Cal Basketball: Bears Close Out 2022 With a Wild Victory over Colorado

Cal led by 18 points with just over 2 minutes left, then held on for an 80-76 win.

The Cal basketball team ended 2022 — the worst calendar year in program history — with an 80-76 victory over Colorado on Saturday afternoon at Haas Pavilion to claim its first Pac-12 Conference win in nearly 10 months.

The Bears controlled the game for much of the afternoon then nearly lost control entirely down the stretch before ending the year with smiles on their faces.

“We didn’t close the game as we had hoped,” coach Mark Fox says in the video at the top of this story. “But we finished liked we hoped with a win.”

The Bears had won just five times in 2022 — against 28 defeats — and opened this season 0-12. Cal’s fewest wins ever in a calendar year is six, which previously happened in 2018.

For 38 minutes, this was a mostly strong showing by the Bears (2-13, 1-3). Cal shot well to build a 12-point halftime lead, neutralized Colorado’s top scorer for much of the game and outrebounded the visitors 36-23.

It was far from a perfect showing that included some late panic and a total of 21 turnovers. The Bears played much of the afternoon like they expected to win, led by as many as 21 points and seemed in total control against CU (9-6, 1-3) until the final 2 minutes.

They were up 18 points at 74-56 after two free throws by Sam Alajiki with 2:14 left before Colorado’s press unraveled them. Colorado’s KJ Simpson, playing on an ankle he tweaked late in the first half, scored 16 points — including three 3-pointers — over the final 2:06 to send terror through most of the 1,253 souls who braved the Saturday rainstorm to attend the game.

The Buffaloes reeled off 12 straight points to get within 74-68 before Kuany Kuany made two free throws with 40.7 seconds left. Freshman Grant Newell made two more with 23 seconds left but Simpson’s final 3-pointer with 8.5 seconds remaining whittled Cal’s lead down to 79-76.

Colorado fouled Joel Brown with 6.3 seconds left and he missed the first free throw. After a Cal timeout, Brown — a 48-percent career foul shooter — swished the second one, and the victory was secured.

Brown played one of his best games, attacking the basket and scoring 21 points — his first 20-point game in 105 career outings. Fox talks about his development in the video below and his confidence that Brown would sink the second free throw.

Senior center Lars Thiemann had 12 points, freshman forward Grant Newell had 13 points and 12 rebounds for his first double-double, and Kuany wound up with 11 points. 

Transfer guard DeJuan Clayton, in just his second appearance after missing the season’s first 13 games with a hamstring injury, contributed 10 points, although he shot just 3 for 12 and had five turnovers in 32 minutes on the floor.

Clayton played just two games at Hartford last season before a separate season-ending injury. He talks below about his efforts to find a rhythm after his long road back.

Leading scorer Devin Askew was unavailable due to an undisclosed injury and junior guard Jalen Celestine still hasn’t played this season while recovering from offseason knee surgery. Fox said it's unclear whether Askew would be available for the Bears' next game, Friday at home vs. Stanford.

But coach Mark Fox showed confidence in his entire roster, substituting freely and getting at least 15 minutes from eight different players. He talks about that in the video below, also referencing freshman forward ND Okafor, who contributed six points, three rebounds, three assists and a blocked shot in 15 minutes.

Brown echoed those sentiments, saying this could become the deepest team he’s played on in four seasons at Cal.

Cal, which entered the game shooting 40 percent from the field to rank last in the Pac-12, converted 58 percent (29 for 50), its best shooting effort in a conference game under Fox and its best in a Pac-12 outing in nearly eight years.

The Bears made 7 of their 13 tries from beyond the arc, in stark contrast to their season average of 26 percent, which was 350th in the nation.

The Bears scored 12 straight points early — including 3-pointers by Monty Bowser and Kuany — to forge a 14-4 lead and the Buffaloes never got closer than seven points the rest of the half.

Thiemann, held to five points in the Thursday loss to Utah, scored 12 first-half points, 10 of them in a span of 2 minutes, 53 seconds, as the Bears stretched out to a 24-13 lead.

Cal did a nice defensive job against Simpson, who averages 18.2 points and was coming off a career-high 31 points at Stanford. The sophomore guard scored just four first-half points on 2-for-8 shooting, including 0 for 5 on 3-point attempts.

Simpson, appeared to injure his ankle in the final minute of the first half, although he did play after halftime He finished with 25 points. 

Cover photo of Joel Brown by Rob Edwards, KLC fotos

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