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Cal Basketball
Bears Start Slow, Pull Away from Saint Martin’s in Exhibition
For the first half, it looked like some new players but the same defensive product. The Bears gave up 41 points to Division II Saint Martin’s and clung to a three-point lead at halftime. But a 13-4 run to begin the second half gave the Bears some breathing room and it never got close again as Cal rolled to a 98-75 win in Mark Fox’s first game on the sidelines at Haas Pavillion Wednesday night.
“It was great to finally play a game,” Fox said after the exhibition game. “It’s why we all fell in love with the game, it’s a chance to compete and to play. So it was really good for our team to have a chance to play.”
Graduate transfer Kareem South led all scorers with 23 points on 9-for-18 shooting from the field. Sophomore guard Matt Bradley chipped in 18 points on 4-for-8 shooting from the three-point line. And junior forward Grant Anticevich showed the improvement we’ve seen and heard about in the off-season, going for 13 points on 6-for-8 shooting from the field. Overall, the Bears shot 54.4% from the field, including 40.7% from the three-point line.
But perhaps the most impressive stat of the game was the team going for a combined 26 assists and just six turnovers. Senior point guard Paris Austin led the team with seven assists and zero turnovers. Freshman guard Joel Brown added six assists and zero turnovers in 14 minutes. And Bradley chipped in another five assists with just one turnover.
“The thing I like about our team is we tend to practice unselfishly,” Fox said. “I don’t think we have anyone that’s a ball-stopper. And I think they enjoyed helping each other get better.”
Ball movement was key as the Saint Martin’s Saints used a zone the entire game, attempting to mask the talent and size deficiencies. South said the team leaned on the coach’s designed plays to get guys open. “We were very unselfish and we got guys open,” he said.
Cal went up 34-19 with 8:15 to go in the first half after a Bradley three. But the Bears would score just 10 points over the next eight minutes while Saint Martin’s went on a 22-10 run to close Cal’s lead to three at halftime. But some halftime defensive adjustments proved to work as Cal opened the second half on a 15-4 run in the first five minutes to go up 59- 45. The lead wouldn’t drop below double digits the rest of the game and Cal would use another 13-2 run to take a 21-point lead and put the game out of reach.
“There’s one thing we hadn’t even talked about in practice yet,” Fox said of one defensive scheme they implemented in the second half. “We just haven’t had a chance to get to it. It’s one scheme we haven’t taught our team yet. We just kinda taught it — really we just taught it during a timeout — and it slowed them down a bit.”
After the Saints went 7-for-14 from three in the first half, Cal’s defensive adjustments and energy held the Saints to just 4-for-12 from long-range in the second half.
“Obviously an excellent three-point shooting team, which that’s all we really knew about them coming in — no game film, nothing to prepare on,” Fox said. “But credit to them for shooting the three-point shot well.”
Fox wasn’t impressed with Cal’s defense overall on the night.
“Our defense probably isn’t in the same galaxy that it takes to beat good teams,” he said. “But we’ll learn a lot from tonight’s game.
“We’ll have to play a lot, lot better next week to have opportunities to win.”
Besides South, many other newcomers looked solid. In addition to the assists, Brown’s defensive presence and energy were impressive. Seven-foot freshman, Lars Thiemann got the start and shined at moments, showing a good ability to follow missed shots, smooth footwork, and a deft shot-blocking ability. The German greenhorn finished with nine points on 4-for-4 shooting from the field and grabbed five rebounds. He also had four of the team’s six blocks and altered many shots in the paint.
“Lars has an unbelievable demeanor,” Fox said.. “I mean, it’s hard to rattle Lars. He’s very poised. He’s not wise beyond his years, but he’s very poised.”
Other freshmen, D.J. Thorpe and Dimitrios Klonaras also added three points each and looked good in limited action with Klonaras logging 10 minutes and Thorpe just six.
However, highly anticipated freshman forward Kuany Kuany was sidelined with a knee brace. Junior wing Juhwan Harris-Dyson also didn’t suit up for the Bears or go through any warmup drills. Fox said he expects both of them back at some point but didn’t give a timetable.
The Bears return to action for their official season-opener against Pepperdine Nov. 5. Pepperdine returns a veteran core and is led by former Washington coach, Lorenzo Romar.
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