Cal Posts Impressive Road Win Over Arizona State
Cal produced perhaps its best performance of the season in an 81-66 road victory over Arizona State on Saturday afternoon.
The Bears (9-13, 5-6 Pac-12) started out hot from the three-point line, building an early 14-point lead, and never let up with a strong showing both offensively and defensively. The Bears avenged the 71-69 loss to Arizona State in Berkeley back on December 31 and are now tied in the Pac-12 standings with Arizona State (11-11, 5-6 Pac-12).
"Our guys were motivated," Cal coach Mark Madsen said. "We had, a tough one down at Arizona [in a 91-65 loss to the Wildcats on Thursday]. We didn't start with energy down there, so the guys committed to each other that they were going to come out with huge energy."
Cal center Fardaws Aimaq had a big game with 20 points on 8-for-12 shooting to go along with 14 rebounds and five assists, and Jaylon Tyson had 17 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.
However, the star for Cal was Jalen Cone, who finished with 19 points, hit 3-of-5 three-point shots, and provided the critical points when ASU seemed to making a run in the second half.
Cal held an 18-point lead with 18:25 left in the second half when ASU went on a 9-0 to reduce the lead to nine points with 15:43 remaining. That had to cause concern on the Cal bench, because Cal blew a 16-point, second-half lead in that loss to the Sun Devils in December.
But Cone scored nine points over the next 2:39 to push the lead back to 15 points with 13:03 left in the game.
This was actually a 3-point play. Review determined Cone's foot was on the line, but it was still the biggest basket of the game.
His 3-for-5 accuracy from long range had to be comforting to Cone and the team because he had been just 1-for-12 on three-pointers over the previous two games.
"Anytime Arizona State was getting close, Jalen Cone nailed a three, or he made a teammate better, or got a huge stop," Madsen said. "Just really, really proud of Jalen Cone."
Cal controlled the game from that point, leading by as many as 21 points with 2:53 to go.
The Bears' defense has not been a strong point this season. and they entered the game ranked last in the Pac-12 in scoring defense. But they limited ASU to 26 points in the first half, and the Sun Devils' 66 total points was the second-lowest score by a Pac-12 Cal opponent this season. (Cal limited UCLA to 57 points in the Bears' only other road victory this season.) Arizona State shot just 38.6% from the field for the game.
Perhaps the most significant aspect of the Bears' defense was the work they did on ASU's top scorer Frankie Collins. He finished with 13 points, but seven of those points came in the final 3:02 when Cal had a 20-point lead. Just as important was the fact that Collins had zero assists and zero steals. In Arizona State's December win over Cal, Collins had 25 points and six steals, the latter stat leading to the Sun Devils' comeback win in Berkeley.
"Our guys have been motivated on the defensive side of the ball," Madsen said. "We really dove in defensively. We made some internal changes to really focus on the defense, and it's really been paying off. Now we have to sustain it."
Meanwhile, Cal shot 50% from the field and was 11-for-22 from three-point range.
The Bears were hot from the perimeter at the start, making 6 of their first 7 three-point shots to grab a 14-point lead at the 10-minute mark of the opening half.
Cal shot 50% from the field in the first half, which ended with the Bears holding a 38-26 lead. The Bears committed nine turnovers in the first half but only four in the second half.
Now the question is whether Cal will draw big crowds for the home games against USC on Wednesday and UCLA on Saturday.
"I've heard good things about the interest and the fans coming out," Madsen said.
Cal drew a season-high 8,710 fans for last Friday's win over Stanford.
Cover photo of Jalen Coney by Zachary BonDurant, USA TODAY Sports
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