With games against UNLV (Saturday November 13th in Las Vegas, 5 PM) and San Diego (Monday November 15th in Berkeley, 6 PM) coming up, Cal head coach Mark Fox spoke to the media about the aftermath of the Bears 80-67 loss to UCSD, injuries, UNLV, and a few other topics.

Practice

In the aftermath of the loss Tuesday, Jordan Shepherd, Andre Kelly and Mark Fox all discussed that the Bears hadn't practiced particularly well in the leadup to the UCSD game. Cal hadn't practiced as of Fox's availability Thursday, but will have practiced by the time this article goes up.

"I better see some determination," Fox reiterated, "I'm very disappointed in our performance, they were too. We've got to own our performance, we better learn from it and grow, and we've got to be determined in that growth."

Injuries

The injury front has been important for the Bears, as five different players (Makale Foreman, Monty Bowser, Marsalis Roberson, Jalen Celestine, and DJ Thorpe) were out for the UCSD game, with Foreman and Celestine being new injuries after playing in their Bears' exhibition November 1st. Those five being out has Cal somewhat limited, especially in the backcourt, as they look for more answers offensively and defensively.

"We had five guys out," Fox noted, "I think when we get some guys back we'll have a different approach, but until then we're going to be somewhat limited in that way."

Fox didn't elaborate on the injuries, but is somewhat hopeful to get one player back for the UNLV game, though he didn't specify who.

"We're hopeful to get maybe one of them back," Fox said, "I think it's most realistic that it'll be a few more days, we haven't had a lot of progress there, and even if they're injured, we'll likely take one or two of them to keep the chemistry of the group the same."

There's one thing that the injuries are not though.

"It's not COVID related," Fox admitted, "we had COVID go through our team a month ago."

For a couple of the injuries, Fox noted that there could be surgical options, but that they were going to exhaust other routes prior to going down a route that could take someone out for the season.

"We're gonna do the non-surgical route," Fox said, "I'm gonna hope that they're not longterm, but there's certainly a couple that are significant."

Recruits

Cal signed two recruits Wednesday in forwards ND Okafor and Grant Newell, and Fox had some more thoughts on the two bigs.

"ND has got great length and athleticism, and will really be a presence physically. Super excited about ND, he's a really talented young guy, he's really bright, I think he has a tremendously bright future. I think he's going to be a terrific addition for us"

"Grant Newell I thought had a nice summer, he's doing a post-grad year at IMG. Grant is very long armed, athletic and versatile."

UNLV

UNLV is a much different team than the one Cal beat two years ago in Berkeley, as this contest is the return matchup for that game, a 79-75 OT win in Fox's second game at Cal. Now UNLV has a new coach in Kevin Kruger and nine transfers from other D1 programs.

"New coach, a lot of new players, a lot of transfers," Fox noted, "I've known Kevin (Kruger) a long time, I've known his father for nearly 40 years. Great basketball family, a very tradition rich program that is starting a rebuild with a bunch of transfers. They're athletic, they can score, they really guard you. For a coach in his first year with the transfer portal being available, they've taken advantage of that and they've assembled a talented team."

For Fox, the key is defense after the Bears allowed UCSD to shoot 45% from beyond the arc in game one.

"We better start playing some defense," Fox said, "we better sustain some defense, that's something that we have to get committed to doing. You can say what want about anything else, but it's hard to start a fast break when you take it out of the net, we have to start defending. With a little bit of a depth issue, we've got to be really smart with how we defend, but if we're going to start making progress, it's going to start at that end, that's what I want to see."

Shepherd

One of the few bright spots in the loss was Jordan Shepherd, who tied a career high with 27 points in the opener. Fox expects more attention on his sixth year guard, especially since Kruger coached him at Oklahoma.

"I thought he played really well out of the gate," Fox said, "I thought he was by far the best player on our team, and he needs some help. He needs the stability from our other guys that have played big minutes. Andre, Grant and Joel, those guys need to play more stable and more consistently, Shep had a good first outing and I'm sure he'll see more attention from the defense when we get to Vegas. He might have even played for Kevin when he was at Oklahoma, I'm sure they'll have an understanding of his abilities and I'm sure he'll see the focus of the defense because of his performance the other night. He's a smart player and he makes people better around him, and it was good to see."