On Wednesday, Cal men’s basketball fell to UCLA in overtime by a final score of 75-67. Kris Wilkes led the way for the Bruins with 27 points and 10 rebounds on 9-15 shooting from the field and 5-8 shooting from 3-point range while Darius McNeill was the top performer for Cal with 18 points on 6-14 shooting from the field and 4-10 shooting from 3-point range. UCLA improves to 13-12 overall and 6-6 in the Pac-12 while Cal falls to 5-19 overall and 0-12 in the Pac-12.
“Well, the guys really battled tonight, so I was really happy with the effort,” Cal head coach Wyking Jones said after the game. “I thought from start to finish, like I said before, really left it all out there. They left it all out there. Looking at the stat sheet, I have to do a better job of, Justice plays 41 minutes, Darius 40, Paris plays 40, I have to do a better job of trusting my bench and getting those guys out of the game because I know that it affected them late in the game. They were tired. They were tired. I have to do a better job of getting them some breaks.
“But like I said, I was very happy with the effort. We just could not score tonight. From a defensive standpoint, we kept digging on high post off of shooters. They were kicking out and making threes and that’s something that we know we shouldn’t be doing. So, I’ll watch the film to figure out why we were doing that, but the effort was there, we’re getting closer, the guys are still fighting, they’re still competing, they’re still playing together, and it’s commendable that they’re doing that as we’re not winning games.”
Cal got off to a strong start in this game, leading 7-0 with 15:37 to go in the 1st half. Justice Sueing (4 points) and Darius McNeill (3 points) got on the scoreboard first for Cal, doing a good job of giving their team the offensive boost that they needed. UCLA in contrast was unable to get any shots to drop, missing their first nine shots.
With 10:19 to go in the half, Cal was up 13-7 as UCLA finally started to settle in a bit thanks to some buckets from Jules Bernard, Jaylen Hands, and Kris Wilkes. Cal would expand their lead 18-10 with 8:00 to go in the half as McNeill was up to 8 points, continuing to stay on fire. All things were going Cal’s way despite their 6-20 shooting from the field.
Cal’s comfortable lead wouldn’t last for long as UCLA came roaring back, trailing by two points (23-21) with 3:53 to go in the half. UCLA was getting a little bit of help from everybody as Jaylen Hands, Cody Riley, Chris Smith, Kris Wilkes, and Jalen Hill all got in on the action. Still, both teams were really struggling from the field as Cal was shooting 7-26 while UCLA was shooting 7-25.
Rather than letting UCLA go into halftime with a lead, Cal found a way to go into halftime up 34-25. Grant Anticevich got a crucial tip in right before the buzzer went off, giving Cal even more momentum going into halftime. Darius McNeill had 9 points and 4 rebounds for Cal while Kris Wilkes likewise had 9 points for UCLA.
“Four rebounds is probably his career high,” Jones said of McNeill. “So, he finally got down and mixed it up and got a couple rebounds for us. Darius, as long as he’s aggressive, he’s going to help us. He’s a threat, he shoots the ball really well, and when he’s in passive mode, he doesn’t help us, but he was aggressive tonight and he did some good things out there.”
During the 2nd half, Cal got out of the gates a tad sluggish, scoring just two points in the first 4-5 minutes. Sueing went for a highlight reel dunk that failed and was followed up by a layup in transition from Wilkes. Rather than being up 38-29, Cal was up 36-31 with 15:37 to go. Perhaps the highlight of the night was a crazy tip in shot from Connor Vanover to put Cal up 38-31 as one second was on the shot clock off an inbounds pass. With a 38-31 lead following an official review, Cal appeared to have a little more life.
“I thought he played great,” Jones said of Vanover. “I thought he played great on both ends. I thought he did a great job offensively. Defensively he really bothered them. He bothered Moses. He had a couple tie ups that I thought was impressive. He finished the game with two blocks and so, he continues to be a bright spot. He continues to grow before our eyes and mature before our eyes. Like I said before, I think he has the chance to be special when it’s all said and done.”
With 12:18 to go, Cal’s lead had been trimmed to just one point (43-42) after a 3-pointer from David Singleton. After working so hard to build up a healthy lead in the 1st half, Cal was on the verge of seeing their hard work go to waste. UCLA would shortly take the lead, going up 52-51 with 7:54 to go. Wilkes was up to 17 points on 6-11 from the field for UCLA while McNeill was up to 18 points on 6-12 shooting from the field for Cal. It was at this point that Cal usually starts to fade, so they were really going to be tested down the stretch.
