Bears rally to advance to DirecTV Classic Final, 68-57

The Bears trailed 41-38 early in the second half, before ratcheting up the defense and holding the Yellow Jackets to just three points in the ensuing seven minutes while taking a 54-44 lead from which they'd never look back. 

Justin Cobbs led all scorers with 17 points in a game where the Bears shot just 3-of-14 on three-point shots but were bolstered by a 41-29 rebounding edge.

Cal raises its record to 5-0 in the season and will play Pacific on Sunday in a game that will be televised by ESPN2.

Most Influential Player:  It would be tempting to give this to Justin Cobbs every games; he plays almost the entire 40 minutes, is generally the first or second-leading scorer and usually leads the team in assists. But for this game, it'll go to David Kravish - in 28 minutes he had nine points and eight rebounds, and the Bears were effective when he was paired with Richard Solomon or Robert Thurman or even playing as the lone big player.  While the Bears made progress against Georgia Tech with all three of those combinations, it was when he was out of the game for 12:10 that the Yellow Jackets were able to play the Bears even.

Run of the Game:  Less of a run, then a methodical job, the Bears outscored Georgia Tech 15-3 over a 6:13 stretch of the second half in boosting a two-point lead to a 61-47 advantage.  Cal used six different lineups during that stretch, with the Cobbs/Wallace/Crabbe/Thurman/Solomon providing the early push. During that stretch, Solomon scored seven points. The Bears could have made the margin bigger if not for four missed free throws. Georgia Tech was 1-for-8 from the field during that stretch with two turnovers.

Deadspot of the Game:  During a 3:32 stretch of the first half, the Bears managed just two points as went from being up 15-10 to trailing 22-17. Cal had just three field goal attempts, making one.  Three other possessions ended up in turnovers without them making a shot.

How the bench did: Cal only used seven players against Georgia Tech, so all bench output came from either Tyrone Wallace or Robert Thurman.  In 61 minutes, they combined for 17  points and 7 rebounds, shooting 6-of-11 from the field.  Combine that with 21 points from Richard Solomon and David Kravish and the Bears showed that they can generate enough offense from other players that they were able to weather a rough shooting night from Allen Crabbe, who was 4-of-13 from the field, and 1-of-7 on three-point shooting.

What comes next: The Bears play Pacific in the championship game of the DirecTV Classic at 6 p.m., Pacific time on ESPN2.  Prior to Friday's games, according to the Sagarin Ratings, Pacific was ranked 176th, which is considerably lower than the two teams the Bears had previously beaten - Drake (128th) and Georgia Tech (71st).  Cal was ranked 41st.

LINEUPS

Generally the starting lineup sees the most playing time unless somebody gets into early foul trouble.  This wasn't the case against Georgia Tech as the starting lineup was on the floor for 9:17, but it was Cobbs/Wallace/Crabbe/Thurman/Solomon that were on the floor together for 12:10.

BIG COMBINATIONS

Cal used primarily three big player combinations, and each combination saw roughly the same amount of playing time.  None of the combinations turned out to be a disaster, although within each group there were good and bad spells.

The Bears only used the one-big combination at the very end of the game when they wanted their best ball-handlers and free throw shooters on the floor.

GUARD COMBINATIONS

With Krekow out, the Bears went with a short guard/wing rotation. Aside from the starting lineup of Cobbs, Smith, and Crabbe, the only other player used was Tyrone Wallace, who ended up laying 30 minutes and was part of the Bears' most- and least-effecting guard/wing combinations.

Even though the Cobbs/Wallace/Smith grouping had a rough game against Drake, they bounced back against the Yellow Jackets, posting a +6 in 2:40 which was better than any other guard/wing combination.

OFFENSIVE EFFICIENCY

(This number looks at how many points a team scores when a particular player is in the game and compares them with how many points the team scores when that player is out of the game.  The resulting point per minute paces are then extrapolated over a 40 minute basis.  Although some players will have similar offensive productivity numbers - their numbers when either player is out of the game could vary wildly depending on how many minutes each player plays.)   

DEFENSIVE EFFICIENCY

(This number looks at how many points a team allows when a particular player is in the game and compares them with how many points the team allows when that player is out of the game.  The resulting point per minute paces are then extrapolated over a 40 minute basis.  Although some players will have similar defensive productivity numbers - their numbers when either player is out of the game could vary wildly depending on how many minutes each player plays.)   

BAD OUTCOMES

(The BO (Bad Outcome) Number is still in the testing phase and will evolve as the season continues. The idea is to take all of the bad outcomes - missed field goals, missed free throws, turnovers, and fouls, and divide them my the number of minutes played.)