Madsen and Bears Ready to take on 11-4 Colorado

Cal head coach Mark Madsen and several player took time to address local media heading into tonight’s 8:00 game against Colorado. The Bears hope to build on their win over UCLA against a solid Colorado team tonight. Cal (5-10, 1-3) hadn't beaten a conference opponent since they beat Stanford 92-70 on Jan. 6, 2023 until the UCLA victory, snapping a 19-game conference losing streak and a 16-game road loss streak.

Continued improvement on the defensive end will be key if the Bears hope to make any waves in conference this season.

"I would say they've been working really hard for a long time now, several weeks, and even months on improving the defense," Madsen said. "And I think that our guys really have bought into that, and they've taken ownership on that. And really, the first half was a very good defensive half. And the game was one of our better, if not the best, from a defensive efficiency standpoint. So from hard work - you always want to see hard work transfer to the games. So from that standpoint, it was it was gratifying for the players to see that hard work pay off in terms of defensive effort. Winning on the road is never easy. UCLA has a great team. Look, they have young players and they're figuring things out. It was still a game that could have gone either way. But I was proud of our guys for making some late game plays to help give us a win."

Madsen hopes to be able to build on the win and carry it forward into this week’s homestand against the Buffs and Utah Saturday night.

"I expect and hope for a lot of carryover because our guys are poised," Madsen noted. "We still had 13 turnovers. Our target goal is 7 to 10 turnovers. So we still had a few too many turnovers, some of them preventable. We watched them all as a group. But the main thing is there's improvement, there's growth, and the guys are bought in. I mean, these guys are working hard in practice. They're doing extra film, they're doing extra work on the court and it shows."

An element that’s plagued the team in several games is playing well in big stretches only to have careless turnover derail their game and prevent them from closing out several potential victories against quality opponents.

"Well, that's a fair point," Madsen conceded. "That's a fair point. We've we've had a number of different rotations this year so some guys have been called upon some to play heavy minutes. Some might be fatigue. Some might be where I as a coach can help our guys schematically, drill work, to maybe shave off two or three. We've been repping that and working on that, and when it's all said and done, hey, basketball is a game of great success and mistakes as well. So there's gonna be some turnovers, probably every game, I've seen very few games is zero turnovers. Our job is to minimize those."

Defensive lapses have also been an issue during several games during the season, particularly recently against ASU and USC.

"We had a couple of bad switches at USC," Madsen noted. "We gave up some 3's so that definitely happened. We came over on the double team against Collier on the post. Schematically, we're supposed to have high hands so they can't get a pass through. He did a great job of getting the pass through. We gave up two 3's on that. And so sometimes you work the scheme, you work it, you read it. Schematically, it works. And then a great player makes a great play. And that's kind of what happened with some of those."

A bright light in recent games, particularly in the Bears’ win over UCLA has been the growth in frosh point guard Rodney Brown.

"You know, Rodney is such an interesting and great player because he came in the summer and he immediately was pushing guys, pushing in practice and pushing for minutes," Madsen said. "Pushing to be the best version of himself. Had a little injury or two, maybe over the summer and, you know, maybe hit a little bit that freshman wall just over the summer with the amount of information. But he has just hit his stride. And he's showing what he really showed us a lot of the summer, the ability to shoot the ball. You started to see in the UCLA game, his ability to pass the ball and play-make. He has the size and the stature to see over defenses. Had a great assist to Fardaws early in the second half. It really just makes everybody better. He's long. I don't know if he's 6'5 or 5'5 but he's long, with long arms so that can help defensively.

"Rodney Brown never gets rattled. Rodney is someone who's very poised. He has great composure. Again, there's always that transition going from high school basketball to college. And even in the earliest parts of the transition, for example, in that tournament down in South Orange County, he had great moments. And then you look at the San Diego State game, he really helped us get back into that game and have a chance to win."

An element of particular concern has been late-game inbounds passing errors and turnovers.

"I think we had one key turnover late in the UCLA game," Madsen noted. "Obviously ASU got us. But here's the truth: ASU's getting everybody. Everybody knows it's coming against ASU. They've got Frankie Collins, who a lot of people would say he's the best in the country getting steals. But we're continuing to tighten that up. That's definitely been an issue. You know, it cost us the game against Arizona State. It was a long, hard few days after that because we looked at all our prep, we knew it was coming. We did the prep, and it wasn't enough So that tells me I have to do more as a coach to better prepare."

