Cal Basketball: Bears Keep it Rolling, Improve to 3-0

Big night by Anticevich powers Bears to 82-62 win and 3-0 start to season

Photo by Jeff Faraudo

Cal runs its record to 3-0 with an 82-62 win over Cal Baptist, thanks to Grant Anticevich, who had career highs of 23 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists, along with 1 block and 1 steal.

Anticevich tied a Cal record held by two others by making all five of his 3-point attempts. He finished 9-for-11 from the field after missing just one of his first 10 attempts.

Matt Bradley added 16 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists, and Kareem South scored 10 points. Andre Kelly and Juhwan Harris-Dyson each scored eight, Harris-Dyson getting two of his on an impressive one-handed dunk over 6-foot-11 Zach Pirog.

Milan Acquaah, a transfer from Washington State and the preseason WAC Player of the Year, shot just 3-for-16 and scored 10 points for the Lancers, who were tied at 40-40 at halftime. 

Coach Mark Fox was not happy with the Bears' defense in the first half, but Cal held the Lancers to 22 points in the second half on 23-percent shooting.

Cal plays Monday at home against Prairie View A&M, also part of the 2K Empire Classic. With a win, the Bears will match their best start since the 2015-16 campaign.

PREGAME: In case you’re thinking Cal’s game tonight against Cal Baptist will be a walk-over, you need to check out what hoops statistician Ken Pomeroy has to say.

In Ken Pom’s latest college basketball rankings, the Golden Bears (2-0) are listed at No. 147 among 353 Division I teams.

The Lancers (2-1), in their second season transitioning to Division I, are actually six spots higher at No. 141.

An incredibly small sample size, to be sure, and the difference between the two is neglible. But it speaks to the likelihood that the visiting Lancers will be competitive. I promise you they expect to win after trailing Texas by just four points at halftime on Monday.

In Pomeroy’s rankings, Cal Baptist is 119th in adjusted offense, averaging 100.7 points per 100 possessions. Cal is just a hair behind at 131st, averaging 100.1 points per 100 possessions. A virtual dead heat.

Defensively, both are allowing 99.4 points per 100 possessions, although Kem Pom’s chart shows Cal Baptist at 179th and the Bears two spots back. Basically, they’re tied.

Early season rankings aren't worth a lot, but these at least suggest we should see for a good game tonight in the first game of the 2K Empire Classic Benefiting Wounded Warrior Project.

Cal faces Prairie View A&M — the reigning SWAC champion — on Monday. The Bears then trek to New York play at Madison Square Garden on Thursday against No. 2 Duke and Friday against either Texas or Georgetown.

The Bears will play in New York City regardless of what happens tonight or on Monday. 

Check back here when the game starts at 7 p.m. for updates.

CAL'S STARTING LINEUP: First-year coach Mark Fox is sticking with something that has worked so far: Joel Brown, G; Kareem South, G; Matt Bradley, G; Grant Anticevich, F; Lars Thiemann, C.

17:37 1st H: Cal leads 9-2, thanks to a pair of 3-pointers by Grant Anticevich, who also just assisted on a layup by Matt Bradley.

15:05 1st H: Cal stretches its lead to 16-6. Anticevich has 11 points already - his career-high is 13. Cal shooting 6-for-7. Anticevich is 4-for-4.

10:30 1st H: Anticevich left the game, returned and hit his fourth 3-pointer. He's 4-for-4 from deep, 5-for-5 from the field and has 14 points. Already his career high, and he's been on the floor for just 7 minutes. Cal leads 27-16.

7:54 1st H: The Lancers are hanging in there, now trailing just 27-20. The Bears have gone cold, scoreless for more than 3 minutes.

3:31 1st H: Anticevich finally missed . . . then tipped it in anyway. He's got 16 points on 6-for-7 shooting, plus 6 rebounds. The Bears lead 34-30. I told you the Lancers could be troublesome.

HALFTIME: Cal 40, Cal Baptist 40. The Lancers, down 18-6 early and trailing by 11 with less than 11 minutes left, pulled even when Ferron Flavors Jr. hit a long 3-pointer with 24 seconds left. Cal shot 48 percent for the half, but cooled over the final 10 minutes. CBU made six 3's and was 8-for-8 at the free throw line. Anticevich scored 16 for the Bears (5 beyond his previous career high) but his teammates converted just 9 of 24 shots (38%). Flavors has 11 points for the Lancers.

Some additional stats at the half: The Lancers' bench is outscoring its Cal counterpart 21-8, CBU has a 7-3 edge in fast-break points and an 8-6 advantage in second-chance points.

15:28 2nd H: Cal inches into 49-46 lead after 3-pointer by Matt Bradley, who now has 12 points. But the highlight play so far this half was 7-foot freshman Lars Thiemann running stride-for-stride with CBU's De'Jon Davis and blocking his fastbreak dunk try at the rim.

11:36 2nd H: The Bears are in the midst of an 11-0 run and now lead 62-48. Anticevich has contributed his fifth 3-pointer, a turn-around jumper and an assist to the surge. The Sydney, Australia native now has 21 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists.

10:44 2nd H: The run is now 13-0 and the lead is 64-48, largest of the night.

Record watch: Anticevich is 5-for-5 on 3-pointers, which ties the Cal record for most threes without a miss. The others who have done it: Amit Tamir vs. ASU on March 2, 2003, ad Eric Vierneisel vs. Washington on March 1, 2008.

7:48 2nd H: The Cal run reached 17-0 for a 68-48 lead before the Lancers final scored. The Bears now are up 72-54. Recent highlight: Juhwan Harris-Dyson with a monster one-handed dunk on a baseline cut off a feed from Anticevich. 

5:16 2nd H: Cal leads 76-56 and garbage time has arrived. CBU's Milan Acquaah, the preseason WAC Player of the Year, is shooting 2-for-14 and has just 7 points.