On Saturday, Cal men’s basketball defeated the CSU-Northridge Matadors by a final score of 87-56 at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley. Cal grad transfers Makale Foreman (23 points) and Ryan Betley (19 points) led the way for the Golden Bears while redshirt junior guard T.J. Starks was the top performer for the Matadors with 13 points. Cal improves to 4-4 overall (0-2 in the Pac-12) while CSU-Northridge falls to 3-3 overall (0-0 in the Big West).

“I thought it was a quality performance from our young people,” Cal head coach Mark Fox said after the game. “I thought we did a lot of things that were really sound and allowed us to build a lead and get some young guys some experience…Today we were efficient and hopefully we can stay that way.”

“I just think we were ready to go,” Ryan Betley added. “Our coaches did a good job of scouting. I think we were growing as a team; we had a game winner the other day, and I think that momentum really helped us…We were down the whole time against San Francisco, coming back to win that showed that we can win.”

The big news going into the game was the absence of junior guard Matt Bradley (ankle) and senior forward Grant Anticevich (appendectomy). Bradley injured his ankle during the win over San Francisco and wasn’t able to practice all week while Anticevich had an emergency issue with his appendix, requiring an appendectomy in the wee hours of Friday morning.

“I don’t know,” Fox said of when Bradley and Anticevich may return. “We had some hopes for Matt today, but he hasn’t been able to practice and he turned an ankle in the last game and it really swelled up on him over night. Fair to consider him day to day.

“Grant will be out for a significant amount of time. We are just grateful he is with us and on the mend. I think his surgery ended up occurring Friday morning in the wee hours, but you get a call in the middle of the night and I got to the hospital as quickly as I could. He had a great roommate [Kuany Kuany] who took care of him and got him to the hospital. He got the emergency surgery and it went well and we are just hopeful that we’ll get him back sometime early next year.”

As a result of the absence of Bradley and Anticevich, Cal inserted sophomores Joel Brown and Lars Thiemann into the starting lineup. Both guys have started in the past and looked comfortable in their roles.

“Yeah, hearing that they’re out is definitely a hit,” Betley said of Bradley and Anticevich’s absence. “They’re two very talented guys. But I think we have that next man up mentality…Coming off our game winner, we used that momentum and used it into today and hopefully that mentality continues.”

Cal got off to a strong 6-2 start with 15:40 to go in the half. Ryan Betley, Makale Foreman, and Andre Kelly each had 2 points. With 13:33 to go in the half, Cal would lead 15-6 as Betley was up to 7 points. Cal sophomore transfer guard Jarred Hyder, fresh off the news of his eligibility, was already on the board with a layup.

“Having Jarred back is huge,” Fox said. “It’s gonna allow us to have a lot more versatility and so he’s going to take him time to get comfortable. It may take him a few weeks, but at least we have him on the court and that was great to see.”

During the next couple of minutes, the game would tighten up a bit as Cal led 18-14 with 10:52 to go in the half. Foreman was up to 5 points for Cal. As a team, the Bears were shooting 7-11 (63.6%) from the field and 2-6 from 3-point range. CSUN was getting back in the game as Lance Coleman II and Alex Merkviladze each had 5 points.

With 6:49 to go in the half, Cal was up 30-16, currently on a 12-2 run. Makale Foreman was up to 13 points, having just joined his teammates Matt Bradley and Ryan Betley in the 1000 career points club. With 3:41 to go in the half, Cal continued to lead 34-20 as Betley was up to 10 points joining Foreman in double figures.

At the half, Cal led 43-25. Foreman (15 points) and Betley (13 points) were playing their best games as a duo for this Bears team. As for the Matadors, Merkviladze was their top scorer with 7 points.

“It felt good, it’s about time,” Betley said of his performance. “I haven’t shot well the last couple games. I gotta get back on track and keep making shots.”

Cal continued to dominate, up 56-32 with 15:19 to go. Foreman was now up to 20 points while Betley (13 points) and Brown (10 points) were making their impact felt. It was an all around impressive team effort from the Bears. Nothing changed over the next few minutes as Cal led 59-36 with 12:55 to go. Betley was now up 16 points. Cal was shooting 21-35 (60.0%) from the field and 7-14 (50.0%) from deep.

“Makale has been a joy to have in our program,” Fox said of Foreman. “He has an unbelievable spirit that he brings every day, but I tell you what, his spirit and ability to lead and talk when he plays has been a great addition and we are thankful that he chose to come.”

With 11:53 to go, Cal led 61-36 after Hyder got his second bucket of the game. Cal would then go on a 15-4 run to lead 76-40 with 7:19 to go. Lars Thiemann was quietly having a nice outing with 8 points and 6 rebounds while D.J. Thorpe was now on the board with a slam inside. All things were going Cal’s way.

One thing to take from this game is the fact that Cal does have some pieces to make life easier for Matt Bradley, who at times has forced things and tried to do too much on his own. After the game, Ryan Betley said this has been a topic that he’s brought up with Bradley.

“For sure and I talked to him about that,” Betley said. “We think that we have guys who can help him out this year and help him out on the offensive end. We got guys who can make shots and take some pressure off him, too.”

With under 5 minutes to go, Cal led 82-43 after a transition dunk from freshman guard Jalen Celestine, the first points of his Cal career. If that wasn’t a sign of this being a blessed day for the Bears, I don’t know what is. To CSUN’s credit, they battled over the next few minutes to make it an 85-54 lead for Cal with 2:25 to go. It was a nice little 9-3 run, but nothing that would change the outcome of the contest.

In the end, Cal walked out with a solid 87-56 victory. It was truly a big time confidence boosting win for the Bears, who were without their top two scorers. Everyone got in on the action. Kuany Kuany made his presence felt with a couple of blocks to go along with a nice 3-point play, Jarred Hyder had 6 points in his Cal debut, and most notably, Joel Brown finished with 10 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists, and a wild plus/minus of +41. This was the type of basketball Mark Fox has been waiting to see his players play.

“Joel was really good defensively,” Fox said. “Everyone will talk about he made all his baskets, eight assists, and was really sound offensively, but his impact was greatest on defense because he took on an outstanding player.”

Up next for Cal is a home game against Seattle U on Tuesday. That game will tipoff at 2:00 PM PST on Pac-12 Networks.