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Bears Stumble Against Syracuse

February 1, 2025
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BERKELEY (AP) – Lucas Taylor scored 19 points, J.J. Starling added 18 points, and Syracuse beat California 75-66 on Saturday night.

Syracuse (10-12, 4-7 ACC) snapped a three-game losing streak.

Jeremiah Wilkinson and Jovan Blacksher Jr. scored 20 points apiece for Cal (11-11, 4-7), which lost its second straight contest following a three-game win streak. Rytis Petraitis added 13 points and eight rebounds.

Starling made back-to-back layups to open the game, Taylor followed with a jumper and Elijah Moore hit a 3-pointer to make it 9-0 about three minutes into the game and Syracuse never trailed. Chris Bell scored in the lane and then hit a 3 to cap a 10-1 run that gave the Orange a 13-point lead with nine minutes until halftime.

Cal used a pair of 11-0 runs to twice get within seven points in the second half and Petraitis scored seven points in a 9-3 spurt that made it 67-61 when Blacksher made a layup with 1:14 to play, but the Bears got no closer.

The Golden Bears shot just 17% (4 of 23) from the field and made 2 of 14 (14%) from 3-point range in the first half and trailed 40-23 at the break. Cal had stretches of seven- and five-plus minutes without a made field goal before intermission.

Andrej Stojakovic, Cal's leading scorer (18.9 points per game; third in the ACC) this season, missed his fourth consecutive game.

UP NEXT

Cal hosts NC State on Wednesday in Haas Pavilion. Tipoff is at 8 p.m. PT and ACC Network will televise the contest.

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Discussion from...

Bears Stumble Against Syracuse

1,018 Views | 7 Replies | Last: 18 hrs ago by HearstMining
ncbears
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7:54a, 2/2/25
Well, that's not very encouraging about Andrej.

But, I've heard this from Madsen before - he's taking responsibility; he has to be better. So, taking responsibility is fine - but that has to be followed by action. All has some truth - but the failure to get rebounds, the failure to try pass the ball into the interior of the zone - those are on the players. Let's see if he carries through on reduction of minutes.
I keep expecting Campbell, Tucker, JOJ to drive the lanes. But, right now, it is just Wilkinson. It would have been nice for Madsen in saying the Bears need a driver and that's Andrej to have said "we need Andrej so we have another driver other than Wilkinson" - I'm hoping it was just a slight oversight to not mention Wilkinson in that moment.

The full court press worked pretty well - and, at the beginning of the season, much talk was about the "depth" which would allow the Bears to press more because there were enough bodies available so no one person would get too worn out. But, that has not happened.
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upsetof86
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10:22p, 2/2/25
Deeper bench to unleash a full court press style of play is one of those mythical "solutions" for lesser talented teams. Forty minutes of hell blah blah blah. Just some consistency would be nice. Layered with some key player development over the course of the season.
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BeachedBear
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In reply to upsetof86 • 7:22a, 2/3/25
upsetof86 said:
Deeper bench to unleash a full court press style of play is one of those mythical "solutions" for lesser talented teams. Forty minutes of hell blah blah blah. Just some consistency would be nice. Layered with some key player development over the course of the season.
A couple of teams have actually succeeded with 40 minutes of hell. That original Arkansas team and a couple of early UCONN teams under Calhoun.

BOTH of those teams were loaded with talent and had coaching legends,

Which is why everyone laughed when Jones dropped that gem.

The only solution against superior talent is better execution. There are no magic strategies or tactics at this level (otherwise, everyone would be using them).
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HearstMining
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7:58a, 2/3/25
40 Minutes of Hell and Calhoun's UConn teams were pre-NIL and pre-Portal. I doubt that today's top players would be willing to get in the kind of top physical condition required to play full-court press for an entire game. Plus, it emphasizes defensive skills that are not highly valued in the NBA. They'd transfer out if required to do it. It's too bad - a well-executed press and well-executed press break add an interesting dimension to the game.
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3Cats4CAL
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1:56p, 2/3/25
So far Madsen's press comments in these bad losses always includes him taking ownership/placing blame on the coach but I don't see any improvement/adjustments. I wonder what happened in their Players Only Meeting?
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Calfan92
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2:11p, 2/3/25
Sounds familiar.....
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HearstMining
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5:11p, 2/3/25
Madsen's comment that he should have anticipated Syracuse playing zone due to Cal's poor outside shooting stats gives me a concern. One or more people on his staff should have responsibility for scouting, determining what to expect from opponents and bringing that info to the rest of the coaching staff. Somebody is not doing their job.
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