Furious Cal Rally Comes Up Short Against Kansas State

What appeared destined to be a complete catastrophe for Cal, abruptly turned an exciting Bears comeback, solely to show right into a disappointing 63-54 loss to Kansas State on Friday in Berkeley.

Three minutes into the second half Cal trailed by 20 factors at 42-22. At that time the Bears had been taking pictures 30.4%, together with 0-for-4 within the second half, had dedicated 17 turnovers and had scored simply 22 factors. Nothing was going proper, and a second humbling dwelling loss appeared imminent, 4 days after the house loss to UC Davis.

Then, for no obvious cause, the whole lot modified. Cal outscored Kansas 13-0 to get again into the sport.  The Bears finally received inside a degree at 47-46 on a bucket by Sam Alajiki with 5:37 to go, ending off a 24-5 run.

Nonetheless, 30 seconds later, the comeback got here to a screeching halt when the Wildcats’ Markquis Nowell made a 3-pointer from the nook underneath heavy strain. He was fouled on the play by Joel Brown, and Nowell made the free throw to finish the four-point play and finish the Bears’ surge.

Kansas State rapidly pushed the result in 9 factors and coasted dwelling.

The rally was encouraging, however the backside line is that Cal (0-2) misplaced at dwelling by 9 factors to a crew that was picked to complete final within the Massive 12 within the convention’s preseason ballot.

So was this efficiency uplifting or disappointing?

“Clearly the outcome was disappointing,” Cal guard Joel Brown mentioned. “Clearly you need to win on the finish of the day. However whenever you take a look at it, it is uplifting, particularly for us. . . . We may have give up, and we did not, and we confirmed we had been in a position to come again and battle by way of. We simply received to complete the little performs that might be useful and assist us.”

Coach Mark Fox famous the ambivalent emotions.

“The issues we discovered had been uplifting,” he mentioned, “however the outcome was disappointing.”

Devin Askew, the switch from Texas, led Cal with 17 factors, whereas Kuany Kuany had 13 factors, together with 10 within the second half whereas serving to Cal get again within the sport.

The primary half was dominated by Kansas State, a crew that begins three transfers and a junior faculty switch after going 14-17 a 12 months in the past.

The Wildcats’ protection prevented Cal from doing something offensively. Nothing appeared totally different after halftime, when the Bears missed their first 4 photographs and had been outscored 6-1 over the primary three minutes of the second half.

Then the Bears began getting stops and so they began making photographs.

“We discovered our battle,” Fox mentioned. “Typically it takes some time for a crew to search out their footing. We discovered a bit of grit to us within the second half, and that is vital for us as a result of till we get wholesome we’ll must win some gritty video games.”

The Bears ended up taking pictures 36.8%, together with 5-for-18 on 3-pointers, whereas committing 22 turnovers.

Freshman Grant Newell was within the Bears’ beginning lineup Friday, and he completed with 4 factors and 4 rebounds in 26 minutes, whereas freshman ND Okafor performed almost quarter-hour and picked up 5 factors, two rebounds, two steals, two blocks and three turnovers. 

DeJuan Clayton, a switch from Hartford through Coppin State, in addition to Jarred Hyder and Jalen Celestine all missed their second straight sport for Cal. And it is unclear when any of them will return. Hyder might must have surgical procedure, and Celestine remains to be recovering from offseason knee surgical procedure.

.

Cowl photograph of Cal coach Mark Fox is by D. Ross Cameron, USA TODAY Sports activities

.

Comply with Cal Sports activities Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

Discover Cal Sports activities Report on Fb by going to https://www.fb.com/si.calsportsreport