Cal Basketball: Andre Kelly Emerging as Bears' Best Interior Option in Four Years
With top scorer Matt Bradley still on the shelf with a bad ankle sprain, senior Grant Anticevich rounding back into form after an emergency appendectomy and reserve forward Kuany Kuany in concussion protocol, Cal basketball coach Mark Fox is somewhat limited in his options.
One player who has given the Bears a lift offensively is junior forward Andre Kelly, who is averaging 15.3 points over the past four games.
Kelly, at 6-foot-8, 250 pounds, has scored in double figures four straight games for the first time in his career, including 16 points on Thursday at Colorado and a season-high 22 in last Saturday’s win over Washington.
No Cal player standing 6-8 or taller has produced double-digit points in five straight games since Ivan Rabb, who did it 24 times in 31 games in 2016-17 before being selected in the NBA draft.
In other words, playing the way he is right now, Kelly is the team’s best big-man option in four years.
The Stockton native isn’t just casually firing up random shots, either. He is the Bears’ most efficient scorer. Through 14 games, he’s averaging 10.4 points and shooting 62 percent from the field.
But over the past five games, his efficiency is off the charts: nearly 78 percent on 31 for 40 from the floor.
Here’s a breakdown of field-goal accuracy the past five games for Kelly, Bradley and the rest of the roster:
This doesn’t suggest that Kelly has transformed himself into Karl Malone. He remains a work in progress, but he is playing with confidence and producing. He catches the ball well, uses his girth to create space against defenders and doesn't rush his shots.
He needs to get the ball more.
In four of the past five games, Kelly took eight shots or fewer. In two of them, he managed just six attempts.
At Colorado on Thursday while the rest of the Bears converted 33 percent, Kelly made 6 of his 7 shots — a cool 86 percent.
“Andre’s continuing to grow as a competitor. He’s got the ability to finish plays,” said Fox, who didn’t argue the point that Kelly needs more touches in the paint.
But Fox said the responsibility for that is shared: Kelly needs to aggressively post up and perimeter players need to feed him the ball.
“I don’t think we did either of those things consistently well enough,” Fox said.
The Bears clearly were trying to get the ball inside at Colorado, while playing the game at a cautious pace in order to shorten the proceedings. Without Bradley and his 18 points per game, they know they cannot win high-scoring games right now.
Expect them to take much the same approach at Utah on Saturday.
If Kelly’s effectiveness continues, opposing defenses will respond with more attention which should have the benefit of spacing the floor for perimeter shooters Makale Foreman and Ryan Betley.
It’s up to sophomore point guards Joel Brown and Jared Hyder to feed Kelly, who has shot at least 50 percent in 12 of Cal’s 14 games.
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COVER PHOTO OF ANDRE KELLY BY CLIFFORD GRASSMICK, COLORADO ATHLETICS
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo
