Two Players Affected Cal's Turnaround from a 29-Point Loss to Colorado

How can a Cal team that suffered its most lopsided loss of the season on Jan. 14, respond with its best win of the season against the same team a month later?

That's what Cal did on Saturday, as its 71-62 upset of Colorado reversed an 89-60 loss to the Buffaloes in Boulder.

The Buffaloes beat Cal like a drum last month, leading by 11 at halftime and by more than 20 points for the final nine minutes of the game.

Did the altitude in Boulder make that much difference? Has Cal improved that much? Has Colorado regressed?

Well, Cal came into Saturday's game on a seven-game losing streak, so the Bears were not exactly riding a wave of confidence. And the win merely pulled Cal out of sole possession of last place, putting the Bears (3-13 in the Pac-12) in a virtual tie with Washington (2-12) for 11th.

Meanwhile, Colorado (10-5 Pac-12) had won three in a row, and its only loss in the previous six games was against Utah, when the Buffaloes coughed up a 19-point lead with less than nine minutes left in a three-point loss.

But there were two vital differences from Cal's previous game against Colorado.

First of all, Colorado freshman Jabari Walker, who had racked up 23 points and 11 rebounds in the Buffaloes rout of Cal, did not play Saturday, his left foot wrapped in a boot.

Second, and perhaps more important, Cal's Matt Bradley did not play in the earlier game against Colorado because of an ankle injury. He did play Saturday, though, collecting a career-high 29 points and coming up with the big shots late in the first half and again in the closing minutes of the game.

He scored Cal's final seven points of the first half, giving the Bears a three-point lead at the break. Bradley then scored 11 points in the final 5:03 of the second half, including the most important shot of the game -- a three-pointer with 40 seconds left that extended a two-point Cal lead to five.

Bradley's 29 points were most scored against Colorado this season. (And, yes, despite earlier reports that Bradley had scored 27 or 28 points Saturday, his total was officially corrected to 29.)

It is noteworthy that Cal's best win of last season also came against Colorado, and Bradley also set a career high in that game, scoring 26 points in a 76-62 victory.

Like last year's game at Cal, #CUBuffs had zero answer for Bears star Matt Bradley: https://t.co/HkOS1yAEqJ
— Pat Rooney (@prooney07) February 14, 2021

The Boulder Daily Camera headline on Saturday's game story read: "Matt Bradley torches CU Buffs again in ugly road loss"

Bradley is now averaging 19.1 points, which is second in the Pac-12, just a hair behind Stanford's Oscar da Silva at 19.2 points per contest.

Of course, Cal has not always won when Bradley had big games. In fact, before Saturday's game, Cal had lost eight of the nine games in which he had scored 20 points or more this season, the only win coming against overmatched Nicholls State.

And Colorado had shown it could win without Walker, who was sidelined for all three of the games during the Buffaloes' winning streak, including Thursday's 18-point win over Stanford. His numbers against Cal represented season highs in both scoring and rebounding, and he is averaging just 8.2 points for the season.

But his subtraction and Bradley's addition had an impact on Cal's most significant win since Mark Fox became Cal's head coach prior to last season.

Cal's ability to take care of the ball also was major factor in Saturday's upset, as the Bears committed just seven turnovers after turning it over 16 times in the previous game against Colorado. Jalen Celestine's defense on Colorado point guard McKinley Wright IV was a component as well.

Colorado came into Saturday's game looking like a team that could challenge for the conference title. They were No. 12 in the NET rankings, the highest of any Pac-12 team, but the loss to Cal dropped the Buffaloes seven spots to No. 19 on Sunday.

“A tough loss. This one stings,” Colorado head coach Tad Boyle told Pat Rooney of Prairie Mountain Publishing at the Daily Camera. “It gives us our fifth (league) loss and we’re back in the pack. Thought we had a chance to compete for a championship.”

The Buffs have defeated some of the league’s most talented teams in USC, Oregon, and Stanford twice. They also have lost to the two teams at the bottom of the standings, Cal and Washington.

Cover photo of Matt Bradley by D. Ross Cameron, USA TODAY Sports

Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

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