I am sure that Schroeder will soon give us one of his great pre-game write-ups on UC Riverside. In anticipation, this will be the first time we will be able to compare our own outcome versus that of another PAC12 team, USC, which recently beat UC Riverside 76-59.

Some stats that stood out in that one - USC was outrebounded 38-32; USC forced 18 TO's by UCR versus only 6 TO's by USC; USC had a huge advantage in free throws attempted 25-8; field goal scoring was otherwise about even.

I'll wait for S71's analysis, but, I think we should beat UCR by 20 and give a lot of playing opportunities to all the players on our roster.

Go Bears!

UC Riverside overview: 1-3
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https://gohighlanders.com/sports/womens-basketball/stats/2019-2020/usc/boxscore/12540

Last season, UCR was 17-16. They return 5 of their top 6 scorers. They opened this season (like Cal) w/ a roadtrip (three games). Their best player, Jannon Otto, went down on the opening tip-off of their opener at New Mexico. Otto is a six foot senior SG who averaged 15.2 ppg. She draws a lot of fouls and made 100 free throws (83%) last year. She missed the next two games at New Mexico State (2 point win) & at UTEP (13 point loss). Jannon returned to the starting lineup for their home opener against USC and played 18 minutes.

The Highlanders play a nine player rotation. Their next two best players are two French frontline forwards. UC Riverside is a veteran team (four senior starters) but undersized and senior 6-2 Marina Ewodo was their #2 scorer (11.9 ppg) & rebounder (6.9 rpg) for 2018-19. Her country mate, 6-0 soph Daphne Gnago, was the team's top rebounder as a freshman w/ 7.7 boards on average and contributed 7.3 ppg (#5 scorer). She blocked three shots vs SC. Obviously-this girl can jump!

I'm not certain whether UC Riverside plays four guards and one post or two frontline forwards and three backcourt players. Last season, UCR only shot 26.3% from three point country which should help Cal. They only averaged 61.9 ppg on offense, too.

Their fourth and fifth starters DNP last season so they are "wildcards". SF 6-1 senior Skyler Lewis and 5-6 senior transfer guard Ann Jernigan. The top scorer off the bench is 6-0 junior SG Keilani Cooper. She averaged 9.4 ppg (#3 scorer).

Troy outscored the Highlanders in every quarter and won comfortably by 17 points. USC surrounded 6-5 frosh center Angel Jackson (from Salesian HS) with four guards/wings. They stole the ball a dozen times and forced 18 UCR turnovers. OTOH-the Highlanders only caused six Trojan TOs.

bottomline: Cal NEEDS to capture this home game tomorrow at 5 pm. If the Bears play tough defense like they did in the first halves of both the Harvard & UConn games, they should open up a lead that they can hold onto for their first 2019 victory. ***It's hard to predict Cal's offense*** because the players that showed against UConn were invisible against Harvard and vice versa. It would help if Jaelyn Brown would contribute to the team's scoring as was expected as the team's top returning scorer. I'll go out on limb and predict UC Berkeley defeats UC Riverside by 15 points! GO BEARS!

So, we get the "livestream" of just the Haas announcer and the videoscreen.
That's ok.

Tied at 2!

I am getting no video. Just audio.

A pretty Green to West for the final basket of the first puts Cal up 19-14.
Don't really have a sense of the team through this period. Some pretty good tight defense.
3-5 on threes - which is encouraging.
But, Cal is being outrebounded 12-9. Cal gave up 7 Offensive rebounds (while getting 6 themselves)

Are others getting picture?

I have video. I went in through Pac-12.com.

Bears have gotten sloppy after getting to a 25-14 lead.
Brown then took a seat with two fouls.
25-19 Bears.

ncbears said:

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I have video. I went in through Pac-12.com.

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They're doing dance-cam - so you're lucky if you still don't have video

LS is 0-4
McIntosh is 3-5 (2-4)
SA is 2-3 (1-1)
Green is 0-2 from three
CJ is 2-3
Crocker 0-1 (but 2-2 on FT)
Styles 2
Brown 3

Pretty pass from LM to LS for the bucket.