Rather than folding, Cal regained the lead 57-55 with 3:49 to go. Anticevich made a couple of pretty spin-around jumpers that gave Cal a much needed lift. Cal would then extend their lead 59-55 with 1:53 to go after Matt Bradley hit a huge shot. With a four point lead and less than two minutes to go, it looked like Cal would finally get their first win of Pac-12 play.
Instead of closing out the game, Cal allowed Singleton and Wilkes to hit two huge 3-pointers to give UCLA a 61-59 lead with 1:09 to go. Down by two with the ball, Cal needed someone to step up. That someone would be Bradley as he went to the foul line and made both of his shots, tying the game up 61-61.
“Yeah, he’s a great player,” McNeill said of Wilkes. “I guess he made like two in a row at the end, those two threes that hurt us. Yeah, he’s a great player.”
Unfortunately for Cal, Wilkes struck back again for UCLA with another 3-pointer to give UCLA a 64-61 lead. Down by three points 46.7 to go, Cal needed someone to step up. As he has before, Bradley was once again the hero for Cal, hitting a game-tying corner 3-pointer, which would prove to force overtime at 64-64.
“He’s fearless, he’s fearless, but at the same time I’m like Matt, you can’t go in there and challenge Moses Brown for layups,” Jones said of Bradley. “He’s fearless, but at the same time he has to make the right decisions. Sometimes he wants to go in there and bully his way into a layup, but it’s like you’re not going to get that against a 7’3” athlete. But he’s fearless. He wants to take those shots. He wants to help us win. All of our freshmen are very poised. None of those guys are afraid to go make a play. Connor’s poised, Andre’s poised, all of our freshmen are poised to go make a play.”
“He’s been doing a really good job,” Vanover said of Bradley. “Even though he hasn’t been starting, he’s taken his role and he’s really built off of it. Coming off the bench and really being able to score for us. Hitting that clutch three was exactly what we needed, and we gave him the ball because we knew exactly what he could do.”
In overtime, Cal didn’t get off to the start that they wanted as Paris Austin got trapped in the corner on their first possession, forcing him to call a timeout. Still, Cal was able to hang around and trail 69-67 with 1:08 to go. In the final minute, UCLA was able to sneak out with a win, making their free throws down the stretch and also making some clutch shots. While it took them extra time, UCLA did go on to beat the 7.5 point Vegas spread, winning 75-67.
For Cal, this game is full of missed opportunities and what-could-have-beens. A win feels to be around the corner for them and yet at the same time, they keep finding ways to not get across the finish line. If I could point out two things that appear to be standing in Cal’s way, one would be the mental side and the other would be the fatigue factor. When you start losing games to the degree that Cal has, it’s hard to believe you’ll actually win when you get into crunch time. It’s human nature to expect the pattern of results to continue.
“We had this one,” Vanover said. “We were ahead for most of the game and we just kinda let it slip away. We definitely made a few key mistakes and it made a big difference.”
“Everybody was just down,” McNeill added. “We had it and we practiced so hard, we had a good scheme, game plan, the guards was mixing it up, me and P we’re getting rebounds, we’re getting steals. Just doing everything we could. A few missed assignments, like defensive assignments missed at the end, we paid for it.”
As for the fatigue factor, Cal’s players get gassed towards the end of the game, which has an effect on the mental side in a different way. Plays like Paris Austin trying to force a lob, or dribbling the ball off his foot in hopes of slashing to the rim are examples of fatigue setting in. Wyking Jones has to trust his bench more and find more ways to give his starters rest. Especially Justice Sueing, Darius McNeil, and Paris Austin, who all played north of 40 minutes tonight. It’s tough when your bench is really thin, but all the same, you have to get your guys rest.
Up next for Cal is a home game on Saturday against USC. That game will tipoff at 5:00 PM PST on Pac-12 Networks. While a win is definitely not a sure thing, Wyking Jones is certain that his guys will continue to show the same effort and fight:
“They’ll continue to fight. Yeah, there’s no doubt. They’ll continue to fight. We’re gonna watch film tomorrow. I’m going to give them the day off. We’re just gonna do some film study. Watch the game, see how we can get better, and then put this one in the rear view and start focusing on USC.”
