Cal Basketball: One More Loss and the Bears Reach a Pac-12 Low Water Mark
When the beleaguered Cal basketball team next loses a game — and it’s not far-fetched to speculate that could be Sunday afternoon at Utah — the Bears will achieve a bit more ignominious history.
They will become the first team to assemble three consecutive 20-loss seasons while playing in any generation of the Pac-12 Conference.
No other program in conference history has suffered through a three-season stretch with this dysfunctional distinction. But the Bears arrive in Salt Lake City sitting at 19 defeats.
Utah's Lazar Stefanovic drives on Cal's Marsalis Roberson
Photo by D. Ross Cameron, USA Today
Colorado had three straight 20-loss seasons from 2006-07 through 2008-09, but the Buffaloes played in the Big 12 Conference at the time.
It’s worth noting that prior to the current six-year stretch, Cal had sustained just two 20-loss seasons in its history, dating back to 1907-08. The Bears were 6-21 in 1978-79 and 9-20 in 1987-88.
The Bears’ woes trace back to the 2017-18 season.
After coach Cuonzo Martin left for Missouri following the 2016-17 season, Wyking Jones was promoted from assistant coach. He was fired after going 8-24 and 8-23 — the worst back-to-back seasons in program annals.
Enter Mark Fox, who inherited a mess but made some progress in 2019-20, putting together a 14-18 record.
Then the Bears dipped to 9-20 and 12-20, setting the stage for this season.
The year began with 12 consecutive losses and the Bears will take the court Sunday with a record of 3-19 overall, 2-9 in the Pac-12. The Bears have lost six in a row, are winless in seven road games and already lost to the Utes 58-43, on Dec. 29 at Berkeley.
It’s not a pretty picture.
Throughout Fox’s three-year tenure, the Bears have been haunted by all sorts of issues, including the COVID-19 pandemic, defections and a seemingly endless series of injuries. This year’s team has played all season without Jalen Celestine, their top returning scorer (7.5 points) from a year ago.
Transfer guards Devin Askew and DeJuan Clayton, who were expected to boost scoring, played together in just one game — the first meeting vs. Utah.
Now Askew (15.5 points in 13 games) is out for the season after surgery this week for a sports hernia. Clayton (10.2 points in seven games) missed the team’s first 13 games while recovering from a hamstring injury. He also has dealt with a migraine and sat out Thursday’s loss at Colorado because of illness.
Most teams face injury challenges; Cal’s have been worse than many. Even so, teams overcome obstacles and the Bears have not figured out a way to climb out of this morass.
In their current state, they cannot score enough to compete. They are 347th out of 352 teams nationally, averaging 60.2 points per game.
They have failed to reach 50 points in three straight games for the first time in 74 years. That’s right, the last time the Bears played three consecutive games scoring in the 40s was in the ‘40s — five in a row during the 1948-49 campaign.
But, hey, they actually won two of those five.
Photo of Cal's bench watching as the action unfolds during a recent game by D. Ross Cameron, USA Today
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo
