Hurley said. “It looked like we were putting together consecutive determined possessions.”

“We have a history of (poor starts), especially against teams that we should supposedly be beating,” said point guard Remy Martin. “But on senior night with De’Quon and Zylan and the managers, we weren’t going to let that happen.”

The Sun Devils’ two seniors, De’Quon Lake and Zylan Cheatham, did their part, combining for 16 points and 16 rebounds. But ASU usually gets its offense from younger sources like Rob Edwards who came up with 14 of his 16 points after the break. Freshman Luguentz Dort led the Sun Devils with 22 points.

Arizona State improved to 19-8, 10-5, and moved into sole possession of second place in the Pac-12 by sweeping their final, two home games against the Bay Area schools. They play their final three games heading into the conference tournament on the road.

Cal gained a measure of respect by being ready to play from the start and executing a defensive gameplan that gave ASU fits early. But the Bears shot just 33 percent after the break, and never got anything easy with just two fast break points, and eight second-chance points.

The Bears lost for the 16th consecutive time, and now only have three opportunities to avoid a winless, Pac-12 conference season. The Bears host first place Washington on Thursday, and close out with Washington State at home and Stanford on the road.

Forks Down, Forks Up: ASU starts slow, but finishes fast in 80-66 road win over Cal

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By Morris Phillips

The ASU Sun Devils came to Berkeley Wednesday night trying to forge an upward trajectory, something they could hardly claim two weeks ago when they beat Kansas, then lost to Princeton in an inexplicable eight-day span.

But 14 minutes in, the Bears’ active 2-3 zone was causing Arizona State problems, and they trailed Cal by 14. Yeah, the Bears have struggled, but double-digit leads can help a young ballclub gain wisdom in a hurry.

So how did ASU coach Bobby Hurley respond?

He turned to sophomore guard Remy Martin in hopes of giving his squad a boost. Martin fashioned his contribution in a mere, eight seconds.

The ASU sparkplug–a reserve who routinely plays starter’s minutes–sliced Cal’s lead to 11 with a 3-pointer from the top of the key. Martin would go on to score or assist on every ASU basket in the six minutes leading to the half.

That run got Arizona State within 35-33 at the break. Then the Sun Devils took over in the second half, and they handled the Bears, 80-66, the 10th consecutive loss for the hosts in Pac-12 conference play.

To the Bears’ and coach Wyking Jones’ credit, their strategic wrinkle–playing a packed-in zone to limit penetration and put the onus on ASU’s shooters–worked. ASU opened the game by missing 11 of their first 12 shots. They just couldn’t sustain it once Martin started cooking.

“What changed was Remy Martin started hitting shots,” Jones admitted. “We can’t keep the zone as tight, and now we have to go out there and guard him. We have to guard the guy at the top of the key, and it opens up the high post, and then they started hurting us.”

Martin’s career-best scoring effort had symmetry: 12 points, 4 assists in the Sun Devils’ big run leading up to halftime, and another 12 during the period that ASU extended their 47-44 lead to 77-65 with 2:16 remaining.

As a freshman last season on an ASU team that was senior-dominated, Martin showed out at Haas Pavilion with 13 points, three assists in 18 minutes off the bench in the Sun Devils 81-73 win. This season, Martin still comes off the bench despite being more experienced than his teammates who start. But the speedy playmaker hasn’t complained. Instead he’s embraced the role and perfected it.

With ASU in the midst their first half run, Martin whipped a pass to a cutting Zylan Cheatham for a dunk, a pass thrown with so much force, the point guard came out of his shoe. The video replay shows the unaffected Martin putting his shoe back on at the moment Cheatham finishes the play at the rim.

“I’m here to help the team win whether I’m starting or coming off the bench,” Martin said. “I’m the same guy and I’ll do whatever is best for the team.”

What was best, was also fast and decisive, as the Bears found out Wednesday.  In a rare, statistical seismic shift, the shooting percentages for both teams changed dramatically after halftime. Cal shot 43.3 percent in the first half, 31.8 percent in the second, while ASU skewed more dramatically.  The Sun Devils were 39.4 percent before the break, and 57.7 percent after, and get this.. they went the final eight minutes of the game without being discredited with a missed shot. All that pace and execution to end it, after all the missed shots in the initial minutes of the game.

Matt Bradley was inserted into the starting lineup for second straight game, and scored in double figures for the third straight game. The freshman guard led Cal with 19 points, Darius McNeill added 16. Bradley also summed up the tale of two halves.

“The second half, they started knocking down shots. Once they spread us out, they got the bigs going down low. They played a lot harder and a lot more aggressively,” Bradley said.

The Bears host the Arizona Wildcats Saturday at 7:30 pm.

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

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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

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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.