Holiday Heart-Stopper: Austin’s game-winner carries Bears past Cal Poly, 67-66

By Morris Phillips When you win, everybody feels great. But when it requires a last-second, game-winner to avoid a distasteful measure of embarrassment, almost nobody feels great immediately, and some don’t feel settled for as many as 48 hours. Paris Austin’s free-throw line jump shot with three seconds remaining delivered the first feeling without erasing […]

Sueing Doing Work: Cal’s leading, returning scorer breaks out in 89-83 win over SDSU

By Morris Phillips BERKELEY–The biggest mystery surrounding Cal basketball through seven games was the struggles of Justice Sueing, the team’s leading, returning scorer who hadn’t looked comfortable or been as productive as he was in his breakout, freshman campaign. Under the bright lights of a tense, tight ballgame versus San Diego State on Saturday night, […]

USF shoots past Cal, 79-60, beats Bears for the first time since 1997

Photo of USF’s Frankie Ferrari courtesy of Eric Taylor/1st String Sports By Morris Phillips BERKELEY — Losses of this magnitude don’t disappear from the consciousness easily. Normal losses linger, and this one was far from normal. After the Dons’ 79-60 win at Haas Pavilion, the Cal Bears find themselves at the crossroads. At 2-6, they’ve […]

Wrong Exit: St. Mary’s too much for Cal in neighborhood clash, beat the Bears 83-71

By Morris Phillips MORAGA — St. Mary’s first four-game losing streak since February 2007 essentially ended when the Cal Bears’ charter bus left Berkeley on Saturday and took a full hour to cover the 14 miles between the campuses. That’s too long to travel, and if the Caldecott Tunnel could speak, the tunnel would confirm […]

No O: Bears’ offense missing in ninth consecutive Big Game loss to Stanford, 23-13

By Morris Phillips BERKELEY — If you’re a California Golden Bear, only one word applies: agonizing. After eight consecutive Big Game losses to Stanford, the Cal Bears envisioned a new day, a portal in which they could charge through and disconnect the dominance the hated Cardinal had come to possess. Just one problem: Cal’s offense […]

Balanced Bears good early and dominating late in 78-66 win over Santa Clara

By Morris Phillips BERKELEY — After an eight-win season, the Cal Bears needed to get better, and they did that, with Coach Wyking Jones welcoming freshmen Matt Bradley and Andre Kelly. But an influx in talent doesn’t always mesh, and new mouths to feed means old mouths can occasionally go hungry. So with Santa Clara […]

New Math in Berkeley: A pair of pick-sixes equals win No. 7 for the Bears, 33-21

By Morris Phillips BERKELEY — Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium was another example of what the heck’s going on with Cal football–winners of four of their last five games, bowl eligible and eager to see the Stanford Cardinal a week from now. The quick take: the Cal offense won’t necessarily scare their opponents, but the […]

Temple captures third place with 76-59 win over Cal at Legends Classic

By Morris Phillips Cal’s basketball roster isn’t blessed with superior size or experience with no one over 6’8″ starting, and junior transfer Paris Austin and Roman Davis the only players with more than a year at the Division I level. Given that, it isn’t a surprise that the Bears aren’t very good defensively, at least […]

Bears nearly craft an upset over St. John’s at the Legends Classic in Brooklyn, lose 82-79

By Morris Phillips The Bears, with their cast of unheralded underclassmen, appeared to be quite a match for St. John’s and pre-season Big East Player of the Year Shamorie Ponds on Monday in Brooklyn. At least for 37 of the game’s 40 minutes they were. That’s when the hometown hero took over. The Red Storm […]

2018 Big Game between Stanford and Cal rescheduled for Dec. 1

Photo credit: gostanford.com By: Ana Kieu PALO ALTO–I know a lot of college football fans in the Bay Area were looking forward to the 2018 Big Game between the Stanford Cardinal and California Golden Bears at Memorial Stadium this Saturday, but that fun-filled day will have to wait as the heavy smoke from the devastating […]