Cal Basketball: Grant Anticevich Returns But Bears Can't Find Offense in Loss to WSU

Senior forward scores nine points in return after appendectomy on Dec. 17

Cal got senior Grant Anticevich back three weeks after an emergency appendectomy but didn’t have enough offense without leading scorer Matt Bradley and stayed winless in the Pac-12 after a 71-60 loss to Washington State at Haas Pavilion on Thursday night.

Bradley sat out after injuring his left ankle against Oregon State last Saturday and the Bears missed his 17.8 points per game. The junior guard sat out two games in December with a right ankle sprain and Cal won both of those.

In this one, the Bears (5-7, 0-5 Pac-12) shot just 35 percent from the field, including 5-for-21 on 3-pointers.

Coach Mark Fox in the video above acknowledged how much the Bears missed Bradley and said he's not sure when he'll return. Cal's next game is Saturday against Washington.

"Without him, we're probably going to have to play a little bit more like we played last year and make the game ugly and low possessions and try to be great defensively. And tonight we weren't great defensively," Fox said.

WSU (9-1, 2-1) won in its first road game of the season and snapped a three-game losing streak against the Bears.

The Cougars breezed through a less-than-challenging non-conference schedule that left onlookers wondering if they were as good as their record. But WSU took Arizona to double-overtime before losing on Saturday and controlled much of the second half in this one.

The Cougars’ defense was tight all night and the visitors outrebounded Cal 45-29.

"I was really disappointed in our rebounding," Fox said. "We got crushed on the boards."

Anticevich had surgery on Dec. 17 and missed the Bears’ past four games. He was averaging 19.5 points and 8.5 rebounds in two games before his appendicitis attack, so the Bears definitely missed his contributions.

He entered the game with 17:16 left in the first half and made a 3-point shot 38 seconds later. The 6-foot-9 native of Australia finished with nine points on 4-for-8 shooting.

"He played seven times better than he practiced yesterday. He looked like a shell of himself in practice," Fox said on his post-game radio show. "The adrenaline took over then he remembered he's a good player. He didn't play great, but he finished some plays."

Here's more from Fox on Anticevich during his session with reporters:

Cal led 19-13 midway through the first half before WSU went on a 15-2 run over a span of 7 minutes for a 28-21 lead with 2:22 left in the half.

The Bears pulled within 31-28 by halftime but Cougars’ senior guard Isaac Bonton took over early in the second period. He scored eight points in 3 1/2 minutes, giving WSU a 51-36 lead with barely 12 minutes to play.

Bonton finished with 21 points, six assists and five rebounds and 6-foot-10 freshman Ege Abogidi of Nigeria had 12 points to go with nine rebounds. He was 3-for-4 on 3-point attempts.

Andre Kelly scored 11 points to lead the Bears and sophomore 7-footer Lars Thiemann scored a career-high 10 points. Thiemann is averaging 7.2 points and 6.0 rebounds over his past five games. Kelly talks in the video below about how Thiemann is starting to find a rhythm.

Ryan Betley shot 2-for-5 on 3’s while contributing 10 points, but Makale Foreman — Cal’s other graduate transfer 3-point specialist — missed his first six attempts from deep before hitting one with 2:17 left.

That brought the Bears within seven points, but they missed four free throws in the final 4:02 on the way to finishing 13-for-20 from the line.

Anticevich and Kelly both fouled out late, further limiting the Bears’ offensive options.

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