Cal Loses 5th Straight; Bears May Have to Play Ugly

Matt Bradley scores 24 points in loss to Stanford, which hosts Cal on Sunday

Matt Bradley had another big game Thursday, and Cal had another big loss.

And coach Mark Fox suggested after the 70-55 loss to Stanford in Berkeley that the Bears might need to return to the formula that the team used last season, which means playing ugly.

Bradley scored 24 points and was 5-for-7 on three-pointers against the Cardinal. He has scored more than 20 points in each of the past three games, and the Bears (7-13, 2-11 Pac-12) have lost all three. In fact, Cal has lost five in row, the Bears' longest losing streak since Fox became head coach prior to last season.

(Click here for a detailed account of the game.)

Thursday was also the second straight game Cal failed to score more than 55 points.

The Bears play Stanford (11-7, 7-5) again Sunday night at Stanford's Maples Pavilion, and you may see a different offensive style from Cal, one that depends on long halfcourt possessions and careful shot selection to minimize the possibility of a free-flowing, fast-paced game.

"Even though we're better in some areas than we were last year, we still have a talent deficiency," Fox said, "and we have to accept that and play a certain way. And that's a hard pill to swallow.

"Last year, guys were able to say, 'OK, we know we're going to have to play ugly to win.' This team can be maybe a little prettier, but it's still going to have to be really ugly for this group to win."

Last year, the Bears exceeded expectations by finishing tied for eighth place in the Pac-12 with a 7-11 record after being picked to finish last.  This Cal team, which seems to have more talent than last year's squad and was picked to finish 10th in the preseason poll, is currently in last place.

Andre Kelly gave Bradley some assistance by scoring 15 points, but the Bears got little from their perimeter players other than Bradley.  Excluding Bradley, the Bears shot 1-for-15 on three-point shots, not a good percentage for a team that leads the Pac-12 in three-pointers attempted.

Meanwhile, Stanford got another big game from Oscar da Silva, who collected 24 points and 11 rebounds for a Cardinal team that shot 54.2 percent from the field.

"He's been the best player in the league and he was exactly that [tonight]," Fox said. "We had no answer for him. He's just too big, too quick, too long."

Cal had another problem early in the week, as Joel Brown tested positive for COVID-19. It was later discovered that it was a false positive, but Fox explains in this video the problems that caused.

Because Andre Kelly was in close contact with Brown, Kelly had to be in quarantine before he was cleared, as he discussed in this video:

Cal trailed Stanford by 13 points at halftime, but the Bears put together a good run early in the second half that ended with a four-point play by Bradley that closed the deficit to two points with 14:11 to go.

Stanford then scored the next nine points to regain a safe lead.

"As well as we played to start the second half, then we burped and gave it right back to them," Fox said.

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Cover photo of Oscar da Silva by Neville E. Guard, USA TODAY Sports

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Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

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