On Thursday, Cal men’s basketball defeated Washington State 73-66 to win their first Pac-12 game of the season. Cal sophomore guard Matt Bradley led the way for the Golden Bears with 26 points and 10 rebounds on 10-14 shooting from the field, his second career double-double. Cal senior point guard Paris Austin was also stellar, finishing with 17 points and 3 assists on 6-8 shooting from the field. As for Washington State, sophomore forward CJ Elleby was their top performer with 22 points and 9 rebounds. Cal improves to 7-8 overall and 1-1 in the Pac-12 while Washington State falls to 10-6 overall and 1-2 in the Pac-12.
“Certainly a hard fought league game,” Cal head coach Mark Fox said after the game. “I was a little disappointed in our start, obviously. I didn’t like the feel of our team in shootaround today. So, I was a little concerned and unfortunately I was right. We didn’t start the game very well. We give Washington State credit for a lot of that, too. But we had a lot of errors offensively and some turnovers that took us a while to calm down. And then also it took us a while to get our defense to the level it needed to be. And once we were able to kinda stabilize, we clawed out of the hole and then played obviously fairly stable throughout the rest of the game.”
Washington State got out to an 8-6 lead with 15:16 to go in the half. Matt Bradley had a nice dunk for Cal while senior guard Jervae Robinson had a pretty layup for Washington State that was reminiscent of former Golden State Warriors star Monta Ellis. Senior forward Jeff Pollard led the way for the Cougars with 4 points, doing a good job of scoring inside.
Washington State would extend their lead to go up 15-10 with 11:39 to go in the half. Bradley was up to 6 points for Cal as he got the hoop plus the harm. He was off to a strong start, doing all he could to keep the Golden Bears in the game.
With 9:43 to go in the half, Washington State was up 25-11 as Cal was up to 10 turnovers, playing way too sloppy. Washington State was shooting 9-13 from the field and 3-6 from beyond the arc, being rewarded for their more efficient play.
With 7:07 to go in the half, Washington State was up 29-18 as Bradley was the only Cal player with 10 points. Others had to help him. Elleby in contrast was getting more help, pacing the Cougars with 6 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists.
Momentum was going Washington State’s way until Cal sophomore forward Andre Kelly went to the foul line after a flagrant foul on Noah Williams. That foul gave Cal two shots and the ball. Kelly made both foul shots and then Austin followed with two more foul shots of his own after drawing some contact. Rather than being down 31-22, Cal was down 31-26 with 5:36 to go.
Those four points from Austin and Kelly sparked a 9-0 run as Cal would soon be tied with Washington State 31-31 with 3:27 to go in the half. Bradley was up to 12 points while Austin was up to 8 points. Everything was now going Cal’s way.
“I think before that play,” Austin said when asked if that flagrant foul sparked a run. “We got a couple stops; we made a couple baskets that helped our energy. Our bench did a really good job of hyping us up, getting us going, our coaches did the same for us, so I think it came before that play. We just had our energy going and that was another play that Dre made.”
With 1:31 to go in the half, Cal was on a 16-1 run up 38-32. Austin was up to 12 points, really coming alive for the Golden Bears. At halftime, Cal found themselves up 40-34 as Bradley (14 points) and Austin with his 12 points, were doing a fantastic job getting Cal back in the game. As for Elleby, he was leading Washington State with 8 points and 5 rebounds. When looking back on it, that flagrant foul on Williams sparked an 18-3 run for Cal. It’s funny how momentum can shift so suddenly.
“I would say keep pushing,” Austin said of Fox’s message at halftime. “We wanted to keep applying pressure. We started off not as good in the first half, but towards the end of the first half we were starting to play really well and we just started to do our defense. We wanted to come out that first five minutes in the second half with our defense and continue to be aggressive…That’s all Coach Fox. He made the adjustments during the game. He read the game and he told us what to do. So, all credit to him.”
“We talked about turnovers,” Bradley added. “Lessening our turnovers, dropping their shooting percentage. A lot of technical stuff as well as continuing to stay tough and play strong.”
