Cal Basketball: Bears' Struggling Defense Faces Daunting Assignment the Next 6 Games
Things are about to get tougher still for the Cal basketball team.
On the heels of a 75-46 loss at Stanford that dropped them to 3-18, the Bears brace themselves for a six-game gauntlet of Pac-12 opponents all ranked among the top-70 in the NCAA’s NET computer rankings.
Cal is at No. 297 in those same rankings.
Making things even more daunting is the fact that Cal plays four of next six on the road where it hasn’t won a game since last February. The Bears are 0-8 away from home this season.
Asked after the Stanford game why his team struggles on the road, coach Mark Fox went to the heart of the matter.
“Independent of everything else, we haven’t in the last two years been a very good road team because we haven’t been very good,” he says in the video above. “You have to get good first.”
Now alone in last place in the Pac-12 standings at 2-8 after five straight defeats, the Bears have struggled for years on offense. In the past that was in part because of the way the Bears played — a slow, deliberate pace to compensate for a talent deficiency. They have tried to open things up at times this season, but still rank last in the conference, scoring just 60.2 points per game.
But the Bears, who were competent defensively a year ago, have regressed. They allow 68.7 points per game, which is 10th in the Pac-12 and have surrendered 75 or more five times in conference games.
Cal is last in field-goal percentage defense, 10th in 3-point percentage defense and 11th in rebound margin.
“You have to be able to rely on your defense, and this team has not been able to do that,” Fox said. “Our defense is nowhere near as good as it was a year ago. And on the road you have to be able to rely on your defense.”
The Bears came closest to winning on the road at Washington on Jan. 14, when they allowed the Huskies just 63 points in regulation. But Cal missed three free throws in the final 1:45 of the second half and UW tied the game to force overtime on a layup by Keion Brooks Jr. with 12 seconds left.
The Huskies outscored Cal 18-15 in the extra 5 minutes.
“At Washington we played very well. We just didn’t make free throws,” Fox said
The Bears will be tested the next three weeks by the six highest-scoring teams in the Pac-12.
Here’s the lineup, with each opponent’s current NET ranking and their offensive rank within the Pac-12:
— THURSDAY at COLORADO (No. 70 NET; 5th in Pac-12 at 71.2 points per game): Cal beat the Buffaloes 80-76 in Berkeley on New Year’s Eve, holding on for dear life after leading 70-49 with 4 minutes left. Cal has lost five straight at Boulder.
— SUNDAY at UTAH (No. 49 NET; 6th in Pac-12 at 70.8 ppg): The Utes have won the past four vs. Cal, including 58-43 in Berkeley on Dec. 29 .
— FEB. 9 vs. ARIZONA (No. 10 NET; 1st in Pac-12 at 83.9 ppg): Cal has lost the past 12 meetings vs. Arizona.
— FEB. 11 vs. ARIZONA STATE (No. 64 NET; No. 3 in Pac-12 at 71.5 ppg): Cal beat the Sun Devils 74-50 last season in Berkeley but has lost eight of the past nine meetings.
— FEB. 16 at USC (No. 53 NET; 4th in Pac-12 at 7.5 ppg): Cal has lost nine in a row to USC, including 66-51 at Los Angeles on Nov. 30.
— FEB. 18 at UCLA (No. 5 NET; 2nd in Pac-12 at 74.8 ppg: Cal has lost 10 straight to the Bruins, including 81-57 at Los Angeles on Jan. 27.
Cover photo of Cal's Sam Alajiki on defense by D. Ross Cameron, USA Today
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo
