Freshman Jalen Celestine a Surprise Star in Cal’s Upset of Colorado

Matt Bradley scores a career-high 29 points to help Bears end seven-game losing streak

The headline for Cal's best win of the season will go to Matt Bradley, who had a career-high 29 points and hit the biggest shot of the game in the final minute. But the most important performance in the Bears' 71-62 upset of Colorado Saturday night in Berkeley was provided by freshman Jalen Celestine.

In his second career start, Celestine got the Bears going by hitting his first three three-point attempts and finishing with a season-high 13 points. But his bigger contribution came on the defensive end, where he prevented Colorado's Pac-12 player-of-the-year candidate McKinley Wright IV from dominating the game.

Point guard Wright finished with a team-high 13 points, but it came on 3-for-11 shooting, and he had as many turnovers (three) as assists (three) and did not have any rebounds. And most importantly, Wright did not take over the game in the closing minutes, enabling the Bears (8-15, 3-13 Pac-12) to get their biggest win since Mark Fox became Cal's head coach prior to last season.

"I think he's more confident in all the things we're asking him to do," Fox said of Celestine. "We felt like in the game today we could use him defensively against McKinley Wright because he has athleticism and size and he's got great balance and so defensively I thought he was really good. Obviously he made a couple shots early in the game, and so that was good to see."

The 6-foot-6 Celestine had no secret defensive strategy, and simply used his length and quickness to bother the 6-foot Wright.

"Just try not to get a foul, keep my hands off him, use my length and athleticism against him," Celestine said. "He's a smaller guard. And if I need to, let the bigs help me, which they did on numerous occasions."

Celestine has only become a factor in recent games. He did not play at all in seven of Cal's games this season, and had played more than 10 minutes only three times before playing 18 in Thursday's one-point loss to Utah when he made his first career start.

Before Saturday, when he played 33 minutes, he had never scored more than four points or played more than 18 minutes in a game. 

And Celestine is gaining confidence quickly.

He helped Cal end a seven-game losing streak by knocking off a hot team that was challenging for a Pac-12 title.

Colorado (16-6, 10-5 Pac-12) had won three games in a row and had the highest NET ranking of any Pac-12 team, holding down the No. 12 spot nationally heading into Saturday's action. The Buffaloes had defeated the Bears by 29 points earlier this season in Boulder.

The Bears committed just seven turnovers and collected 11 offensive rebounds on Saturday after turning the ball over 16 times and recording just five offensive rebounds in the previous game against Colorado.  And they got to the foul line frequently, making 20 of 28 free throws.

Cal also benefited from the fact that Colorado's Jabari Walker, who had 23 points and 11 rebounds in the Buffaloes' win over Cal last month, did not play this time, as he was forced to sit out with a boot on his left foot.

Still, Cal had to make the plays when it mattered most, something the Bears have seldom done this season.

"We played as well as we have all year," Fox said in the video atop the story. "We had to play a very complete game to beat a really good Colorado team."

The Bears held just a two-point lead after Wright made two free throws with 1:02 left, and it appeared Cal might let another game slip away in the closing seconds. But Bradley hit a three-point shot with 40 seconds left that made it a five-point game and gave the Bears the margin they needed.

He added two free throws with 26 seconds remaining to assure the Bears of their biggest win of the season.

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Cover photo of Jalen Celestine defending McKinley Wright IV is by D. Ross Cameron, USA TODAY Sports

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

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