Cal Basketball: Grim Second Half Dooms Bears at Washington State, 66-51
Cal’s bid to win a third straight Pac-12 Conference game for the first time in four years looked promising for a half at Washington State on Wednesday night.
Then the Bears came apart at both ends of the floor in the second half and the Cougars pulled away for a 66-51 victory that wasn’t that close.
Cal (3-14, 2-4) was down just 31-30 at halftime but WSU (8-10, 3-4) opened the second half with a 12-0 run and the Bears never got within single digits the rest of the game. The Cougars led by as many as 23 points with just over 6 minutes left before garbage time arrived.
“I was very disappointed in our team, myself and our coaches in the second half. In the first half we didn’t play particularly well but we defended to a level that gave us a chance,” coach Mark Fox said on his post-game radio program.
“We started the second half very poorly and made multiple errors defensively that cost us 3-pointers. Then we didn’t make a 3.”
Without being specific about his complaint, Fox added, “We had some guys act very immature. We’ve got some growing up to do.”
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Cal had beaten Stanford and Colorado in its two most recent games, scoring more than 80 points each time. The Bears haven’t reached that plateau in three straight Pac-12 games since the 2013-14 season under coach Mike Montgomery, and they didn’t ever threaten to do so at Beasley Coliseum.
WSU has beaten Cal six straight times, its longest streak ever against the Bears.
Cal remains winless in six games away from Haas Pavilion, including 0-4 on its opponent’s home court.
The Bears, who fired in 16 of 22 attempts from the 3-point line in their 92-70 win over Stanford last Friday, were 5 for 9 from deep in the first half. Over a 2 1/2-game span, Cal made 28 of 44 tries from the 3-point arc for a dazzling 64 percent.
Then they missed all 11 of their 3-point tries in the second half while shooting 29 percent overall (8-for-28) against an active WSU zone defense after the intermission.
The Bears’ defense had its own issues. Washington State, coming off an upset road victory at then-No. 5 Arizona, shot just 40 percent, including 3 for 10 on 3’s, in the first half.
But the Cougars made 13 of their first 19 shots in the second half, including 6 for 8 on 3’s, on the way to forging a 64-41 lead.
Sophomore guard Marsalis Roberson led the Bears with a career-high 11 points in 17 minutes off the bench. He was Cal’s only double-digit scorer.
Transfer guard DeJuan Clayton, who scored 26 points in the Bears’ win over Stanford, was tracked closely by WSU’s defense and scored just six points on 2-for-7 shooting.
DJ Rodman shot 4 for 5 on 3’s and scored 14 points for the Cougars, sharing top honors with Mouhamed Gueye, who had 24 points in WSU’s win at Arizona. Justin Powell added 12 points.
Cal returns to action Saturday at Washington in a 3 p.m. game that will be aired on the Pac-12 Network.
Cover photo of Cal center Lars Thiemann by James Snook, USA Today
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo