Cal Goes Cold: Colorado advances to Pac-12 quarters with 56-51 win

photo by sportsradioservice.com Shawn McCullough By Morris Phillips Defense had the Cal Bears sniffing an upset in Las Vegas Wednesday afternoon. But their ineffective offense couldn’t close the deal. The Bears fell 56-51 to Colorado in the first round of the Pac-12 tournament ending their season, and a three-game win streak that created belief the […]

Confident Cal makes it two in a row, dumps WSU

By Morris Phillips BERKELEY, Calif. — It’s never too late to reinvent yourselves. In fact, doing so prior to the Pac-12 tournament might be a stroke of genius. The Cal Bears made it two straight wins–after 16 losses–by putting the clamps on Washington State Saturday at Haas Pavilion, 76-69. The resurgent Bears now have the […]

Not On Senior Day, You Don’t: ASU survives upset bid from Cal in 69-59 win

By Morris Phillips With a squad as youthful as Bobby Hurley’s Sun Devils, success on Senior Day is only attainable if all hands are on deck. Arizona State had something less than that in a first half in which they shot 26 percent and trailed the winless Golden Bears by six. But their response after […]

Struggling Arizona experiences few issues with defenseless Cal

By Morris Phillips The struggling Arizona Wildcats hadn’t won a game in three weeks, but those issues didn’t persist with the Cal Bears visiting McKale Center Thursday night. The Bears shooting percentage defense ranks just above the bottom of the spectrum in 353-member Division I basketball, which brings into question whether a team playing defense […]

USC, Boatwright take control early, Trojans rout the Bears 89-66

By Morris Phillips BERKELEY, CA–The Golden Bear highlight of the evening? Jacob Orender’s 3-pointer in the game’s final minutes. For Cal, that’s not good. The Bears started lethargically, likely in deference to the effort they expended in an overtime loss to UCLA on Wednesday, and were routed by the USC Trojans on Saturday evening, 89-66. […]

Running Out Of Gas: UCLA hangs around then stuns Cal in OT, 75-67

By Morris Phillips BERKELEY, Calif. — Typically, the Cal Bears can’t seem to stop anyone from scoring. On Wednesday, their issues were with scoring themselves. From a competitive standpoint, the change put the Bears in a more esteemed place by leaps and bounds than they’ve been during a lengthy, 12-game losing streak. But ultimately, losing […]

Coaches On The Floor: OSU too smart in crunch time for winless Cal

By Morris Phillips Ethan Thompson may be just a sophomore in accordance with his NCAA status, but on Saturday afternoon with the game on the line, the wily point guard was Oregon State’s professor emeritus. With OSU clinging to a 73-71 lead with less than two minutes remaining, Thompson drove on Cal’s Darius McNeill and […]

Not Much Difference: Cal competitive early then wilts at Oregon in 73-62 loss

By Morris Phillips Cal’s high point was also the beginning of the end for the Bears on Wednesday at Oregon’s Matthew Knight Arena. A 7-0 run capped by Justice Sueing’s three-point play gave the Bears a 15-13 lead with 9:32 remaining in the first half.  It would be the final lead for the Bears on […]

What Now?: Late game, reversed call prevents Cal from ending losing skid

By Morris Phillips BERKELEY, Calif. — The made shots, assists, team effort and the coaching staff’s approval all leaned heavily toward the Cal Bears on Sunday afternoon. The critical, late game calls made by the officials did not. The Bears appeared to gain an 83-83 tie on Matt Bradley’s physical drive for a bucket and […]

Making Themselves At Home: Utah the latest visitor to take advantage at Haas Pavilion, win 82-64

By Morris Phillips BERKELEY, CA–Utah needed to do two things: get their offense cranked up to take advantage of one of the nation’s worst defenses, and play the typically, stingy ball-hawking defense that Larry Krystkowiak-coached teams are known for. To Krystkowiak’s dismay, the Utah offense kicked in immediately while his defense took its sweet time […]