Cal MBB falls to Oregon State in Corvallis
On Wednesday, Cal men’s basketball fell to Oregon State in Corvallis by a final score of 71-63. It was a rare “non-conference” game against a Pac-12 opponent. Colorado State being unavailable due to COVID-19 is what triggered the matchup. Oregon State forward Warith Alatishe led the way for the Beavers with 16 points and 8 rebounds while Cal guard Matt Bradley was the top scorer in the game with 21 points and 4 rebounds. Oregon State improves to 1-0 on the season while Cal falls to 0-1.
“I think we started off poor offensively because we were so excited to play,” Cal head coach Mark Fox said after the game. “Defensively, we gave extra effort once we were down double figures. There’ll be a lot to work on from this game.”
Early on, Oregon State took a 12-6 lead with 12:54 to go in the half. Alatishe was up to 4 points while Grant Anticevich, Matt Bradley, and Lars Thiemann each had 2 points for the Bears. Cal was shooting a rough 3-11 from the field, needing to get into more of an offensive groove.
With 10:31 to go in the half, Oregon State led 16-10. Cal was shooting an abysmal 5-14 from the field while Bradley was still stuck at 2 points. Cal would wake up a bit to go on a 6-2 run, closing Oregon State’s lead to just two points. With 7:24 to go in the half, Oregon State now led 18-16. Grad transfer wing Ryan Betley was up to 6 points for Cal on 2-2 shooting from beyond the arc, giving the Bears the offensive lift they were in need of.
Cal wouldn’t be able to keep the momentum going however, as Oregon State went on a 9-0 run to lead 27-20 with 4:49 to go in the half. Alatishe was up to 8 points and 4 rebounds, doing whatever he wanted against a Cal defense that really needed to contain him.
At halftime, Oregon State led 36-31. Alatishe was up to 10 points and 4 rebounds for Oregon State while Bradley was up to 11 points and 3 rebounds for Cal. After a bit of a slow start, Bradley had woken up and was doing his part to keep Cal in the game.
Oregon State got off to a strong start in the second half, leading 47-36 with 15:23 to go. Alatishe (12 points) and Thompson (11 points) led Oregon State while Bradley (16 points) was the only Cal player in double figures. If Cal was to get back in this game, he was going to need more help.
With 11:20 to go, Oregon State still maintained a healthy lead up 52-43. Andre Kelly was up to 8 points for Cal, giving Bradley a little bit of help. Still, Cal was in a hole. Their 4-17 shooting from 3-point range was really hurting their chances of a comeback.
Oregon State would continue to lead 59-47 with 7:30 to go. The biggest issue for Cal was the lack of help for Bradley. He was having a bit of a rough night shooting (5-15), but still, his 18 points was the only offense they had gotten all night as no one else was in double figures on his team.
“Well, he has to be more efficient also,” Fox said of Bradley. “If we would have made our layups in the first half, we win this game.”
With 5:31 to go, Oregon State led 63-50. Cal was running out of steam and bordering on a blowout loss if things didn’t turnaround. The fact that they hadn’t practiced as much as other teams due to COVID-19 seemed to be apparent as well as the fact that Bradley wasn’t getting the help he needed.
“We’re not quite in the condition we want to be in,” Fox admitted. “We got a first taste and hopefully we can build on it.”
While things did get a bit closer in the final minutes and Cal had a chance to make things interesting, Oregon State walked out with a 71-63 win in the end. What made this loss all the more sobering for Cal is the fact that Oregon State was picked to finish dead last in the Pac-12. To struggle like they did against a weak in-conference opponent is not the type of start they would have wanted.
The biggest issue for Cal is the fact that outside of Matt Bradley, they don’t have a ton of good scoring options. Grad transfers Ryan Betley (9 points) and Makale Foreman (10 points) had decent outings, but it’s too early to tell if they’ll be able to have the type of impact that Mark Fox hopes they’ll have. Andre Kelly (9 points) and Grant Anticevich (4 points) were more quiet than Cal would have liked, and the rest of the roster was about as we would expect at this point of the season.
One reason for hope is that this was the first game of the season, Cal only had three days to prepare for Oregon State, and with so many new pieces on this team and a lack of quality practice time, we can certainly expect things to get more cohesive and tight as the season goes on. So, by no means should Cal overreact to this game. It’s just one game.
As for Oregon State, they should feel encouraged by this win. They got out to a solid lead, bended, but never broke. They appear to have solid contributor in Warith Alatishe and perhaps, they’ll have a better season than expected. Head coach Wayne Tinkle vows that his team won’t finish in last place and after tonight, he should be feeling good that his prediction will come true.
Up next for Cal is another game in Corvallis against Northwest University, an NAIA school. That game will tipoff on Thanksgiving Day at 3:00 PM PST on Pac-12 Networks.