Cal Basketball: A Home Loss to Oregon State - The Bears Have Fallen and Can't Get Up
This felt like a low point for Cal basketball. Maybe the low point, although that’s difficult to say considering the arc of the program over the past six seasons.
The Bears, despite a 3-16 record entering play Sunday, were 3 1/2-point favorites against an Oregon State team that had lost six in a row and had dropped its past 25 games outside Gill Coliseum dating back 666 days.
That was way back on March 27, 2021 and 2,261 miles away at Indianapolis when the Beavers knocked off Loyola Chicago in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA tournament.
They hadn't won away from home since then. Until Sunday.
While many Bay Area sports fans were trekking to Santa Clara or tuning in their TVs for the 49ers-Cowboys playoff game, an announced crowd of 2,072 was on hand at Haas Pavilion as the Beavers scored the final 13 points of the first half and never were threatened on the way to a 68-48 victory over Cal.
Coach Mark Fox talks in the video at the top of this story about the Bears' poor defense, especially guarding the 3-point shot. Senior Kuany Kuany, in the video below, concedes the Cal defense "didn't show up for a majority of the game."
The Bears, 3-17 and tied for last in the Pac-12 at 2-7, play their next three games and five of their next seven on the road, where they are winless this season. First up is a cross-Bay trip Saturday to Stanford, which may be figuring things out after sweeping the Oregon schools this weekend.
Cal is now 38-75 in four seasons under Fox, 17-50 in Pac-12 play. Add in former coach Wyking Jones’ two seasons, and the Bears are 54-112 over six years, 22-81 vs. conference opponents.
The matchup of the only two Pac-12 teams with NET computer rankings worse than No. 125 — OSU was 231, Cal 260 — was grim from the start.
Cal made just one of its first 12 shots and finished the first half at 17 percent (4 for 23).
Neither team reached double figures until OSU’s Dexter Akanno made a baseline jumper with 7:52 left in the half.
The Bears led 15-14 after a layup and free throw by Lars Thiemann with 4:30 left in the half. That was the last time Cal scored before Steve Max arrived to direct an amusing halftime “Simon Says” competition.
Cal finished the first half scoreless on its final six possessions while Akanno and Glenn Taylor Jr. fueled the 13-0 closing run by the Beavers that made it 27-15. Each of them hit a pair of 3-pointers in the final 5 minutes of the half.
The Beavers (8-12, 2-7) escalated their 3-point barrage to open the second half with Tyler Bilodeau and Akanno each connecting from deep before freshman Jordan Pope made a traditional 3-point and a shot from beyond the arc for a 39-20 lead with just under 16 minutes left.
At that point, the Bears were shooting 21 percent with 11 turnovers compared to six baskets.
Cal put together an 8-0 run to get within 39-28 but OSU answered with its second 13-0 burst of the afternoon for a 52-28 lead. The margin eventually grew as large as 28 points.
The Bears have continued to play hard through difficult circumstances this season, but there may have been a few moments Sunday where they could not maintain that, as Fox addresses in the video above.
Junior guard Devin Askew, who had missed the previous five games due to injury, made his return and had eight points and seven assists, but shot just 2 for 12.
Kuany Kuany scored 15 points -- 12 of them in the second half -- to lead the Bears, who wound up shooting 38 percent for the game, including 3 for 15 on 3-point attempts. Cal turned the ball over 14 times, leading to 19 OSU points.
Cal was without transfer guard DeJuan Clayton, who suffered a migraine earlier in the week, and sophomore wing Sam Alajiki, shelved by an undisclosed injury. Junior guard Jalen Celestine has yet to play after off-season knee surgery.
Pope scored 19 points and Akanno had 16 for the Beavers, who shot 54 percent from the field, including 13 for 24 on 3-pointers.
Cover photo of Cal guard Devin Askew by Darren Yamashita, USA Today
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo
