On Wednesday, Cal men’s basketball fell to Colorado 56-51 in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament. McKinley Wright IV led the way for the Buffaloes with 18 points and 7 rebounds on 7-9 shooting from the field and 4-6 shooting from 3-point range. Matt Bradley was the top performer for the Golden Bears with 17 points and 5 rebounds. Colorado advances to the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 Tournament where they will face Oregon State on Thursday at 2:30 PM PST on Pac-12 Networks. They improve to 20-11 overall and 11-8 in the Pac-12. Cal exits stage left, finishing the season 8-23 overall and 3-16 in the Pac-12.
Cal got off to a strong start in this game, leading 6-0 with 16:36 to go in the first half. Darius McNeill (4 points) and Connor Vanover (2 points) were the ones to get on the board first for the Golden Bears. McNeill would then knock down another 3-pointer to give him 7 points while Wright would get on the board for the Buffs with a 3-pointer of his own. Up 9-3 with 15:33 to go in the half, Cal was looking strong.
Cal’s lead wouldn’t last for long though as Wright would knock down two more threes to give him 9 points on 3-3 shooting from beyond the arc. As a result, Colorado led 13-12 with 11:41 to go in the half.
During the next few minutes, not a lot of scoring took place as Colorado would lead 17-14 with 6:31 to go in the half. Wright was still stuck on 9 points while Paris Austin got a pretty steal and finish, hoping to ignite the Golden Bears.
Unfortunately for Cal, that transition bucket by Austin didn’t have the desired effects as Colorado would go up 23-14 with 4:50 to go in the half thanks in part to a couple of transition dunks from Daylen Kountz. Currently on a 13-2 run, the Buffs were on the verge of blowing the game wide open.
Rather than going down by double digits, Cal found a way to shave Colorado’s lead to 6 points (28-22) at halftime. Considering how things were going, it could have been a lot worse for them. After having hot starts early, both Wright (9 points) and McNeill (7 points) failed to score the rest of the half. If one of those two players could get going in the second half, that was certain to have a huge effect on the outcome.
The second half opened up in favor of Cal as they trailed Colorado 32-31 with 15:50 to go. Wright finally got on the board again giving him 11 points overall while Bradley started to heat up for Cal as he was up to 9 points.
With 13:17 to go, Colorado led 37-35, still making this game interesting as time was paused due to a shot clock/game clock malfunction. After play resumed, D’Shawn Schwartz made a 3-pointer for Colorado while Austin failed to make a reverse layup for Cal. Rather than being down by 3 points, Cal was down by 5 (40-35) with 11:34 to go. In a game that was so close, such failures to score proved to be costly.
With 10:13 to go, Colorado led 45-35 as they were on an 8-0 run. Wright had found his groove again for the Buffs as he was up to 16 points on 6-7 shooting from the field and 4-5 shooting from 3-point range. No one for Cal was scoring in double digits, making it tough for them to keep up with Wright’s hot hand.
With 6:50 to go, it was a 48-38 lead for Colorado. Justice Sueing hit a huge 3-pointer for Cal, but Schwartz struck back for Colorado with a 3-pointer of his own, keeping the game at 10 points. Time was running out for Cal, who desperately needed to get things going on offense.
With 3:45 to go, Colorado led 50-45 as Bradley went on a 5-0 run all by himself for the Golden Bears. He was up to 14 points and doing all he could to keep Cal in it. The question was whether or not it would be enough.
With 1:19 to go, Cal now trailed by just 3 points (54-51) after another clutch 3-pointer from Bradley who was up to 17 points. Cal was in a position to win. It was just a matter of getting a stop and a bucket on the other end. Unfortunately for Cal, they weren’t able to execute down the stretch. Colorado gifted them with a turnover off an inbounds pass, but Austin turned the ball over, giving it right back to Colorado. With 29.9 to go, Colorado had the ball and a chance to ice the game away for good. Cal got lucky as Wright hit a 3-pointer that wasn’t released in time, keeping it a 3 point game as opposed to a 6 point game.
Down 54-51 with under 14 seconds to go, Cal had the ball and some life. Sadly for them, they weren’t able to tie the game up after Bradley missed a clean look from deep. From there, Tyler Bey knocked down a pair of free throws to give the Buffs a 56-51 win.
Despite battling hard for 40 minutes, Cal came up empty handed in this game. They learned today that battling hard isn’t the only thing you need to do to get a win. You have to play good basketball and for much of the game, Cal played sloppily, failing to capitalize on Colorado’s mistakes (23 turnovers). Truth be told, both teams played poorly, but to Colorado’s credit they found a way to advance and at this time of year, that’s all that matters.
As for Cal, this isn’t how they wanted the Pac-12 Tournament to go, but considering their 0-15 start, they should feel good about at least making the season interesting at the end, winning three straight games and riding into Las Vegas with some momentum. In terms of what they have ahead, it’s the offseason, which is a time for them to get better and build on the success that they had towards the end of the season. They have a solid recruiting class coming in composed of Joel Brown, Charles Smith IV, D.J. Thorpe, and Logan Alters. All four guys should make them better and give them much needed depth. Combined with their core rotation all projected to return, Cal should see an improved 2019-20 season.
