By Morris Phillips
BERKELEY–In Berkeley these days, Moore means more. More buckets, more assists and steals. So much more, Bears’ fans collectively must be wondering, how much more they can expect from Charlie Moore, the 5’11” guard from Chicago burning up the stat sheet in his first taste of college basketball.
Moore was at again Sunday at Haas Pavilion, scoring 22 points in Cal’s 67-55 win over Southeastern Lousiana. But the cerebral freshman didn’t just score, he buried it from deep (four made threes), came up with a crafty steal for a breakaway layup, and took control of the game early when it was still up for grabs.
“Gosh, he’s got such a great future in front of him,” SE Louisiana coach Jay Ladner gushed. “He’s an outstanding player and he was really the difference in the game, in fact the three he hit late, when we cut it to nine was a huge play so give him credit.”
Pac-12 network color commentator Steve Lavin talked about the polish in Moore’s game during the telecast, and spoke to the freshman about his ability to improvise one trip, then work within an offensive set the next trip. Moore doesn’t have to do much explaining, prep observers have already spoken extensively about the guard’s exploits on the AAU circuit after his junior year of high school in which he outplayed more heralded prep stars, then followed that by averaging 28 points per game in his senior season for Morgan Park H.S.
Moore originally passed on California and VCU to sign with Memphis and Coach Josh Pastner. But when Pastner left Memphis for Georgia Tech, Moore had already negotiated his out in the event of a coaching change. With his recruitment reopened, Moore chose Cal.
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