The Bears have gotten a particularly big boost of late from portal transfer win Jaylon Tyson, who’s scored 20+ points in four straight games, something that hasn’t been accomplished at Cal since Guard Allen Crabbe accomplished the feat in 2011.

"Jaylon Tyson is someone who his teammates love," Madsen said. "Because Jaylon not only is a great scorer, but he's gonna look to make his teammates better I mean, you look at the shot that Jalen Cone made, the three point shot against UCLA that kind of stretched the lead a little bit late that kind of gave us more of a decisive cushion. That was an on-time on-target pass. Jaylon Tyson is a phenomenal passer. He's not one of these guys where it's just all about me first, I want to score. I mean, he takes equal joy between scoring and passing. So the fact that he's found that balance has been really, really good."

Madsen was also asked about frosh center Devin Curtis who recently gave up his redshirt season to step up and take some minutes after the team lost center ND Okafor to injury in the loss to Butler last month.

"Devin Curtis came into the game...I showed the clip yesterday. He gets a strip steal on (Adem) Bona. Bona is basically an all-conference caliber player," Madsen said. "And I said, 'Devin Curtis, your defense get better gets better every day.' Here you strip an all-conference caliber player. And then at the other end, I think a few plays later or maybe earlier, he catches a drop-off, goes up, pump fakes, draws a foul and gets to the free throw line. So Devin Curtis, he has grown. His great voice. He has a great outside shot. He hasn't shown that yet but he will."

The head coach also announced that senior guard Devin Askey has shut thing down after reinjuring his foot.

"Just today, we got some new information," Madsen said. "Devin Askew has a minor foot injury. However, that minor foot injury is going to require probably six to eight weeks of rehabilitation. And so in meeting with Devin, Devin met with his family, we've met with medical people. Devin's going to shoot to redshirt this year and regain eligibility and we support him 100% Devin has been phenomenal. He's been an unbelievable part of this team. And we're heartbroken that he had to step back." 

Frosh guard Rodney Brown’s recent development will hopefully help bridge the gap in Askew’s absense.

"I think Rodney has continued to grow into just a strong role on this team," Madsen noted. You know, Rodney Brown is not afraid of a big moment. He's never afraid to take a big shot. He has a confidence that that's unique and special for a freshman. And for Rodney Brown, the sky's the limit."

An element to Brown’s game that’s excited Cal fans of late is his perimeter range that he’s recently displayed, including swishing two deep balls against UCLA.

"He actually started showing us that in the middle of summer. And it was so much so that we immediately moved into the first team. I think there may have been a little stretch there for just a couple of weeks where there was so much information thrown at Rodney. You know, maybe I kind of got ahead of myself moving him onto the first team. We had our top six or seven guys and he was part of that. And so then I decided I wanted to get him more reps on the second team just from a learning perspective. But the range youre seeing on his outside shooting, he had that in the summer. He's always in the gym. He has a great work ethic.

As for tonight’s opponent, Madsen and his squad have been busy preparing for the 11-4/2-2 Buffs.

"We've watched a lot of film on Colorado," Madsen said. "Obviously they have a ton of different weapons. They have guys coming back from injury. (Tristan) da Silva we know because I played against them last year. They've got talent at every position.”

Though it’s not been confirmed that he’s playing, Madsen and staff are preparing for 6’8 frosh forwar Cody Williams and his 14 points per game to be available tonight coming back from injury.

"We're expecting him back," Madsen said. "But you never know until they tip-off. And that's what we've heard from media reports. So you're gonna have a lot of their guys back. I know this, they're coming off a few tough losses so they're gonna be hungry. We're hungry. It's gonna be a great game."

Madsen wrapped up with comments about the Bears’ defensive style of play after being asked.

"In terms of our defense, we're a big-time halfcourt man-to man defense. That's our focus," Madsen noted. "There have been times when we've sprinkled other things in but we are a big-time halfcourt man-to-man defensive team. That's what we've been focusing on and that will continue to be our focus."

Tonight’s game at Haas Pavillion will tip off at 8:05 and be televised on the Pac-12 Network.