Cal Beats Oregon in Home Finale to Move Over .500 in Pac-12 Play
Two months ago Cal held a team meeting that was not a pleasant experience, but the fruits of that get-together when things looked bleak are being seen now. On Saturday afternoon Cal moved over the .500 mark in Pac-12 play by beating Oregon 69-64 before a crowd of 6,105 in Cal’s final home game of the season.
Cal (13-15, 9-8 Pac-12) got 27 points from Jaylon Tyson, two days after he was held to a season-low seven points in Thursday's win over Oregon State. The win moved Cal into the top half of the Pac-12 standings, in sixth place, heading into a road trip that includes games against Colorado and Utah.
But Tyson said the season was turned around on January 1, when the Bears held a team meeting the day after a home loss to Arizona State, when the Bears blew a 16-point, second-half lead, dropping the Bears to 0-2 in the conference.
"We had a divided locker room, and that's the truth," Tyson said after Saturday's win in the video atop the story. "We had a divided locker room."
Complaints were aired, some of which were hard to hear, but Tyson said the team came together after that meeting.
Cal coach Mark Madsen agreed, saying the meeting lasted two and half hours.
"I would point to that meeting as a time that helped us," Madsen said.
The Bears are 9-6 since that team meeting and now are riding their first three-game winning streak of the season.
Madsen did challenge one aspect of Tyson's description of the meeting, though. Tyson said he learned from that meeting that he was not being a good enough team leader, but Madsen said that was not true.
What was true is that Tyson carried the Bears to Saturday's win. His 27-point, seven-rebound, two-block, zero-turnover performance was impressive for two reasons
---First of all, It came after he shot 3-for 15 while scoring a season-low seven points against Oregon State.
"I have a lot of confidence, A LOT of confidence," Tyson said. "Games like [Thursday's] come and go. I've been playing basketball for a long time. It's part of the game. I just told myself, it ain't going to happen again."
---Secondly, 16 of his points, including many critical buckets, came in the second half, after he suffered a dangerous-looking fall late in the first half that led to an injured wrist.
Tyson said there was never a doubt that he would play in the second half.
"It feels better with a win," he said. "You can chop my arm off and I'll play."
Augmenting Tyson performance was Jalen Cone's 15 points, 13 of which came in the second half, when he made a couple of key three-pointers.
Oregon (18-9, 10-6 Pac-12) began the day in third place in the Pac-12, still hoping to land a berth in the NCAA tournament. This loss certainly hurt the Ducks chances of getting there.
Oregon beat Cal in Eugene 80-73 back on January 13 when the Bears let an 18-point lead in the first half slip away. But the Bears rallied to win this one.
Cal took its first lead of the game when Cone hit a three-pointer to put the Bears ahead 46-44 with 11:22 remaining in the second half. A Tyson bucket pushed the Cal lead to four points, and the Bears held a six-point advantage when Tyson scored again at the 7:28 mark.
The Bears' lead grew to eight points with 6:35 to go, but Oregon made a run to get back in the game, closing the gap to one with 2:38 left.
A follow shot by Fardaws Aimaq gave the Bears a five-point lead with 53.6 seconds remaining, but two free throws by Jadrian Tracey made it a three-point game. Tyson hit a pair of free throws with 23.9 seconds to go to make it a five-point game again before Oregon's Brennan Rigsby hit two foul shots to reduce the margin to three points with 8.7 seconds left.
Cone made both free throws with 7.6 seconds left to clinch it for the Bears.
Cal never led in the first half, which ended with the Ducks holding a 34-30 lead. Tyson scored 11 first-half points for the Bears, but he was injured one minute before halftime when he landed on his back and shoulder after challenging three defenders as he attempted a shot from close range.
He stayed on the ground for more than a minute, then left the court under his own power. Tyson was one of the five Cal players who started the second half.
The Ducks attempted just two three-point shots in the first half, making one of them, while Cal took 13 shots from long range in the first 20 minutes, hitting four of them.
Cal shot just 36.7% in the first half, but the score was tied 25-25 when Fardaws Aibaq scored with 4:57 left in the half. However, Oregon scored the next six points to rebuild its lead.
Jermaine Couisnard was the Ducks top scorer in the first half with nine points, and he was Oregon's leading scorer for the game with 19 points.
Senior Sendoff
Saturday was the last home game for Cal's Fardaws Aimaq, Jalen Cone, Keonte Kennedy, Monty Bowser, Adrian Claiborne Jr. and Wrenn Robinson.
Jaydon Tyson might have played his final game at Haas Pavilion too. He has another year of college eligibility remaining, but he is considering turning pro and entering the NBA draft this spring.
Devin Askew, who missed nearly all of this season with an injury, has two more years of eligibility left, but it is unclear whether he will be back next season. The 2023-24 season was his fourth year on a college roster, but two of the seasons were cut short by injury.
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Cover photo of Mark Madsen by Kyle Terada, USA TODAY Sports
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