Lack of Free Throws and Poor 3-Point Shooting Doom Cal in Loss to No. 5 UCLA
Cal learned from this week's two games against top-10 teams that it can compete with the best teams when playing at Haas Pavilion. But the Golden Bears also learned there is a big difference between competing with the best and beating the best.
Cal hung with No. 7 USC on Thursday, trailing by just four points with 9:20 left in the game before the Trojans' superior talent took hold, propelling USC to a 77-63 win.
The scenario was much the same Saturday evening at Haas Pavilion, as Cal trailed No. 5 UCLA by just two points with 15:52 left in the game. The Bruins (10-1, 2-0 Pac-12) then reeled off seven straight points over the next three minutes to take a nine-point lead. The teams played virtually even the rest of the way before the Bruins finished it off with a 60-52 victory.
(Click here for a report on how the game played out.)
So Cal is 9-7 overall and 2-3 in the conference, and e Bears have lost nine straight games to UCLA. But the feeling in the Cal locker room after the game was that the Bears are capable of beating teams of this caliber if things go their way.
"I learned we're capable of hanging with anybody," said Cal guard Jordan Shepherd. "These two teams, they're ranked for a reason, and we're hanging around with both of them.
"When we're right, doing everything we're supposed to do, we can complete and we can win these."
Andre Kelly had a big game for Cal with 22 points on 11-for-14 shooting, and Shepherd finished with 10 points, albeit on 4-for-14 shooting.
The Bears limited UCLA's top scorer, Johnny Juzang to nine points on 3-for-10 shooting, and they held the Bruins to their lowest scoring output of the season. Cal also dominated the boards, collecting 13 offensive rebounds to just five for the Bruins.
But three things hurt Cal.
---1. Grant Anticevich scored 21 points in a four-point loss to UCLA last season, when he went 5-for-5 on 3-point shots. UCLA decided it was not going to let that happen again, limiting Anticevich to two points this time on 1-for-11 shooting, including 0-for-6 on 3-pointers.
"That's a great defensive team," Kelly said of UCLA. "Grant had a great game against them last year and I think they remembered that."
---2. Cal was 1-for-14 on 3-point shots Saturday, including 0-for-9 in the second half. But the Bruins, who entered the day as the Pac-12's leading 3-point shooting team at 38.1%, were just 4-for-18 from long range, so the Bears' long-distance problems did not seem as striking. The bigger issue, said Cal coach Mark Fox, revolved around No. 3 below.
---3. Cal did not attempt a free throw until just 3:08 remained in the game, and by then the Bruins had a 12-point lead. Cal finished 5-for-7 from the line, all in garbage time, while UCLA was 12-for-17 from the foul line.
Asked whether the Bears' poor 3-point shooting or the lack of free throws had a bigger impact on the outcome, Fox did not hesitate.
"Oh, a thousand percent the free-throw line," Fox said. "The free-throw line is something we have to have, and we didn't get there.. That keeps you from droughts, and tonight it took a long time to get to the line."
UCLA got much of its offense from Tyger Campbell and Jaime Jaquez Jr. Campbell had 17 points on 7-for-10 shooting, including 2-for-3 on 3-pointers, and added four assists. Jaquez was questionable to play Saturday after suffering a sprained ankle in Thursday's win over Long Beach State, but he did not seem affected against Cal, collecting 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting.
However, it never appeared that Cal did not belong on the same court as the No. 5 team, which is different from last season when the Bears seemed to have no chance against top-tier teams.
"We're a better basketball team," Fox said in the video atop this story. "but to beat the best teams, not only in the conference but in the country, you have to learn how your team can win and how you can beat a certain level of team.
"When you understand the consequences of little things, you realize there's no such thing as little things. And we could probably point to four or five small, little mistakes in the game that ended up being the difference in the game."
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Cover photo of Tyger Campbell by Kelley L Cox, USA TODAY Sports
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