Cal Basketball: Gruesome Shooting Night Dooms Bears at Washington

Cal could not overcome a wretched shooting night in a 62-51 loss at Washington on Saturday night.

How bad was it?

Cal did not make a field goal in the final 8 minutes of the game, missing its last nine attempts.

The Bears finished the game shooting a season-low 26.7 percent from the field and made just 3 of 17 attempts from beyond the 3-point arc. They also missed 11 free throws.

On the heels of an 82-51 loss at Washington State, coach Mark Fox struggled to find much he liked in this one, either.

“I thought defensively we gave a much better effort than the other night,” he said. “We played harder. Didn’t make shots.”

No one had a tougher night than junior Matt Bradley, the Bears’ leading scorer. He was dealing with an upset stomach before the game but was cleared to play. He managed 33 minutes on the floor but missed nine of his first 10 shots and finished with 13 points on 3-for-16 shooting.

“I was proud of Matt. Matt had to ask out of the game several times tonight to get sick in the trash can. He kept playing,” said Fox. “The ball didn’t go in but I thought he played courageously. He gave us all that he had. It was a tough thing for him to overcome tonight.”

Fox shuffled his starting lineup, going with Bradley, freshman Jalen Celestine, Makale Foreman, Kuany Kuany and Lars Thiemann. Noticeably absent were forwards Andre Kelly and Grant Anticevich.

“I just wanted to motivate them a little bit,” Fox explained. “Those two are really great kids. They’ve been solid players for us. But there’s another level we have to get there.

“I thought Andre really responded well, gave us a double-double. I thought he answered the bell. I thought Grant was more active tonight —we needed him to finish a few more of those plays.”

Kelly finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds, despite taking a hard shot that knocked him to the floor. Anticevich had eight points and seven rebounds but shot 4 for 15.

Also absent was sophomore point guard Joel Brown, the Bears’ best perimeter defender. He sat out with swelling around his Achilles area. “I have no timetable on that,” Fox said. “I hope it’s not long.”

Barely a month after beating Washington 87-82 in Berkeley, the Bears (8-17, 3-15) fell game-and-a-half behind the Huskies (5-17, 4-13) in last place in the Pac-12 standings. Cal is 1-11 on the road this season and has won just three of its past 43 games on an opponent’s floor.

Cover photo of Cal coach Mark Fox by Darren Yamashita, USA Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo