Cal Men's Basketball: Bears Are 0-4 For the First Time since 1998 After Loss to Southern

Frustrated coach Mark Fox on the Bears' defensive woes: `We should blame the coach.'

Cal couldn’t defend the 3-point shot Friday night vs. Southern and for most of the game couldn’t make one.

The deficiencies added up to a 74-66 loss to an HBCU school from the Southwestern Athletic Conference that had never before beaten a Pac-12 team.

The Bears are now 0-4 for the first time in 25 seasons.

Cal coach Mark Fox declined to bring players to the post-game interview session, instead taking responsibility after the Jaguars shot 12 for 23 (52 percent) from the 3-point line.

“I told the players they could stay downstairs because I think we should blame the coach,” Fox says in the video at the top. “I can’t put a defense together that gives us a chance to win. We repeatedly failed to guard the 3-point line. I’ve got to find a way to get that done.”

Cal never led, trailed by as many as 16 points and never got closer than seven in the second half until Devin Askew hit a 3-pointer with 1:21 left to make it 66-60.

But that was as close as it got as Southern made its late free throws to win.

Even during the previous five seasons — all of which produced losing records — the Bears never started with four straight losses.

And this was against a Jaguars team whose starting lineup had an average height of barely 6-foot-4 and arrived in Berkeley with an 0-3 record.

Southern had lost its previous eight games against Pac-12 opponents by an average of more than 23 points, with just one of those games closer than 18.

The Jaguars were quicker, more aggressive and moved the ball to find open shots on the perimeter.

Cal made a flurry of 3-pointers late, including three in the final 5 minutes by Devin Askew, who led all scorers with 21 points.

But the Bears made just 5 for 18 from deep to start the game and turned the ball over 20 times. They could not beat Southern off the dribble and often moved the ball around the perimeter, finally either forcing a tough shot or turning it over.

Askew, who played his first two seasons at Kentucky and Texas, wound up 5 for 11 from the 3-point line. He also had seven of Cal’s turnovers.

“I’m asking Devin Askew to do everything,” Fox said. “He’s having to do too much. Obviously the turnovers are going to be a factor all year. I think when we get a traditional lineup eventually put back together that should help us on the offensive end.”

Cal will likely play the entire non-conference schedule without junior guard Jalen Celestine, the team’s top returning scorer from a year ago, who continues to mend following offseason surgery. The Bears also haven’t yet seen grad transfer guard DeJuan Clayton, a 1,500-point career scorer from Coppin State, who hasn’t practiced because of a hamstring injury.

They could help, Fox said, “But if we don’t start defending the 3, things won’t change.

“They had open 3’s. Three-point shots that are open are a lot easier to make than 3-point shots that are contested. And boy, we didn’t have enough of them that were contested.”

While shooting just 29.6 percent from beyond the 3-point arc through four games, the Bears are allowing opponents to convert 41 percent.

Fox concedes in the video above his team just doesn’t have much confidence right now.

Center Lars Thiemann scored 15 points on 5-for-7 shooting, but the Jaguars crowded him in the lane and made it difficult for Cal to get him the ball. It was a strategy that worked because the Bears couldn’t make them pay from the perimeter.

At one point late in the first half they had coughed up the ball on 11 of their 24 possessions.

Sophomore forward Sam Alajiki added 10 points, including three 3-pointers.

Cal finished the game shooting 43 percent from the field and 37.5 percent from the 3-point arc. But the Bears were 4 for 16 from deep over the first 30 minutes and the turnovers never did stop coming.

Cal returns to action Monday at home against Texas State (2-2) of the Sun Belt Conference. The Bobcats’ resume includes a 22-point loss to Washington State.

Cover photo of Cal's Devin Askew by Al Sermeno, KLC fotos

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo