Cal Basketball: Bears Rally to Get Close, but Lose to UC San Diego
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Again Cal started poorly and trailed by double digits in the second half. Again the Bears rallied to get within one point. Again Cal failed to get over the hump, losing to UC San Diego 64-62 Tuesday night in La Jolla, Calif.
The Bears dropped to 0-3, and they can thank lackluster starts for their past two losses.
"It's like the Kansas State game," Cal coach Mark Fox said, "Does the bus have to run over you before you concentrate?"
Four days earlier, against Kansas State, the Bears trailed by 20 points early in the second half, got the margin down to one, then faded down the stretch in a 64-53 loss.
Against UCSD, Cal trailed by 18 points in the first half and by 14 points with 13 minutes left in the second half. The Bears got the deficit down to one point twice in the closing moments, and trailed 61-60 when Joel Brown scored on a layup with 59.3 seconds remaining.
The Bears forced a miss on UCSD's subsequent possession, but the Tritons' Francis Nwaokorie grabbed an offensive rebound. With two seconds left on the shot clock and 10.9 seconds left on the game clock, UCSD's Bryce Pope hit the biggest shot of the game, a three-pointer that boosted UCSD's lead to four points.
Cal's Devin Askew, who finished with 13 points, scored with 4.9 seconds left to cut the deficit to two points. And even though the Tritons' Jace Roquemore missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 3.8 seconds left, Askew could only get off a wild halfcourt shot that did not come close.
"This group has proven we have to learn everything the hard way," Fox said. "This is an unacceptable effort and I'm very disappointed."
It's the second year in a row Cal has lost to UCSD, which is in the third year of a four-year reclassification from Division II to Division I, was picked to finish 10th in the 11-team Big West, and lost its first two games by double digits to Seattle University and Sacramento State before facing Cal.
The Bears have yet to score more than 65 points in a game this season. They started Tuesday's game by making just one of their first eight shots from the field, and had eight turnovers 12 minutes into the game. Meanwhile, the Tritons made six of their first nine three-point shots and led 30-12 with 5:27 left in the first half.
"We came in with a very poor approach mentally about how we had to defend in this game, and we did nothing in the first half that we wanted to do defensively," Fox said. "Our defense completely flipped in the second half."
The Tritons shot 32 percent in the second half, including 2-for-9 on three-pointers, helping the Bears get back in the game. The Bears committed just two more turnovers from the eight-minute mark of the first half until the end of the game.
Cal freshman Grant Newell was again in the starting lineup and was impressive on the offensive end, collecting 12 points while showing aggressiveness and confidence.
Kuany Kuany added 11 points, and Lars Thiemann had 10. Besides his 13 points, Askew had five rebounds and team-high four assists.
Pope finished with a game-high 19 points for UCSD.
Cal stayed in the game with free throws, outscoring the Tritons by 12 points (21-9) from the foul line. In the first half Cal was 14-for-17 from the foul line while UCSD did not attempt a foul shot in the first 20 minutes.
NOTE: Cal again played without Jalen Celestine, Jarred Hyder and DeJuan Clayton. Clayton may be back soon, and Celestine will return before too long, but Hyder's status for the rest of the season is uncertain.
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Cover photo: Devin Askew
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