Furious Cal Rally Comes Up Short Against Kansas State

Bears nearly overcome a 20-point, second-half deficit, but fall to 0-2 in men's basketball

What seemed destined to be a total disaster for Cal, suddenly became a thrilling Bears comeback, only to turn into a disappointing 63-54 loss to Kansas State on Friday in Berkeley.

Three minutes into the second half Cal trailed by 20 points at 42-22. At that point the Bears were shooting 30.4%, including 0-for-4 in the second half, had committed 17 turnovers and had scored just 22 points. Nothing was going right, and a second humbling home loss seemed imminent, four days after the home loss to UC Davis.

Then, for no apparent reason, everything changed. Cal outscored Kansas 13-0 to get back into the game.  The Bears eventually got within a point at 47-46 on a bucket by Sam Alajiki with 5:37 to go, finishing off a 24-5 run.

However, 30 seconds later, the comeback came to a screeching halt when the Wildcats' Markquis Nowell made a 3-pointer from the corner under heavy pressure. He was fouled on the play by Joel Brown, and Nowell made the free throw to complete the four-point play and end the Bears' surge.

Kansas State quickly pushed the lead to nine points and coasted home.

The rally was encouraging, but the bottom line is that Cal (0-2) lost at home by nine points to a team that was picked to finish last in the Big 12 in the conference's preseason poll.

So was this performance uplifting or disappointing?

"Obviously the result was disappointing," Cal guard Joel Brown said. "Obviously you want to win at the end of the day. But when you look at it, it's uplifting, especially for us. . . . We could have quit, and we didn't, and we showed we were able to come back and fight through. We just got to finish the little plays that would be beneficial and help us."

Coach Mark Fox noted the ambivalent feelings.

"The things we learned were uplifting," he said, "but the result was disappointing."

Devin Askew, the transfer from Texas, led Cal with 17 points, while Kuany Kuany had 13 points, including 10 in the second half while helping Cal get back in the game.

The first half was dominated by Kansas State, a team that starts three transfers and a junior college transfer after going 14-17 a year ago.

The Wildcats' defense prevented Cal from doing anything offensively. Nothing seemed different after halftime, when the Bears missed their first four shots and were outscored 6-1 over the first three minutes of the second half.

Then the Bears started getting stops and they started making shots.

"We found our fight," Fox said. "Sometimes it takes a while for a team to find their footing. We found a little grit to us in the second half, and that's important for us because until we get healthy we're going to have to win some gritty games."

The Bears ended up shooting 36.8%, including 5-for-18 on 3-pointers, while committing 22 turnovers.

Freshman Grant Newell was in the Bears' starting lineup Friday, and he finished with four points and four rebounds in 26 minutes, while freshman ND Okafor played nearly 15 minutes and collected five points, two rebounds, two steals, two blocks and three turnovers. 

DeJuan Clayton, a transfer from Hartford via Coppin State, as well as Jarred Hyder and Jalen Celestine all missed their second straight game for Cal. And it's unclear when any of them will return. Hyder may have to have surgery, and Celestine is still recovering from offseason knee surgery.

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Cover photo of Cal coach Mark Fox is by D. Ross Cameron, USA TODAY Sports

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