Cal Basketball: Saint Mary's Coach Says Cal Is Much Better Than Last Year

Randy Bennett would like to continue series, but that probably won't happen

Cal coach Mark Fox had a simple answer when asked Saturday night whether he wanted to continue the series with Saint Mary’s.

“No,” he said.

Well, that’s understandable since the Gaels have defeated the Bears three years in a row, including the 89-77 victory over Cal at Haas Pavilion on Saturday.

Saint Mary’s coach Randy Bennett would like to continue the series, but he understands Fox has to do what is best for his team.

“If they’re good and we’re good it makes sense,” said Bennett, who later added in the video, “Obviously we’d like to have a home-and-home situation with the Pac-12. But I’m not going to campaign in front of the media, ‘Hey, let’s make this happen.' I probably have before.”

But Bennett made on thing absolutely clear: Cal is better than it was last season.

“Cal’s good now, they’re good,” Bennett said. “They’ve been down the last couple years, but this year they’re playing better defensively, a little older. It was a good win for us. We had to play well.”

(Click here for the game story of Cal's loss to the Gaels.)

Asked specifically whether Cal has a better team this year, Bennett said, “No question. No question. They were 6-0 here [at Haas Pavilion before Saturday], and their losses on the road have been to good teams: Duke, Texas, and at Santa Clara, which is good this year, and at USF, which is good this year.

“They’re not where they think they need to be, but they’re good.”

Saint Mary’s beat Cal by 13 points in Moraga last year, but the game was not as close as the score suggests, as the Gaels held a 24-point lead with about four minutes left. Two years ago, Saint Mary’s won 74-63 and led by a double-digit margin for the final 17 minutes.

Cal (6-5) got as close at eight points on three occasions in the final six minutes Saturday, but could never truly threaten the Gaels, who were a preseason top-25 team this year and are now 10-2.

Saint Mary's guard Jordan Ford, who is seated to Bennett's right in the video above, carried the Gaels in the second half and finished with a game-high 32 points.