Coach Mark Madsen Turning Up the Heat on 9-1 Cal Bears

The Cal men’s basketball team has made such tangible progress this season that some victories must be scrutinized as much as celebrated.

Not long ago, the Bears were embracing every win, because they were few and far between.

Cal beat Dominican 93-71 on Wednesday, improving to 9-1 for the first time since the 2014-15 season, when the Bears started 10-1. All of this progress -- and it is significant -- is against a backdrop of a program that has endured eight consecutive losing seasons.

The Bears' next victory will give them more wins than in four of those eight full seasons.

But Cal trailed at halftime against its Division II opponent on Wednesday, shooting just 18 percent with two assists over the first 20 minutes. Not what coach Mark Madsen expects from this squad.

We’ll be curious to see if Cal gets a better jump out of the gate on Saturday when Northwestern State — another overmatched opponent — visits Haas Pavilion for a 2 p.m. tipoff.

Madsen talked after the Dominican game about distractions, including dead week for students with final exams looming. He also said they cannot be an excuse.

“Human nature is just something you have to fight,” he said. “Cal is challenging academically. So papers are piling up, the projects. The guys are being pulled in a million directions.

“That being said, I have to turn up the heat, even during dead week. I have to turn up the heat a little bit more. I thought I was doing it. I didn’t do a good enough job because we had a bad start. I take responsibility for that.”

The Bears need to resist that impulse to ease up when the Demons of Natchitoches, Louisiana show up Saturday. Northwestern State is 2-7 and coming off a 76-68 win over Southeastern Louisiana, its first win over a Division I opponent.

The Demons lost by 20 points to San Francisco and by 30 to Texas A&M. Their NET computer ranking is 324, compared to 56 for the Bears.

Cal, which owns wins over UCLA and Utah, gets another lesser foe next Friday when Morgan State (1-8), with its 363 NET ranking, visits Berkeley.

The Bears close their nonconference schedule on Dec. 21 against Columbia (9-2), an Ivy League opponent sure to be a better test than the previous three. Cal opens ACC play at home on Dec. 30 against 11th-ranked Louisville.

PIPPEN’S STRONG START: Madsen talks in the video above about sophomore point guard Justin Pippen, who scored a career-high 24 points against Dominican.

Pippen is averaging 15.3 points, second on the team behind backcourt mate Dai Dai Ames, who is producing 18.1 per game. Pippen also is giving the Bears 4.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.0 blocks.

Over the past three games, he’s ratcheted things up to 21.0 points while shooting 42 percent from the 3-point arc and 19 for 20 on free throws.

“He leads us in blocks, he’s right at the top in deflections. So he does a lot of things on the court that really help the team,” Madsen said. “I think of late Justin is finding a very good balance of when to attack (or) when to make the extra pass.

“He’s always been someone who can organize a team. Even that, for every player, you get better and better at it. And he’s just getting better and better. We look for that growth to continue with Justin.”

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