SA had a horrid turnover, but next time down, drains it from deep.
Enjoying watching McIntosh.
UCR seems a little out of sorts on offense movement which puts the Bears into clumps.

34-27 Bears

I tried the app, through calbears, and through pac site. All three audio only for me. But if i try different streams they all work fine. Weird.

UCR star Otto has two fouls and 14 points.
UCR is getting some open midrange jumpers

blungld said:

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I tried the app, through calbears, and through pac site. All three audio only for me. But if i try different streams they all work fine. Weird.

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Maybe change browsers? I'm watching on IE.

So, normally, the live stats are ahead of the video. But today, the video stream's "score" on the page is ahead of the video.

While Cal goes ice-cold, UCR gets hot and we are tied at 36 at half.

In this game, you can see our recent recruiting and transfer issues. Our talent on the floor doesn't look any better than UC Riverside's.

Both teams are 13-32, but Cal is 5-11 from three and UCR is 2-7
UCR is 8-8 on free throws and Cal is 5-6.
UCR has one more defensive rebound than Cal - 11-10 and both teams have 9 offensive rebounds.
Even points in paint are close - with UCR leading 16-14.
UCR, however, is credited with 6 steals and Cal has zero.

SA is Cal's leading scorer with 10 (4-5, 2-2)
LM is next with 8 (3-7,2-4) 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 turnovers.
Crocker, West and Brown each have two fouls

annarborbear said:

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In this game, you can see our recent recruiting and transfer issues. Our talent on the floor doesn't look any better than UC Riverside's.

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well, Cal did look better when pushed the lead out to 25-14 - but, alas and alack, that didn't hold. It looked more like Cal lost its way which UCR exploited.

I am sick so didn't make it to the game. Looks like Charmin is almost treating this like an exhibition game. Almost all equal minutes. Will be interesting to see the second half if some of the starters get more time. Green looks really rusty.

UCR normally scores approximately 60 ppg but is on track for 72 against Cal. Bears are lackadaisical effort wise and have been outrebounded 20-19 by a weak and short Highlander squad. Riverside has six steals as compared to zero by Cal at intermission. Cal players are moving slowly and CJ West has allowed 4-5 inside baskets in 10 minutes on the floor. The Highlanders are out hustling the Bears for loose balls and long rebounds.

Jannon Otto has 14 points at intermission. Jaelyn Brown continues to be unrecognizable to me as far as the player that scored in double figures in various Pac 12 games in the past.

Cal needs to play with some intensity in the 2nd half. The problem is that the first half has been the Bear's good defensive half against both Harvard & UConn. GO BEARS!

Well, it's 46-37 now as the Bears open on a 10-1 run.
But, I don't disagree with S71 comments about how the Bears looked after getting the 25-14 lead.

Brown with a nice drive and pass-out to SA for 3 putting Cal out to 50-39 lead.
Bears are fighting for the defensive rebound. UCR's shots are not falling - seemingly as Bears have hands up in the faces of the shooters this quarter.

How does Chen put up two shots that hit the bottom of the rim - at least on the third try she got the ball high enough to score.

Pretty good quarter. Cal leads57-45. That's a 21-9 quarter - well, it started 10-1, so it was 11-8 after that.
SA with 15
LM with 10
CJ with 12
Brown is 1-5! but with 6 rebounds and two assists

7:30 to go, Cal extends lead to 63-49.

Brown puts up a three - and just starts heading back on defense, because she KNOWS it's going to be good and it is: 66-49.

Bears driving and are fouled and make consecutive four free throws to lead 70-49

77-54 and the Bears are running away

Richey and Olson in with 3 minutes and change to go.

Richey closes the Bears' scoring out with a three and BEARS WIN 84-61
First win for Coach Smith!
Bears shoot 45.2% (28-62) and 42.9 on 3 (9-21)

Great comments from Coach Smith at the end.
She apologized for turnovers - but stressed that the team was playing hard and would get better.
She asked everyone there to bring a friend as she promises to work to getting Haas filled!
What a nice way to connect after your first win!

All of a sudden we are a great shooting team, including 90% from the free throw line. Hope people can retain that confidence in their shots.

https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=279600