Cal Basketball: Bears Get First Pac-12 Win – And Without Matt Bradley
Playing without leading scorer Matt Bradley for the second straight game, Cal picked up its first Pac-12 win of the season with an 84-78 victory over Washington Saturday afternoon at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley.
Cal (6-7, 1-5 Pac-12) let a 13-point, second-half lead slip away before regrouping to play well down the stretch and end a three-game losing streak. Washington (1-9, 0-5) lost its sixth consecutive game.
Big offensive games by Andre Kelly, who scored a season-high-tying 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting, and Ryan Betley, who scored 18 points and made 4-of-7 three-pointers, saved the day for the Bears.
"I was really, really pleased to see us respond after we fell behind," Fox said in the video above. "Still wasn't pleased with our defense, but offensively we got the ball in the paint when we needed to in the first half. We made a bunch of threes in the second, and it ends up being a real good win."
Cal was without Bradley, the Pac-12's No. 3 scorer at 17.8 points per game, because of an ankle injury, and it was the fourth game he has missed this season.
Fox did not sound optimistic that Bradley would return soon.
"He's going to try to do some stand-still shooting later today," Fox said, "but he's been unable to practice, unable to change direction, unable to run. Even when he can get to the point where he can shoot, the ability to move, change direction, jump and do all those things, that's going to take some time."
The Bears were also without Kuany Kuany, who was held out after suffering a concussion in Thursday's game.
You would think that for Cal to win without Bradley, the Bears would have to excel on defense. But it was the offense that carried the Bears, who scored more than 70 points for first time in six Pac-12 games.
Cal committed just nine turnovers, made 11-of-26 three-points attempts and shot 55.4 percent overall.
Washington is one of the worst shooting teams in the country, ranking 316th of 338 Division I teams in field-goal percentage (38 percent) and 333rd in three-point percentage (24.6) coming into the game. But the Huskies shot 52 percent from the field on Saturday and made half of their three-point attempts (9-for-18). Eric Stevenson scored a season-high 27 points for the Huskies.
Kelly did his work from inside, especially in the first half when he scored 14 points. Betley hit a couple of big shots in the second half and was 6-for-11 from the field overall after going 2-for-11 game in the loss to Washington State on Thursday.
"Ryan is the kind of player who needs other good players around him," Fox said.
**Fox on Betley
Besides Kelly's presence in the paint helped, and Makale Foreman complemented Betley's perimeter offense by scoring 12 of his 14 points in the second half, when Foreman made 4-of-6 three-pointers, including some from well beyond the arc..
But the key basket was a three-point shot by Joel Brown with 1:55 left that broke a 75-75 tie. Brown is not known for his shooting. He entered the game as a 44 percent foul shooter, but had made 6 of 15 three-point shots (40 percent), largely because he is seldom guarded out there.
"Joel, in the limited offseason that we had, worked hard on his shooting," Fox said. "And people maybe don't have to guard him as closely as they guard Matt Bradley or Ryan Betley, but you can't not guard him. He'll shoot it with confidence, and he'll shoot it well, and it was a big play for us."
**Fox on Brown and Bradley
Cal led by 13 points with 18:03 left in the second half, but the Huskies went on a 21-5 run and grabbed a 53-50 lead on Stevenson's three-point shot at the 12:59 mark. Washington pushed its lead to four points before Cal went on a 12-0 run, finished off by two three-pointers by Foreman, to take a 67-59 lead with 7:20 remaining.
Cal increased its lead to nine points with 6:25 to go, but Washington tied the game again at the 3:38 mark on a Quade Green bucket.
Brown broke a 75-75 tie with his three-point shot with 1:55 left and made it a five-point game with a steal and layup with 1:29 to go. Cal held on from there.
Led by Kelly's 14 first-half points, Cal held a 40-32 lead at halftime. Kelly made his first seven shots from the floor and finished the half 7-for-8 from the field. He dominated play in the paint inside the Huskies' zone defense.
Cal committed just four turnovers in the first half as the Bears rallied from an early seven-point deficit to control the final 10 minutes of the first half.
Cal's starting lineup on Saturday consisted of Ryan Betley, Makale Foreman, Andre Kelly, Grant Anticevich and Joel Brown.
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Cover photo of Cal coach Mark Fox by D. Ross Cameron, USA TODAY Sports
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Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53
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