The Golden Bears play tonight against a team whose RPI computer strength-of-schedule ranking last year was the worst in the nation.

Coach Mike Montgomery wasn’t referencing that fact Tuesday night when he said he’d like to see his club squash an opponent when chance presents itself. But, with all due respect, Texas-Pan American might afford that opportunity.

“I think we get complacent a little bit,” said Montgomery, discussing how USF battled back time and again to keep things close until the final minutes of the Bears’ 87-74 victory.

“I don’t think we have a killer instinct. We like the offense and get to scoring some points and we forget sometimes what the objective is. When we make a run, we’ve got to put a foot on their throat and drive it home.”

The Bears’ inability to do that against USF frustrated Montgomery as he scanned a stat sheet that showed Cal shot 58 percent from the floor, 66.7 percent from the 3-point arc, forged a 30-21 rebounding edge and turned the ball over just nine times against an aggressive, scrambling defense.

“It all looked pretty good. I just didn’t like some of the things,” he said. “I went in and blasted them a little bit. We made a lot of mistakes that we’re going to have to not make if we’re going to be a good basketball team down the road.”

Monty said his team didn’t always communicate well, provided help defense at the cost of losing track of USF’s 3-point shooters, and allowed too many drives to the basket.

Even when point guard Jerome Randle triggered the game-ending 28-14 surge over the final 7 1/2 minutes after USF took a 60-59 lead, Montgomery questioned where that urgency was earlier.

“I guess maybe that would be my point. Let’s everybody have our game hiked up all the time, then we don’t get behind,” he said.

Cal’s players had no argument with their first-year coach,

“I really wasn’t excited about the way we played,” Randle said. “I felt our effort wasn’t where it should have been.”

“I think we can take something from this,” added junior forward Theo Robertson. “We have to really pick up our intensity for a full 40 minutes. We talked before the game about coming out and setting the tone early, which unfortunately we didn’t do.

“It sounds like a broken record, but it starts on defense.”

WALTERS IMPRESSED: USF’s first year coach, Rex Walters, sees good days ahead for the Bears, despite suggesting their “bigs would be an issue” in the Pac-10 Conference.

“I really like Robertson and (Jamal) Boykin and Randle,” he said Tuesday night. “Coach Montgomery is going to do a great job and they’re only going to get better. They’ve got a guy over on the sidelines who’s won an awful lot of games, knows exactly what to do. I wouldn’t bet against him.”

IN THE ZONE: Montgomery was pleased with the Bears’ success using a zone defense during a couple stretches of the USF game. The switch allowed them to play without a true center on the floor because the Dons used a small lineup, and still Cal rebounded well out of the alignment.

“At some point,” Montgomery said, “we’re going to have to be better at zone to protect people from foul trouble.”

THE GAME IS THE THING: Tonight is Cal’s third of four games in a span of 10 days, and that’s fine with Montgomery. He values practice time, but said the time comes when players need to try things out on an unfamiliar opponent.

“Games are good for us right now,” he said. “We’ve given them a lot of stuff and some of the stuff we’ve got to learn on the fly, make mistakes and learn from them.”

Cal closes its season-opening homestand next Monday against North Carolina A&T. Then, after Thanksgiving, the Bears play on Friday at UNLV and Saturday against either Cincinnati of Florida State at Las Vegas.

 
TIPOFF: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Haas Pavilion, Berkeley.
TV: None. RADIO: 1550 AM.

OUTLOOK: Cal (2-0) has relied on excellent shooting in wins over Pacific and USF, converting 59.3 percent from 3-point range. Randle is 7-for-10 from beyond the arc . . . Texas-Pan American (1-1) comes off a 73-48 loss at UNLV, in which senior forward Emmanuel Jones had 16 points and 12 rebounds . . . The Broncs’ win was an 84-59 verdict over Sul Ross State of Alpine, Texas . . . First off the bench is 6-foot-6, 250-pound senior forward Nathan Hawkins, who  averages 9.5 ppg . . . The Broncs were 18-13 last year, but five of their victories came against non-Division I teams and they beat no one ranked among the top 200 in the RPI computer. In fact, their strength-of-schedule rating last year was worst in the nation.

 
   PROJECTED STARTING LINEUPS:

   Cal:
   PF Jamal Boykin, 6-8, Jr., 7.5 ppg, 3.0 rpg
   SF Theo Robertson, 6-5, Jr., 16.5 ppg, 3.0 rpg
   C Jordan Wilkes, 7-0, Jr., 6.0 ppg, 6.5 rpg
   SG Patrick Christopher, 6-5, Jr., 14.0 ppg, 3.5 rpg
   PG Jerome Randle, 5-10, Jr., 24.5 ppg, 4.5 apg

   Texas Pan-American:
   PF: Luis Valera, 6-7, Jr., 7.5 ppg, 6.0 rpg
   SF: Emmanuel Jones, 6-7, Sr. 21.5 ppg, 8.0 rpg
   SG: Ben Smith, 6-3, Jr., 6.5 ppg, 3.5 rpg
   SG: Nick Weiermiller, 6-1, So., 9.5 ppg, 6.5 apg
   PG P.J. Turner, 5-11, So., 2.5 ppg, 6.5 apg