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Cal MBB battles tough in loss to #25 Arizona State

On Thursday night, Cal men’s basketball fell to #25 Arizona State by a final score of 70-62. Arizona State senior guard Remy Martin finished with 22 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists while Cal junior guard Matt Bradley finished with 20 points and 8 rebounds. Arizona State improves to 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the Pac-12 while Cal falls to 2-2 and 0-1 in the Pac-12.

“I thought that our team showed that we’ve improved,” Cal head coach Mark Fox said after the game. “We played a terrific opponent and it was a really competitive game. A game we knew we knew we needed to play fairly mistake free to win. Their senior leader, Remy Martin, controlled the game. They were hard to guard and offensively we turned it over too much to beat a nationally ranked team.”

Early on, this game was tight as Arizona State led 5-3 with 15:58 to go in the first half. Remy Martin and sophomore forward Jalen Graham were on the board for Arizona State while grad transfer guard Makale Foreman was on the board for Cal with a deep 3-pointer. Arizona State was without senior guard Alonzo Verge, Jr. as expected due to COVID-19 tracing and had to figure out ways to make up for his absence.

With 11:43 to go in the half, Cal led 9-7 after a corner jumper from grad transfer wing Ryan Betley. It was ugly offense from both teams: 0 points for Arizona State in the last 3:58; 4 turnovers from Cal in the last 3:40.

After a hoop plus the harm inside from senior forward Grant Anticevich, Cal led 20-17 with 7:34 to go. Bradley and Betley each had 5 points for Cal, who was continuing to hang tough. After a sluggish start to the game, both teams were starting to wake up a bit.

The game continued to remain tight in the next few minutes as Arizona State would lead 26-23 with 3:55 to go in the half. Arizona State freshman Josh Christopher was starting to heat up with 10 points on 4-6 shooting from the field while Bradley was up to 8 points for Cal. Arizona State (7 turnovers) and Cal (8 turnovers) both needed to take better care of the ball.

After a pair of 3-pointers from Foreman, Cal led 32-31 with 1:39 to go in the half. Foreman was up to 9 points, giving Cal a much needed offensive burst.

“The three-point shot that we want to utilize,” Fox said. “Something that is a valuable part of offensive play today…We’re not shooting the 3-point shot well, but we’re going to be a team that likes to use the 3-point line.”

At the half, Arizona State led 35-34. To Cal’s credit, they were really battling hard, keeping the game much closer than expected. Martin (12 points) and Christopher (10 points) were leading the Sun Devils while Bradley (13 points) and Foreman (9 points) were pacing the Bears.

With 15:49 to go, Arizona State pulled ahead to a 46-40 lead, their largest lead of the game up until this point. Cal continued to battle hard, though Arizona State was hoping they’d finally gain the separation they’ve been looking for all night. Martin was up to 16 points as Arizona State was shooting 17-30 (56.7%) from the field. Cal in turn was shooting 15-34 (44.1%) from the field.

With 11:52 to go, Arizona State maintained a six-point cushion up 52-46 after a thunderous slam from Graham. Bradley (18 points) was doing all he could for Cal as the only Bear in double figures. Others needed to step up. On that note, a much needed 3-pointer from Betley cut Arizona State’s lead in half as the Sun Devils led 54-51 with 9:26 to go. Bradley was up to 20 points while Betley was up to 10 points.

“Yeah, I think definitely adjusting a little bit,” Betley said of his transition to the Pac-12. “Different style of play from the Ivy League. More isolation basketball. Just trying to figure out my role. Coach Fox has done a great job and my teammates have helped me out here. I think the main thing is it’s a different speed. I turned the ball over 5 times, which is inexcusable. We had 20 turnovers as a team. It’s hard to win a game when you have 20 turnovers. If we have half of that, it’s a much different game.”

One of the most costly turnovers of the game for Cal was when Remy Martin got a crucial steal and finished on the other end to give Arizona State a 56-53 lead with 7:02 to go. Cal had a chance to give themselves the lead and instead allowed Arizona State to push their lead back to three points. One thing that was going Cal’s way was their 29-23 rebounding advantage. By taking advantage of their superior size, Cal was able to make things difficult for Arizona State down low.

The game continued to remain close as Arizona State led 63-60 with 3:06 to go. Anticevich got a huge pull up jumper to fall. Cal was right in this game. The question was could they pull off the upset.

With 2:24 to go, Arizona State led 66-60 after a huge 3-pointer from Holland Woods II, a transfer from Portland State. Moments later, Anticevich would go to the line for Cal and knock down both foul shots, making it a 66-62 game with 2:11 to go. A bucket from Martin made it a 68-62 lead for Arizona State with 1:42. On the following play, Arizona State freshman Marcus Bagley went down with an injury and did not return.

With a chance to cut the game to three points, Cal point guard Joel Brown committed the 19th of 20 total Cal turnovers, allowing Arizona State to maintain a 68-62 lead with 41.5 to go. In the end, Arizona State walked out with a 70-62 win. It wasn’t the prettiest of wins for Arizona State, but considering it was on the road and they were without one of their better players, it’s a win they’ll be happy to take all the same.

“I think their experience and understanding how to win consistently,” Fox said. “They’ve been a tournament team for a couple years in a row. They know how to win…I think Remy Martin, he’s terrific. He controlled the game and led his team to victory.”

As for Cal, while it’s disappointing that they didn’t get across the finish line, they have to feel good about the way they battled and competed for the full 40 minutes. They did a lot of things right like out-rebounding Arizona State 36-27, making seven 3-pointers, and getting a big night from Bradley. At the same time, there’s also a lot that they can work on like taking better care of the ball and giving Bradley more scoring support (Betley was the only other Bear with 10+ points).

“We did a lot of things that I wanted to do that would give ourselves a chance to win,” Fox said. “I look at tonight that we’ve grown as a team. We battled hard. We made too many errors that cost a chance to win, but we did a lot of things that if we repeat them we’ll have a chance to win. We rebounded the ball well tonight and that will be important going forward.

“I was really pleased with how hard we competed. We went into the last couple of minutes with a chance to win. We played a nationally ranked team, a team that a lot of people picked to win the Pac-12. We competed well enough to give ourselves a chance.”

“I think we played well,” Betley added. “I mean, we played well for 37 minutes or so. Obviously, the end result shows a loss, but this is somewhere we can build on. We can build on this loss. As long as we learn from it, it’s a good game. I want to stay positive. We’re going to have many more opportunities this year, I think at the end of the year, if we learn from this loss, that’s ok. We just gotta keep getting better.”

Up next for Cal is a road game at UCLA. That game will tipoff on Sunday at 5:00 PM PST on Pac-12 Networks.

Note: Cal was without freshman Monty Bowser, who went down in the previous game against Nicholls State. It is unclear when he’ll be back.

As for Arizona State freshman Marcus Bagley, he tweeted after the game: “Thank you for the prayers, I’m good! God is good. Good win.”

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