Bears Buried in Colorado, 89-60

Looking at the final score it’s hard to believe the Cal men’s basketball team was ever in Thursday’s game at Colorado. But the Bears did have a 7-point lead midway in the first half, and trailed by just 2 points with 6:14 left in the period. 

Then the Buffaloes (10-3, 4-2 Pac-12) simply left the Bears in the proverbial dust. They finished the period on a 12-3 run and never really stopped as they shot their way to an 89-60 victory. 

Still missing leading scorer Matt Bradley (ankle) the Bears (6-8, 1-6) grew stagnant on offense and had no defensive answers for the Buffaloes. With D’Shawn Schwartz (3-for-6) and Jabari Walker (3-for-3) leading the way Colorado shot 57.1 percent from 3-point range and got the lead as high as 31.

“I felt we played a solid 16 or 17 minutes and we took a timeout and talked about finishing the half the right way,” head coach Mark Fox said. “We didn’t do that. We went into the half down double figures and then the dam broke in the second half, we just collapsed. Our defense is nowhere near performing at the level it needs to to win a Pac-12 game on the road.”

Coming off their first conference victory Saturday against Washington, the Bears opened the game in a deliberate, efficient offensive style as they built their slim lead. They worked the ball inside to Andre Kelly (who finished with a team-high 16 points) and picked their spots outside. Makale Foreman hit two straight 3-pointers with the shot clock nearing its end to put Cal up 18-11. Walker answered with two threes of his own to erase all but a point of the lead. 

Cal was still hanging around, but in the final six minutes of the half Cal turned the ball over four times, three without even getting a shot off, as the Buffaloes kept coming.

In the second half, McKinley Wright IV, the Buffaloes’ All-Conference point guard who had been held in check by the Cal defense in the first period, made his presence felt, as he scored all of his 13 points and dished out five assists after halftime. 

Isaiah J, Downing -- USA Today

Wright driving for two

“We did a nice job of defending McKinley Wright in the first half,” Fox said. “But as the great ones do, once they know the first option has stopped they move the ball to get the second option. We didn’t defend the second option deep into a possession as well. ...But you’ve got to be able to guard deep into the possession and take the second option away.”

Isaiah J, Downing -- USA Today

Andre Kelly hits the deck

And as Cal defenders lost track of the Colorado players. Wright always seemed to know where they were and how to get them the ball.

The Bears had crawled to within 9 points in the first two and half minutes of the second period, but then the Buffoles stampeded on a 16-5 run and it was all but over. 

The Cal offense, which had functioned so well early on, struggled as it clearly misses Bradley’s leadership. The problems the Bears had taking care of the ball manifested itself in the fact Colorado scored 23 points off turnovers. 

But even given their offensive troubles, it was the defense that concerned Fox the most. 

“I am not going to be upset about the offensive execution because of the circumstance,” Fox said. “Grant (Anticevich) got his second foul so we were trying to preserve him, and he’s a limited as it is. Also without Kuany who also plays that spot we moved Jalen Celestine over there and to his credit I thought he did an admirable job of giving us those minutes. ...Without Matt, without Kuany and Grant having those limits it’s a challenge offensively. But that shouldn’t excuse what we should do defensively.”

While Anticevich, who is still recovering from his appendectomy figures to become more of a factor in the coming days as he regains strength and endurance, don’t count on seeing Bradley or Kuany anytime soon. 

“Matt Bradley had a terrible ankle sprain, which was just 12 days ago, He’s got a ways to go,” Fox said. “It is not the same ankle as the first time, it was an awful sprain, Unfortunately, he is not as close was we would like him to be. 

“Kuany is in concussion protocol and there are certain benchmarks he has to meet before he is cleared. Everybody heals at a different rate. He’s just waiting to reach the next couple of plateaus.”

Kelly (16), Foreman (13) and Ryan Betley (12) led the Bears in scoring. Walker with 23 and Schwartz 18 led Colorado, while Wright had 12 assists to go with his 13 points..

Cal’s next game is Saturday night at Utah.