With 15:51 to go in the game, Cal was up 46-40 as Austin was up to 14 points after getting to the bucket for the hoop plus the harm. Freshman point guard Joel Brown came alive a bit with 4 points off two really pretty finishes around the rim. Cal would then extend their lead to go up 54-41 with 13:33 to go as Bradley (18 points) and Austin (17 points) were both on a mission for Cal. As for Washington State, it was really just Elleby (14 points) that was trying to keep things together. He really needed more help.
“I just took what the defense gave me,” Austin said of his performance. “I just wanted to be aggressive. Take open shots and they fell for me tonight.”
“I thought Paris was a real spark plug for us at both ends,” Fox said of Austin. “I thought he shot the ball well. He’s worked hard on his shooting. He finishes the game with no turnovers, Joel finishes the game with no turnovers. I thought both those kids did a nice job. But Paris certainly I thought was the spark in the first half without question.”
Rather than running away with the game, Cal did allow Washington State to come back into the game a bit as Elleby was up to 17 points after making a 3-pointer. Up 56-46 with 12:00 to go, Cal knew that if they were going to win, they would have to finish strong.
With 8:46 to go, Cal still had a 10 point lead, now up 60-50. Bradley was up to 22 points and 7 rebounds after a thunderous slam that gave Cal a jolt. Cal was shooting 22-40 from the field, playing a pretty efficient game while Elleby had 19 points for Washington State.
“He’s a competitor for sure,” Bradley said of Elleby. “He fought the whole game, whether scoring, playing defense, getting the rebound. You always felt his presence. He’s a solid player for sure.”
A 3-pointer from Brown gave Cal a 13 point lead, but Williams (2-pointer) and Elleby (3-pointer) came right back for Washington State. As a result, Cal was now up by just eight points (63-55) with 6:13 to go. Things got even tighter still as a layup from Williams cut Cal’s lead to 4 points. Grant Anticevich got a jumper to fall for Cal plus the foul, converting the 3-point play. That gave Cal a little more breathing room up 66-59 with 4:29 to go. Sort of the unsung hero from tonight’s game, Anticevich played very well, finishing with 12 points and 3 rebounds. Without his performance tonight, Cal wouldn’t have won this game.
Things would get a little bit tight once again as Cal would lead 69-66 with under one minute to go, but a clutch 3-pointer from Bradley iced the game for good. Up 72-66 with 17.6 to go, Cal would hang on for the win from there, winning 73-66 after Bradley went 1-2 at the foul line in his final trip to the line.
“I just want to thank God,” Bradley said. “For these first three weeks I’m fasting right now, actually. Meat, Dairy, and some other things. God put in my mind that he’s going to give me the strength and power to be aggressive tonight and that’s what I did. Shout out to God.”
“Matt has taken, I think unfairly a lot of responsibility for some of our losses,” Fox said of Bradley. “It’s not all on him. But you love the fact that the guy that’s arguably one of your best players is taking that much responsibility. But, I did not like how he practiced and so we had some great moments. And he’s a great kid, so he responded. I’m really happy to see him play well tonight.”
While this game wasn’t the prettiest of wins when you consider the slow start, Cal should overall feel good about tonight. They ended a four-game losing skid, got back in the win column, and can breathe a bit knowing they have a Pac-12 win under their belt. They showed that they are capable of playing much better than they have over the last few games. Now it’s a matter of them building on this and playing better basketball going forward.
“It definitely feels good,” Austin said. “It lets us know that all the practicing that we do. Working on our stuff and continuously doing it. It paid off.”
“It was a good win,” Bradley added. “I feel good about it. I thought we had a tough couple games, but we were really competitive in practice this week and we knew it was our time to bounce back and we did. So, I’m proud of our team.”
Up next for Cal is a home game on Saturday against the Washington Huskies. That game will tipoff at 5:00 PM PST on Pac-12 Networks.
Note: Cal was without sophomore forward Jacobi Gordon and junior guard Juhwan Harris-Dyson. Harris-Dyson was seen with a cast on one of his hands on the sidelines. Below is what Mark Fox said about their condition after the game:
“No, I really don’t [have an update]. Those kids haven’t practiced. He [Juhwan] and Jacobi haven’t practiced the last couple days. I don’t anticipate that they’ll practice tomorrow or play this weekend.”
