Cal's Offense Disappears in Loss to No. 23 San Diego State

Golden Bears limited to a season-low 50 points as their record slips to 7-5

Mark Madsen / D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images

Cal's offense took the night off on Saturday at the SAP Center in San Jose.

The Golden Bears scored a season-low 50 points in a 71-50 loss to 23rd-ranked San Diego State. Cal (7-5) had scored at least 69 points in each of its previous 11 games while averaging 81.6 points. But the Bears could never get its offense going against the Aztecs.

The Bears actually led 10-2 early in the game, but could do little offensively after that. They scored just 16 points in the first half and were blown out in the second half. The Bears trailed by nine at halftime, but the Aztecs expanded the lead to 27 points with eight minutes left in the game.

San Diego State (8-2) is an excellent defensive team, ranking fifth in the country in field-goal percentage defense (35.8%) entering Saturday's game. But the Bears shot just 15.6% in the first half when it went 0-for-11 on three-pointers. Cal shot better in the second half, but San Diego State built a 21-point lead eight minutes into the second half continued to increase the margin as it cruised to the victory.

Cal finished shooting 25.5% from the field and was 5-for-24 on three-point shots. The Bears also committed 18 turnovers, and they gave up 26 offensive rebounds to the Aztecs while collecting six offensive boards themselves.

"We can't have an offensive performance like the one we had," Cal coach Mark Madsen said afterward.

Andrej Stojakovic had 10 points on 2-for-12 shooting for Cal, and Jeremiah Wilkinson had 13 points on 3-for-11 shooting, including 0-for-7 on three-pointers.

Nick Boyd led the Aztecs with 17 points, and he was 5-for-8 on three-point shots. But it was the Aztecs' defense and Cal's poor offense that was the difference.

"They got after us in the first half, couldn't find a rhythm," Madsen said. "They played with so much physicality, got us off our spots."

Cal's shoot-around Saturday afternoon were cancelled when it was determined early in the practices that the baskets were six inches too low.  And San Diego State had travel problems, which led to a late arrival. Perhaps that explains the terrible shooting in the first half Saturday night.

San Diego State made just 3 of its first 22 shots from the floor, but somehow the Aztecs held a 25-16 lead at halftime.  That’s because Cal made just 4 of its first 25 shots from the field, and its 16 points at halftime were easily its lowest-scoring half of the season. The Bears’ previous low in any half this season was 29 points.

"San Diego State took us completely out of our offense," Madsen said. "Our defense in the first half was OK. Our defense in the second half was poor."

The teams combined to shoot 1-for-23 from three-point range in the first half, and the only made three-pointer came 43 seconds before halftime.  Cal was 0-for-12 from long range in the first 20 minutes and shot 15.6% from the floor overall (5-for-32) in tha span.  San Diego State was not much better, making 28.1% of their field-goal attempts and going 1-for-11 from distance before halftime.

Andrej Stojakovic, Cal's leading scorer who poured in 31 points in the Bears previous game against Northwestern State, was 0-for-9 with four points in the first half Saturday.

NOTES: DJ Campbell returned to action for Cal on Saturday after playing just three minutes over the previous seven games because of a groin injury. However, BJ Omot, who started two of the Bears’ first four games, missed his eighth straight game.

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