On Saturday, Cal men’s basketball fell to UCLA by a final score of 98-83. Kris Wilkes (18 points & 5 rebounds) and Moses Brown (16 points & 9 rebounds) led the way for UCLA while Darius McNeill (23 points & 7 steals) and Justice Sueing (18 points) led Cal. UCLA improves to 9-6 overall and 2-0 in the Pac-12 while Cal falls to 5-9 overall and 0-2 in the Pac-12.

Before tipoff, Cal announced in a team release that Paris Austin was out with an ankle injury, forcing Wyking Jones to tweak his lineup. Rather than going conservative and only making one lineup adjustment, Jones went with several, starting Juhwan Harris-Dyson, Matt Bradley, Connor Vanover, Jacobi Gordon, and Grant Anticevich, bringing Darius McNeill and Justice Sueing off the bench.

The roll of the dice move by Jones paid off early as Cal turned a 9-5 lead into an 18-12 lead midway through the 1st half. Despite coming off the bench, Darius McNeill came out with a lot of fire, scoring 7 of Cal’s first 18 points.

UCLA responded to Cal’s strong start by picking things up offensively. David Singleton in particular started to heat up for the Bruins, scoring 8 points to cut Cal’s lead to one (26-25) with 7:01 to go in the half. After getting themselves back in the game, UCLA proceeded to go on a 12-3 run, doing a good job of pressing the Cal offense and speeding them up. This resulted in a lot of errant passes from Cal, which led to easy UCLA baskets in transition. On top of that, Cal made some mental errors, most notably Andre Kelly’s foul on Prince Ali, which resulted in a four-point play to give UCLA the lead.

Up 50-37 with 14 seconds to go in the half, UCLA appeared to be on cruise control while Cal looked like the wheels were starting to come off. Fortunately for Cal, they were able to close the half out on a surprising 5-0 run thanks to Justice Sueing making a pair of free throws and Darius McNeill intercepting a pass and making a 3-pointer right before time expired. Down 50-42 at halftime, Cal was in a hole, but going into the locker room with a bit of momentum.

Darius McNeill was the top scorer for Cal at the half with 16 points while David Singleton was leading UCLA with 14 points. Despite having only 6 assists and 14 turnovers, Cal’s offense was actually able to put up a decent amount of points, shooting 13-29 (44.8%) from the field, 3-9 (33.3%) from 3-point range, and a perfect 13-13 from the foul line. The issue was that UCLA was shooting 17-34 (50%) from the field, 6-16 (37.5%) from 3-point range, and 10-13 (76.9%) from the foul line. UCLA was taking advantage of Cal’s porous interior defense and making the most of Cal’s turnovers.

Cal came out of the gates pretty strong in the second half, cutting UCLA’s lead to 4 (60-56) with 15:11 to go. Cal was doing a good job of attacking the rim and forcing some turnovers. Darius McNeill continued to heat up with 18 points on 6-10 shooting from the field while Connor Vanover started to find a bit of a groove with 8 points.

UCLA responded to Cal’s surge by attacking the rim and testing Cal’s interior defense, expanding their lead to 11 points (72-61) with 11:40 to go. Similar to the game against USC, Cal was unable to protect the rim, resulting easy baskets inside. Moses Brown in particular took advantage of Cal’s poor rim protection, getting put back dunks and finishing strong above the rim.

During the next several minutes, UCLA and Cal would essentially trade baskets. Darius McNeill and Justice Sueing continued to score, but the Cal defense was unable to get the necessary stops. With an 89-75 lead with 3:20 to go, UCLA was in the driver’s seat to win the game. UCLA would make things a little bit interesting at the end with some silly turnovers that allowed Cal to briefly get within 10 points, but a spin around jumper from Jaylen Hands iced the game for good.

When looking at the final score 98-83, it’s clear that Cal’s defense is their major Achilles’ heel. They have the ability to put up the points, but the defense is not where it needs to be. To Wyking Jones’ credit, he tried a new lineup that worked early on, so it’s not like efforts aren’t being made to improve.

Up next for Cal is a home game on Wednesday against Arizona State. That game will tipoff at 6:00 PM PST on Pac-12 Networks.

Note: Below is the official team release on Paris Austin.

LOS ANGELES – California men’s basketball junior point guard Paris Austin will not dress for this afternoon's contest against UCLA after suffering an ankle sprain in Friday's practice.