Cal Basketball: Wins at McKale Have Been Rare But Sweet for the Golden Bears
As Cal prepares to take on No. 11 Arizona at Tucson for perhaps the last time on Thursday night, the Bears will do their best to ignore some difficult history at McKale Center.
The Wildcats have beaten Cal nine times in a row in the desert and have won 25 of the past 27 meetings at McKale.
This one won’t be easy, either. In the final scheduled matchup of teams headed to new conferences a year from now, the Wildcats (15-5, 6-3) are tied for first place in the Pac-12 with Oregon and own a 100-81 win over the Bears (8-12, 4-5) last month in Berkeley.
While their successes at McKale have been infrequent, the Bears have enjoyed a few memorable victories against the Wildcats at Tucson. Here are three of them, plus a defeat that turned the fortunes of a Cal team from three decades ago:
— Feb. 10, 2013: CAL 77, No. 7 ARIZONA 69. Cal’s most recent road victory vs. the Wildcats was fueled by a spectacular performance from Allen Crabbe, who shot 12 for 15 (8 for 8 from inside the 3-point arc) and scored 31 points. Justin Cobbs scored 21 for the Bears to orchestrate the upset of a team that was 20-2 entering the night.
Postscript: The Bears went on to a 21-12 season, beating UNLV in their opening game of the NCAA tournament before losing to Syracuse.
Jerome Randle
Photo by Kim Klement, USA Today
— March 5, 2009: CAL 83, ARIZONA 77. Another substantial 1-2 punch paved the way in this one, with Jerome Randle putting up 31 points, including 8 for 11 on 3-point tries, and Theo Robertson scoring 24 for the Bears. The nation’s top 3-point shooting team, Cal outscored Arizona 48-21 from beyond the arc on a night when the Wildcats were honoring retired coach Lute Olson.
Postscript: Cal finished 22-11 and earned a NCAA bid in coach Mike Montgomery’s first season. A year later, the Bears won their first conference championship in 50 years.
— Jan. 13, 1994: No. 19 CAL 98, No. 6 ARIZONA 93, OT. This was a fantastic game with Lamond Murray putting up 33 points and 11 rebounds —plus a 3-pointer with 3.5 seconds left to force overtime — and Jason Kidd delivering a triple-double with 17 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists, along with four steals. Monty Buckley added 19 points as the Bears outgunned a U of A team that had won 100 of its previous 102 home games.
Postscript: The two-year Kidd-Murray run ended abruptly with a surprising loss to Wisconsin-Green Bay in the opening round of the 1994 NCAA tournament.
— Feb. 7, 1993: No. 8 ARIZONA 93, CAL 81. Chris Mills scored 26 points and Khalid Reeves had 23 as the Wildcats handed the Bears their seventh loss in 12 games after Cal began the year with a No. 6 preseason AP Top-25 ranking. Kidd scored 27 points before late coach Lou Campanelli screamed at his team loudly enough that he could be heard in the hallway outside the locker room.
Postscript: Athletic director Bob Bockrath, who also heard Campanelli’s postgame tirade, fired his coach two days later, replacing him with assistant Todd Bozeman. The Bears then won 11 of their next 12 games, including an upset of two-time defending national champion Duke that vaulted them into the Sweet 16.
Cover photo of former Cal star Allen Crabbe by Casey Sapio, USA Today
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo
