Dismal First Half Dooms Bears Again in 107-84 Loss to UCLA
Maybe Cal should petition the NCAA to play the rest of its games on the road.
The Bears suffered yet another embarrassing home loss, this time at the hands of UCLA. The Bruins jumped out to a 54-33 halftime lead and never looked back, cruising to a 107-84 win at Haas Pavilion Saturday afternoon.
It was Cal's third straight double digit home loss, and sixth overall in 10 games in Berkeley this season. Contrast that with the Bears' 3-0 road record, which includes wins over Stanford and San Diego State.
"I think our guys enjoy being the underdog and being the villain on the road," said head coach Wyking Jones. "I've coached teams like that before, which play well on the road and enjoy the boos and silencing the crowd. I think they feed off that, for whatever reason."
Cal's defense Saturday was dreadful from the start. The Bears allowed wide open shot after wide open shot, and UCLA (12-4, 3-1) finished at 58 percent from the field, including a blazing 17-of-30 from three-point range. Senior Thomas Welsh led the way with 19 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including 4-for-6 from beyond the arc. He was one of six Bruins in double figures.
"They're a great team," said senior Marcus Lee, who recorded his fifth double-double with 19 points and a career-high 15 rebounds. "They can shoot from all five positions. That's really hard to defend because you have to spread out wider and then still play help defense. They played that really well and worked to their strengths."
"They're talented," added Jones. "We pressed them and they took the shots we wanted them to take. The problem was they made them."
The biggest concern for Cal (7-9, 1-2) right now - and there are many - has to be the awful starts. In their last four games, the Bears have been outscored in the first half by an average of 47-29. Needless to say, that is not a recipe for success.
"I'm looking for the answer to that," Jones admitted. "I'm going into the game feeling great, knowing we had a great week of practice and feeling really good about it. And then we have a slow start and I'm shaking my head as well. ... Our guys just have to do a better job of coming out of the gates ready to throw the first punch."
"I think we just need to come out fired up," added Lee. "We come out in the second half fired up with energy after the game settles in, but we have to do that in the first half. We have to throw the first punch instead of sitting back and waiting for it."
"It's frustrating for all of us on the team," said freshman Justice Sueing, who scored a game-high 22 points. "But we're working to fix that, and we need to fix it sooner than later."
Cal will try to bounce back Thursday night against Washington. Fortunately, that game is in Seattle.