On Saturday afternoon, Cal men’s basketball suffered an embarrassing loss at Arizona by a final score of 71-50. Arizona junior guard James Akinjo led the way for the Wildcats with 20 points and 8 assists while Cal junior guard Matt Bradley did his part for the Golden Bears with 21 points on 7-10 shooting from the field, 5-6 shooting from 3-point range, and 2-2 shooting from the foul line. Arizona improves to 13-4 overall and 7-4 in the Pac-12 while Cal falls to 7-12 overall and 2-10 in the Pac-12.
“Well, I’m disappointed in how we played today,” Cal head coach Mark Fox said with shame. “I felt Arizona was the aggressor from the jump ball. I thought they dominated the paint and it felt like we were playing uphill all day, which we really were.”
From the opening tip it was clear that Cal was not ready to compete. They came out flat, sloppy, lethargic, and any other adjective you want to throw in that’s indicative of a bad performance. With 15:54 to go in the half, Arizona was up 4-0 as Cal was unable to put the ball in the basket, shooting 0-2 from the field to go along with 4 turnovers. Akinjo was up to 3 points early for the Wildcats, who were shooting 1-5 from the field with 0 turnovers. It wasn’t a great start for Arizona, but given how horrible Cal looked, they had some time to settle in.
Arizona started to get going a bit, leading 13-4 with 11:53 to go in the half. Jordan Brown was up to 4 points for the Wildcats on 2-3 shooting from the field. Grant Anticevich and Matt Bradley were on the board for the Bears with a pair of buckets. Arizona was shooting 5-11 (45.5%) from the field while Cal was shooting 1-7 (14.3%).
The putrid play from Cal would continue as Arizona led 19-7 with 9:38 to go in the half. Akinjo knocked down a pretty jumper and was up to 5 points while Brown was up to 6 points. The Bears looked awful, building a house of bricks.
A dunk inside by Arizona big man Christian Koloko was followed by a nice little basket inside from Cal wing Ryan Betley. With 7:46 to go in the half, Arizona now led 21-9. Cal needed to wake up fast.
“I would say their size was a big factor in the game,” Fox said. “They dominated the paint. Their size was the biggest factor. That was really an advantage for their team today.
“You try to play defense before they get it and keep it off their spots. Arizona has a good team. We’re not pleased with how we played today, but Arizona is a good team. I don’t want to take anything away from their team.”
Things didn’t improve much for Cal as Arizona led 27-15 with 3:37 to go in the half. Brown was up to 8 points for the Wildcats while Bradley was up to 8 points for the Bears. Bradley needed more help, unable to win the game all by himself. With 1:16 to go, Arizona led 32-18 as Bradley knocked down another 3-pointer for Cal. Arizona head coach Sean Miller called for time, hoping his troops would finish the half strong.
The half closed on a floater inside from James Akinjo followed by a layup inside from Joel Brown. Miller was upset that his team allowed Brown to get that basket, but still, Arizona held a comfortable 37-22 lead at the half. All things were going their way.
I said in my preview that if Cal came out flat in the first half, they might as well hit the buffet line and not come out for the second half. In hindsight, that would have been a good move as things did not improve at all for Cal after they made the decision to come out of the tunnel and “play” the second half. With 15:30 to go, Arizona led 47-30 after a pretty dunk inside from Bennedict Mathurin, who was up to 10 points. Bradley had 16 points for the Bears, doing all he could. The problem was his teammates had just 14 points and were M.I.A.
“Well, Matt I thought finished plays today,” Fox said in praise of his star player. “I thought he turned it over more than I wanted him to do it, he had 4 turnovers at the half and ended up with 6. We have to get more help around Matt. Obviously they are bigger at the 4 and the 5 and they are deeper up front.”
With 12:18 to go, Arizona was up 52-30. Mark Fox was visibly upset with his players. It was just an all-around ugly game for the Bears. Akinjo was up to 14 points and 7 assists, leading the charge for the Wildcats. He was having a very nice game against a Cal defense that had no clue of how to stop him.
“He’s a really quick player,” Fox said of Akinjo. “Good ball screen player and he’s got really good speed and an ability to play off the ball screens and they utilize him well.”
With 9:46 to go, Arizona was up 58-34. Things continued to go their way while the same could not be said for Cal. Cal looked lost, tired, and confused. It was as if they wished they didn’t have to play this game.
Rather than picking themselves up by their bootstraps and finishing the game strong, Cal continued to allow the Wildcats to toss them around like a rag doll. With 3:50 to go, Arizona led 69-46. Akinjo was up to 20 points and 7 assists while Brown had 12 points. Bradley was up to 21 points for Cal. Aside from Bradley’s performance, Cal looked worse than a YMCA basketball team.
Finally, the train wreck came to an end as Arizona walked out with a 71-50 victory. A turnover by Jarred Hyder was a fitting way for Cal’s final possession to end. They looked awful in this one. Worse than the final score indicated.
What’s most disappointing about this game is the fact that Cal didn’t come out with any sort of energy or fight. Arizona has a self-imposed postseason ban for this season and they were playing with more fight and purpose than Cal. Losing to Arizona on the road is one thing, but to just not show up at all is another.
Even Wyking Jones’ talent depleted squad in his first season as head coach put up a better fight in Tucson. They trailed 35-38 at halftime and actually took a 39-38 lead early on in the second half. If that squad can put up a fight in Tucson, so can this current Cal team.
Hopefully Mark Fox will get his guys to wake up in time for next week’s two game series with Stanford. The Cardinal have to be looking at the Bears as vulnerable and ripe for the picking. They’re also in a situation where they need all the wins they can get, so Cal should be in for a dog fight.
On that note, Cal’s first game against Stanford next week will be at home on Thursday, February 4. That game will tipoff at 6:00 PM PST on ESPN, ESPN 2, or ESPNU as well as KGO 810 AM.
Note: Triturate: Verb (used with object), trit·u·rat·ed, trit·u·rat·ing.
to reduce to fine particles or powder by rubbing, grinding, bruising, or the like; pulverize.
