MBB Notebook: Bradley Returns, Desert Trip Looms

The homestand against the LA schools didn't go as well as hoped. The Bears still don't have a win over either USC or UCLA since the Cuonzo Martin era. There were opportunities for Cal to win late against both UCLA and USC that didn't come to fruition. Cal's ability to close out games hasn't come together for one reason or another.

Against UCLA, Grant Anticevich turned into a supernova, draining all five of his threes, but no other player scored in double figures. Against USC, the Cal bigs got in foul trouble with Evan Mobley getting to the free throw line for 15 attempts, making 12, and the Bears had cold shooting nights from a returning Matt Bradley and Ryan Betley.

There were a handful of obvious positives for the Bears in the losses, against two of the top teams in the Pac-12 at this current juncture:

- The aforementioned Anticevich supernova, as he's among only four Pac-12 players to go 5-5 from 3 or better more than once in a career (Anticevich did it against Cal Baptist in 2019)

- The return of Matt Bradley, who looked rusty as a shooter, but getting back the top scorer on the team is a plus, especially with his gravity as a drive and kick player.

- Joel Brown had a career high against USC with 15 points, as the sophomore guard is unafraid to take the open jumpers he's often given.

- DJ Thorpe, after a couple of games where he did not play, put up four blocks while playing against a lottery pick in Mobley. Thorpe has some excellent athleticism but is still somewhat raw on the offensive side.

- Cal held UCLA to their second lowest scoring output of the season (both points wise and on a per possession basis), as the Bruins have the top offensive efficiency in the conference.

The positives didn't outweigh the negatives this past week for the Bears, as Ryan Betley has hit a cold spell and the Bears did have leads in the second half of both games. It does feel like they're getting closer, but getting over the hump is going to take a couple more sustained performances than what the Bears have already done.

Now the Bears take a road trip to the Arizona schools, having played Arizona State already and getting their sole look at a different Arizona team than what they've seen in the past.

At Home: 5-4 (average score of 68.9-66.2, margin of +2.7)

On the Road: 1-6 (average score of , margin of 63.7-75.4, margin of -11.7)

Neutral Site: 1-0 (86-61 win over Northwest at Oregon State)

Injuries:

Matt Bradley (ankle) - Bradley returned against USC to play 24 minutes, putting up 11 points and 2 rebounds. Bradley still needs to get back in sync on offense, but the Bears welcome back his productivity moving forward.

Per Game Stat Leaders:

Points: Bradley, 17.1

Rebounds: Kelly, 5.8

Assists: Brown: 3.6

Steals: Brown, 1.8

Blocks: Anticevich, .56

Minutes: Betley 31.8

Field Goal % (minimum 5 attempts per game): Kelly, 60.5%

3pt% (minimum 2 attempts per game): Anticevich, 42.5%

Free Throw% (minimum 1 attempt per game): Foreman, 86.7%

Vs. Arizona State

When: January 28th, 2021, 8 PM

Where: Desert Financial Arena, Tempe, AZ

TV: Fox Sports 1

Radio: KGO 810

Kenpom Prediction: 77-69 Cal loss, 22% chance of a Cal win

Vs. Arizona

When: January 30th, 2021, 2 PM

Where: McKale Center, Tucson, AZ

TV: Pac-12 Network

Radio: KGO 810

Kenpom Prediction: 77-64 Cal loss, 11% chance of a Cal win

Despite having two of the top true freshmen in the Pac-12, Arizona State has had struggles. They've struggled to the point where they're currently sitting in last place in the Pac-12. Their sole conference win came over Cal back in December, before the Sun Devils had a COVID related pause to their season.

In that time, the Sun Devils had a couple games without Remy Martin, lost two heartbreakers to Oregon State and Arizona, then got down big in a rematch with the Wildcats (26 was the largest defecit) before closing the gap in an 80-67 final score.

Arizona State is talented, as Martin, freshmen Josh Christopher and Marcus Bagley, and Alonzo Verge can all score in bunches. The issue they've faced has been on defense, where they're allowing teams to get to the free throw line at the highest rate in conference play. They play at the fastest tempo in the conference, and on nights where they're shooting poorly, the fouls can add up to a bigger and bigger deficit, as they did with Arizona last night.

Arizona State is still plenty capable, with Martin having had plenty of success against Cal, but this could be an opportunity for the Bears to take a second road game this year.

Likely Starters

G Remy Martin 6' 175 lbs

G Josh Christopher 6'5" 215 lbs

G Alonzo Verge 6'2" 170 lbs

F Marcus Bagley 6'8" 215 lbs

F Chris Osten 6'9" 210 lbs.

Key Bench Players

G Holland Woods 6'1" 180 lbs

G Jaelen House 6'1" 160 lbs

F Kimani Lawrence 6'8" 210 lbs

F Jalen Graham 6'9" 220 lbs.

Player to Watch: Martin

Martin has scored 20+ points three of the last four times he has played Cal, and he's capable of warming up as a shooter in a hurry, even if his shot looks somewhat flat. Martin's play will be a deciding factor in this game. He made every two-point shot against the Bears the first time around as well, as Joel Brown will be tasked with Martin on defense.

Arizona is within a couple games of the top of the conference, and Sean Miller has a different composition to his squad. Past Arizona teams have had a handful of one and dones or two and dones. This group has taken advantage of the transfer portal and landing a number of international players. Five of Arizona's eight rotation players either came via the transfer portal or as an international recruit. There's only one true freshman from the states in the rotation, Dalen Terry (a Cal recruiting target once upon a time).

The Arizona rotation features a few names that Cal recruited, in Terry, Ira Lee, Christian Koloko, Jordan Brown, and James Akinjo, with the latter two transferring in from Nevada and Georgetown respectively. Jemarl Baker would join that group, but the one-time Cal commit is out for the remainder of the season with a broken wrist.

The other pieces that have made a difference for the Wildcats are Azuolas Tubelis, a Lithuanian big who has been an excellent rebounder for the Wildcats, Bennedict Mathurin, a Canadian forward who shoots a shade under 45% from beyond the arc, and Terrell Brown, a Seattle transfer and solid distributor for the group.

Arizona will get to the line, crash the offensive glass, and will limit turnovers on offense. The offensive rebounds allowed killed Cal at the end of the USC and UCLA games, and will have to be a focus for the group this week.

Likely Starters

G James Akinjo 6'1" 185 lbs

G Terrell Brown 6'3" 185 lbs

F Bennedict Mathurin 6'7" 195 lbs

F Azuolas Tubelis 6'11" 245 lbs

C Christian Koloko 7'1" 225 lbs

Key Bench Players

G Dalen Terry 6'7" 195 lbs

F Ira Lee 6'8" 245 lbs

F Jordan Brown 6'11" 235 lbs

Player to Watch - Tubelis

The Lithuanian freshman has been extremely productive as an offensive rebounder, and is capable of stepping out and hitting shots if left open. Cal has had an offensive rebounding problem recently, and they need to be able to stop Tubelis and others on the offensive glass in late-game situations, if it comes down to that.