Cal Basketball: The Good and Bad of 2020-21

Coach Mark Fox loves his team's resiliency, but says the Bears have regressed on defense

Asked what he has been most pleased with and most concerned about this season, Cal basketball coach Mark Fox knew right where to go.

On the positive end, he’s gratified by his players’ resiliency in such an unusual and challenging season.

But the flip side is he’s disappointed the Bears haven’t defended the 3-point shot better and with his club’s lack of physicality at that end of the floor.

As the Bears (7-10, 2-8 Pac-12) prepare for tonight’s game at Arizona State (4-8, 1-5), here’s some of what Fox had to say this week when asked to identify the good and the bad of his team’s performance.

“If I look at it from 30,000 feet, the fact that we didn’t have any off-season, that we had (COVID-19) shutdown, we’ve had the injuries to key people, the disruption and the lack of continuity, the fact that they still show up every day with belief that we’re going to make this OK I’ve really been pleased with,” Fox said.

“They continue to have the right approach and to pick each other up an rally around when we reinvent our team. They’ve developed a resilience that will be a great skill as our team gets healthy and as they move through life.”

Fox has none of that enthusiasm about the way the Bears have played defensively.

Cal ranks 10th in the Pac-12 in scoring defense, allowing 69.7 points. Worse than that, they are last in the conference — and 334th nationally — in 3-point defense. Opponents are converting 39.7 percent of their 3-point attempts, and have topped 40 percent five times.

Additionally, the Bears are 10th in the conference in rebound margin at minus-2 per game.

“We’re not physical defensively, like we were a year ago,” he said. Our defensive numbers have to improve. We’ve taken a step back there.”

It’s worth noting that ASU has struggled even more than Cal in several of these defensive categories: The Sun Devils are last in the Pac-12 in scoring defense (77.8), last in field-goal percentage defense (45.8 percent) and 11th in rebounding margin (minus-8.5), the latter figure ranking 329th nationally.

All of this goes a long way toward explaining why the Bears and Sun Devils reside at the bottom of the Pac-12 standings.

Cal and ASU tip off at 8 p.m. tonight on FS1.

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COVER PHOTO OF MARK FOX BY STAN SZETO, USA TODAY

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