Cal men’s basketball has been on track for the NCAA tournament throughout the season, barreling through regular play and dominating opponents with a new energy that it hasn’t possessed in years. It was then shocking for fans that the team to derail the Bears’ momentum was 11-18 Pitt in their last home game of the season.
With a performance lacking energy and coordination, the Bears fell to the Panthers 72-56, tallying their second lowest-scoring game of the season while Pitt walked away with their third win against Cal in as many games.
“Obviously (I’m) very disappointed with the way we played,” said Cal head coach Mark Madsen. “Congratulations to Pitt — they came out with tremendous physicality. I’m very disappointed in myself for not having our guys better prepared; 12 turnovers in the first half is unacceptable. The missed assignments on box outs, those are unacceptable. The lack of physicality is unacceptable. I take responsibility for all of it.”
Throughout the first half it was clear that Cal wasn’t fully there. With 12 turnovers and zero minutes with the lead, the Bears were constantly losing possession of the ball and struggling to string plays together. They did, however, string together four turnovers in the span of three minutes.
The 16 total turnovers during the matchup marked their second highest of the season in addition to featuring Cal’s fewest free throws made, ending the night 5-of-7. This is a drastic outlier, considering the Bears lead the ACC in free throw percentages at 78.4%, with 493 free throws made in 29 games.
“Pitt was the more physical team; anybody in the crowd could see that,” Madsen said. “When we tried to attack the rim, we were a step slow and I don’t think I’ve been a part of a game where we didn’t get to the free throw line in the first half at all — that’s a problem. We have to play more physically.”
Moving into the second half, the Bears were able to cut down their turnovers, only committing an additional four while working to close the gap with Pitt.
However, every time that Cal inched closer to tying the contest, the game would slip from its grasp. One of the key blue and gold scorers, senior forward Chris Bell, was kept to single digits for the first time in nine games — highlighting Pitt’s aggression and Cal’s lack thereof.
The only Bears to manage double digits were junior guard Dai Dai Ames and senior forward Lee Dort, who knocked in 11 and 10 points, respectively.
With frazzled players, the Bears began rushing to try and close the gap — attempting shots and plays that ended in an early change of possession rather than gaining the lead.
“I told the guys in the locker room, ‘The desire to try to help your team win is a great desire, but to try to go hero ball and do it all yourself and go outside of the system, that’s not smart basketball — that’s bad basketball.’” Madsen said.
This isolation-heavy style of “hero ball” was evident throughout the 40 minutes, with players going straight for the basket rather than settling the ball and making a play — leading to missed shots and sloppy coordination in their attempts to catch up to Pitt.
Where the offense lacked energy, the defense also lacked its usual ferocity. Box-outs that should be second nature to the blue and gold weren’t executed, leading to extra possessions for Pitt.
The Panthers capitalized — winning the rebound battle, taking more shots and getting to the free-throw line more often than the Bears.
“In almost every category they outplayed us. This was a huge game for us and we did not show up the way we needed to show up,” Madsen said. “We have to create our own energy. We have to create our own intensity. We have a locker room full of tremendous competitors and we didn’t see that to the level that we needed tonight.”
This was a critical loss for the blue and gold, one that may have derailed their progress this season.
With only two more games of regular season play now on the road, the Bears are going to need to fight through these last two contests to prove they deserve a chance at the NCAA tournament later this month.