Bears Drop Defensive Battle To Utah

BERKELEY – California limited Utah to a sub-40-percent field-goal percentage but could not come up with enough offensive momentum in a 58-43 loss to the Runnin’ Utes on Thursday night at Haas Pavilion.

The Golden Bears shot just 34.1 percent (15-of-44) from the floor and 16.7 percent from 3-point range against a Utah (10-4, 3-0 Pac-12) squad that entered Thursday’s contest ranked fifth nationally in field-goal percentage allowed. Kuany Kuany had game highs of 12 points and eight rebounds while Devin Askew and ND Okafor chipped in seven points apiece for Cal (1-13, 0-3).

“We didn’t help each other enough offensively to attack a defense as good as theirs,” Cal head coach Mark Fox said. “I think we’ll look back and say we need to play a lot more efficiently on offense. You have to credit their defense – it’s been terrific against everybody and it was terrific tonight.”

Cal held the Utes to 39.6 percent shooting overall and allowed them to make only 3-of-19 attempts from 3-point range; Utah was the Pac-12 leader in 3-point field-goal percentage (37.5%) through 13 games played.

Trailing 29-18 early in the second half, Cal rallied with a 13-4 run and cut its deficit to two, 33-31, on a jump shot by Joel Brown with 13:40 remaining. The game shifted back to Utah when Wilguens Jr. Exacte answered with a 3-pointer and sparked a 13-0 run that stretched the Utes’ lead to 46-31 with 9:45 to play. The Bears pulled within nine points but did not get closer the rest of the way.

Graduate guard DeJuan Clayton made his Cal debut after missing the first 13 games of the season with an injury. The transfer scored five points to go along with two rebounds and an assist in 22 minutes of play.

UP NEXT

The Bears will take the floor once more during the 2022 calendar year when they host Colorado at 3 p.m. PST on Saturday, Dec. 31. The contest is the front end of a basketball doubleheader in Berkeley, as the Cal women host Arizona afterward at 7 p.m. PST.