Cal MBB pulls out gritty win over Seattle U
On Tuesday, Cal men’s basketball defeated Seattle U by a final score of 70-65. Cal grad transfer Ryan Betley finished with 17 points on 5-10 shooting from the field and 3-5 shooting from 3-point range while sophomore forward Kuany Kuany matched his career-high with 11 points. Seattle guard/forward Riley Grigsby finished with a game-high 20 points to go along with 8 rebounds. Cal improves to 5-4 overall (0-2 in the Pac-12) while Seattle falls to 5-5 overall (0-0 in the WAC).
“Well, I’d like to say first that sometimes you have to find a way to win and I think that’s what we had to do today,” Cal head coach Mark Fox said after the game. “Seattle came into the game more prepared to play than we did. I thought our preparation was average and so we have to have a better and more mature approach coming into the game…But even when you feel like you should win you have to play to a certain level.”
Seattle got off to a strong start, leading 9-3 with 15:43 to go in the first half. Emeka Udenyi was killing the Bears inside early with 6 points and 3 rebounds. Lars Thiemann (free throw) and Ryan Betley (floater) were on the board for Cal.
Seattle would expand their lead 17-9 with 11:51 to go in the half. Udenyi was up to 8 points and 3 rebounds, getting whatever he wanted inside. The RedHawks had made 4 of their last 5 field goal attempts. As for Cal, they were 3-8 from the field and 0-2 from deep.
With 7:13 to go in the half, Seattle led 26-18, shooting 12-22 (54.5%) from the field. Seattle was doing a nice job on the boards, out-rebounding Cal 12-10 with 5 offensive rebounds. Cal was 7-17 (41.2%) from the field, yet to make a 3-pointer (0-3).
Seattle led 30-22 with 3:57 to go in the half having not scored in the last 2:01. Cal needed to close the gap and take advantage. Kuany Kuany was the leading scorer for the Bears at this point with 6 points, making an impact early.
Cal did a nice job of closing the gap in the final minutes of the half to trail 37-33 at halftime after a huge 3-point play from Andre Kelly. Darrion Trammell was leading the RedHawks with 11 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists while Kuany Kuany was leading the Bears with his 8 points and 3 rebounds. Kuany was having the best game of his young Cal career.
“I don’t think we were out of the game,” Fox said of his halftime message. “I don’t think we played very well. We did more switching in the second half because we felt like they were quicker than us in the first half. We went smaller in the second half.”
The game continued to remain tight to start the second half as Seattle led 43-39 with 15:56 to go. Kuany Kuany was now up to 11 points, matching his career-high after a 3-pointer. Thanks to his efforts, Cal was hanging tough.
With 13:31 to go, Seattle led 49-44. Trammell (15 points) and Udenyi (14 points) continued to lead the way for the RedHawks. Cal was 2-10 from 3-point range. They were in sore need of a better perimeter attack. Seattle would lead 51-47 with 11:26 to go as Grigsby was up to 11 points and 5 rebounds, playing well against his father Al’s alma mater.
Over the next couple of minutes, Seattle would go cold, leading by just one point (53-52) with 7:41 to go. Seattle had 0 points and 3 turnovers in the last 3:39. Cal was looking to get their first lead of the game.
Cal would soon take the lead twice thanks to a triple from Ryan Betley and a layup from Joel Brown. Grigsby then hit a triple to give the lead back to Seattle (59-57) with 5:43 to go. It was truly a tight contest at Haas.
Cal would soon take a 60-59 lead after a clutch 3-pointer from Brown and maintain that lead with 2:22 to go. Seattle was looking to get a stop and once again reclaim a lead that had long been theirs. Brown wasn’t done making 3-pointers as he made another one to give Cal a 63-59 lead with 1:43 to go.
“Joel is an improved player from a year ago,” Fox said of Brown. “He’s a much improved shooter…He just needs to develop the confidence in games that he shows in practice.”
“Just in these practices, playing with these high level shooters raised the bar for me,” Brown added. “I think once I stay confident and aggressive. Stay smart and aggressive I play much better. Just keeping the defense honest and stuff like that. Keep doing what I’m doing in practice and bringing it onto the court each and every night.”
Seattle would attempt to play the free throw game and to some extent it worked as Brown missed a free throw and Ryan Betley of all people missed a couple of free throws, going 4-7 at the line for the game. An off night for him as he was shooting 90% at the foul line coming in. For Brown, while his 3-point shooting is noticeably improved, he still has a lot of work to do to improve his free throws.
“I think with free throws it’s all about taking my time,” Brown said of what needs to improve with his foul shooting. “At times I get too sped up. I think I gotta shoot the ball into a hurry. Just take my time, take a deep breath, and shoot it like I would shoot it in the game.”
Still, in the end, Cal would win 70-65. It wasn’t the prettiest of wins for the Bears, but considering that they were without Matt Bradley and Grant Anticevich, they should feel good about finding a way to pull together and win this game. Kuany Kuany played the game of his life before going down with an ankle injury (he did return at the very end of the game) and Joel Brown likewise played as well as we’ve seen him play.
“I thought Kuany was terrific until he turned his ankle,” Fox said. “I thought he was terrific. He made plays off the bounce. Made the shot you mentioned. He continues to develop as a player.”
Touching more on Bradley (ankle) and Anticevich (appendectomy), Fox said he was tempted to play Bradley, but ultimately decided it wasn’t worth the risk even with him suited up and listed as active. Odds are good Bradley plays in their next game at Oregon. As for Anticevich, it’s anyone’s guess when he’ll play. Personally, I think the earliest we might see him is the home stand against UCLA and USC on January 21st and 23rd. Fox hasn’t gotten into many specifics about his return timetable beyond the surgery being really serious.
“We’re gonna get Matt back before we get Grant back, so we’ll be able to plan for that,” Fox said. “I’m not sure when Grant will be back…No chance he plays against the Oregon schools. We’re lucky to have Grant with us…I was tempted for sure, but Matt wasn’t able to practice yesterday and so I had confidence we could win the game without him and he hasn’t been able to practice for four or five days and I wasn’t going to put him in that situation. Long term, this is a chance for him to get healthy. I think he should be back when we return.”
As for where Cal is at as they close off non-conference, they are above .500 in non-conference play for the first time since the Cuonzo Martin era. They’re currently on a three-game winning streak, building nice momentum as they head into the rest of the Pac-12 schedule.
“Our turnover numbers have been better, and I think early turnovers were the result of a lack of practice,” Fox said about where he feels his team is at. “Our defense needs to get more consistent and offensively, finding a rotation with the players that we have until we get Grant back will be the next challenge.”
“If we could just continue pushing each other in practice, believing in one another. Just helping each other out,” Brown added. “If we continue to help each other out and go with the game plan. If we can continue to do that we can make a run in conference play.”
Up next for Cal will be a road trip up north to face the Oregon schools. Up first will be Oregon on New Year’s Eve. That game will tipoff at 7:00 PM PST on Pac-12 Networks.