There isn't a way to sugarcoat what Cal men's basketball did last week. They lost at home to Stanford by double digits. Then, in the second matchup in Palo Alto, they dug a hole early, and while they made a late run to close the gap, they still fell to the Cardinal once again. After the first game, Mark Fox noted a 'talent deficiency' for the Bears, and that they may have to 'play ugly' to win games. The second point is one to look at later, but the first one is one to look at.

I try to avoid opinion in this space, but referring to a talent disparity never reflects well for any coach. The last time it happened at Cal was with Sonny Dykes, who noted after a 2016 game against Washington that in order to tackle better, he needed more athletic players. A year later, a Justin Wilcox defense, with players that Dykes' staff recruited that were on the 2016 team, showed that that statement was not true. A statement on talent disparity, when the team has mainly guys the sitting head coach brought in (7 of the 13 scholarship players were recruited by Mark Fox and company), does not reflect well.

To give Fox the benefit of the doubt, the Bears don't have the main piece that allowed them to win ugly last season, that being normalcy. A normal year would've given the Bears their allotted practice time, they wouldn't have had a shutdown due to a positive Covid test, there would have been a full summer of what Fox wanted, 10,000 shots of work going up as his freshmen made their transition to sophomores, one of the biggest periods of growth. That, like everything else in the world, was stunted due to Covid-19.

The problem is, the games still mean something. There are still standings, and teams are playing better than Cal despite being under similar circumstances. The talent level is one thing, as the Bears have shown flashes but haven't put it all together for a full game. They have winnable games coming over the next two weeks, and they have to figure it out before then, especially when they have one of the five best players in the conference back in form in Matt Bradley.

What did happen over the two games against the Cardinal? A lot of the issues Cal has had all year, as the second game saw the Bears struggling over the final four minutes after a 22-all tie, leading to a 35-24 deficit at the half, one they couldn't come back from. The first game saw the game turn from a 5 point deficit to a 13 point deficit over the final two minutes, thanks to a couple missed shots and multiple turnovers. On both TV broadcasts, it has been mentioned how the Bears are a good 36 minute team, but they haven't been able to play consistent full halves on a regular basis. Cal also struggled to guard Oscar da Silva, who has put together a very good Pac-12 Player of the Year case.

A couple of notes:

- Makale Foreman has dropped a bit in terms of minutes, playing 14 minutes over the two games. Jalen Celestine and Jarred Hyder took more of that time, with Celestine tending to close halves out for the Bears. The willingness of the Cal staff to play the freshman Celestine in those situations speaks to his development in a stilted season. Celestine has some playmaking ability in those short bursts, and he may be in line to receive more time if he continues to be productive.

- The final turning point of Cal's Sunday contest with Stanford came when Andre Kelly had an opportunity to cut the Stanford lead to 10 with a dunk. The dunk went off back iron, the Stanford lead ballooned to 18 not long afterward, and while the Bears cut it down to 5 (with Hyder breaking out of an offensive funk), it was too much for the Bears to recover from.

- Fox noted that the Bears may have to play ugly to win. The Bears are playing at roughly the same pace as a year ago on offense, but the defense is allowing teams to get up shots at the fastest pace in the conference, with turnovers and errors in defensive positioning being the key. To slow teams down, those are the areas to fix, which is much easier said than done.

At Home: 5-5 (average score of 67.5-66.6, margin of +0.9)

On the Road: 1-9 (average score of 63.4-74.7, margin of -11.3)

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

Injuries: None

Per Game Stat Leaders:

Points: Bradley, 18.4

Rebounds: Kelly, 6.2

Assists: Brown: 3.3

Steals: Brown, 1.5

Blocks: Anticevich, .41

Minutes: Betley 30.3

Field Goal % (minimum 5 attempts per game): Kelly, 57.7%

3pt% (minimum 2 attempts per game): Bradley, 38.5%

Free Throw% (minimum 1 attempt per game): Foreman, 88.2%

Vs. Utah

When: Thursday February 11th, 3 PM

Where: Haas Pavilion, Berkeley, CA

TV: Pac-12 Network

Radio: KGO 810

KenPom Prediction: 69-64 Cal loss, 32% chance of a Cal win

Vs. Colorado

When: Saturday February 13th, 7 PM

Where: Haas Pavilion, Berkeley, CA

TV: ESPN2 or ESPNU

Radio: KGO 810

KenPom Prediction: 74-63 Cal loss, 16% chance of a Cal win

Cal beat Utah last month, putting together their best second half performance as the Utes faltered, but Utah has rebounded to win 3 of their last 4 since. They've done it with other players aside from Timmy Allen stepping up. In a win where the Utes had to come back against Colorado from 19 down, Alfonso Plummer heated up with 23 points and four three-pointers. In wins over Washington State and Arizona, five players scored in double figures, as the Utes have shot 50+% from the field in every game since the Cal game.

Allen is going to be the engine for this Utah team, but when guys like Plummer or Brandon Carlson are getting going, the Utes can keep up with any team in the conference.

Likely Starters

G Rylan Jones 6' 178 lbs

G Pelle Larsson 6'5" 215 lbs

F Timmy Allen 6'6" 205 lbs

F Mikael Jantunen 6'8" 220 lbs

F Riley Battin 6'9" 230 lbs

Key Reserves

G Alfonso Plummer 6'1" 182 lbs

C Branden Carlson 7' 219 lbs

G Ian Martinez 6'3" 183 lbs

Player to Watch: Allen

Allen will get his on the offensive side of the ball, the winning formula for Cal involves getting him to make mistakes. Allen had 7 turnovers in the first matchup between these teams, a big piece of how Cal overcame a 12 point halftime deficit in the first matchup. They'll have to be similarly stingy on defense against the Utes to replicate the first result.

Since Colorado blew out Cal last month, they've been up and down. They beat Stanford , Arizona, Washington State and Oregon State, but dropped games to Washington and Utah, both teams Cal has beaten. They've won with the play of McKinley Wright, Evan Battey, and the return of seven footer Dallas Walton. When they've lost, they've either sent the other team to the foul line (the Utah game) or gone cold from 3 (a 1-18 performance in a loss to Washington)

They have also been with Jabari Walker, who torched Cal in the first meeting, as he's dealing with a foot injury that will likely keep him out for this game.

Likely Starters

G McKinley Wright 6' 196 lbs

G Eli Parquet 6'3" 195 lbs

G/F D'Shawn Schwartz 6'7" 232 lbs

F Evan Battey 6'8" 262 lbs

C Dallas Walton 7' 235 lbs

Key Reserves

F Jeriah Horne 6'7" 220 lbs

G/F Maddox Daniels 6'6" 211 lbs

G Keeshawn Barthelemy 6'2" 163 lbs

Player to Watch: Horne, Schwartz, Daniels and Parquet

All four of these guys are shooting 38% or better from beyond the arc, and Cal is the worst in the Pac-12 in 3pt defense. Oddly enough, Pac-12 teams have shot fewer 3 pointers against Cal than any other team in the conference. If Cal's going to keep up with Colorado, they'll have to hold down a team that shot 12-21 from 3 in their last meeting, an 89-60 blowout in Boulder.