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Basketball: The UCLA fiasco a day later
By Jeff Faraudo
Thursday, January 7th, 2010 at 11:49 am in Basketball.
I can tell last night’s game riled up Cal fans. And with good reason.
Given a half-day to review what happened, I can find nothing Cal did well in the game.
As Mike Montgomery said afterward, “We were not very good.”
Cal’s previous four defeats were were away from home to good teams. This one doesn’t qualify in those categories.
Sure, the Bears missed Jorge Gutierrez and the energy he brings off the bench. Well, he’s not playing Saturday, either, so the Bears need to figure out how to compensate. Omondi Amoke provided 10 points off the bench and freshman Brandon Smith assisted Jamal Boykin on what looked like the winning basket. Otherwise, the reserves gave the Bears almost nothing.
But Montgomery put this one on the seniors. “We just didn’t get real good performances from our starters,” he said.
This was an opportunity lost — you cannot get back a home game. But Washington also already has a home loss, and after just eight days, the Pac-10 has only one undefeated team. And we can all agree Oregon is going to lose its share of games (although probably not Sunday at home to an OSU team that lost by 51 points to the team that Elgin Baylor played for six decades ago).
I don’t expect this to be the team we see most nights. But the problems Thursday were many and they were glaring:
– Cal doesn’t need to shoot 60 percent from the 3PT line to win, but the Bears cannot go 2-for-18, either. This is a team, for better or worse, that relies on the perimeter shot. Until eight days ago, Ben Howland would have rather had a root canal than play a zone defense, but the Bruins’ zone kept the Bears off balance all night. Never a rhythm. Jerome Randle looked out of sorts all night shooting from the perimeter, and he didn’t do enough to set up others with penetration. If I’m an opposing coach, I’m playing zone against the Bears until they demonstrate it’s a bad idea.
– UCLA’s multiple screens made the Cal defense dizzy. The Bruins missed shots in the first half, but as soon as Michael Roll and Nikola Dragovic each made one in the second half, you could sense more was coming. Cal could not stay in their face and they made six in a row between them.
– Without Gutierrez to light a fire, the Bears showed a disturbing lack of fight. Even Monty was scratching his head over this. “Soemtimes I don’t understand how we cannot treat a UCLA game as a big, big game in erms of coming out full of fire. We didn’t seem to have that,” he said. Montgomery noted the Bears never got into a 1-and-1 at the FT line in the second half, which translates to a lack of offensive aggressiveness. “You’re settling for jump shots, you’re not getting to the glass, and you’re not aggressive enough,” he said.
– UCLA took away Cal’s transition game. The Bears aren’t a traditional fastbreak team, but they rely on oportunities to score quickly before the opponent sets its defense. There are those moments in every game where Randle either blasts coast-to-coast for a layup or pulls up to shoot a 3-pointer in rhythm or passes ahead to Christopher for a dunk. How often did that happen Thursday? Not often enough.
– The rest of the Pac-10 cannot be happy that the Bears may have just given UCLA what it needs most — some confidence. The Bruins are young and erratic, but Cal let them hang around, and with the game on the line they made plays. Freshman Reeves Nelson can’t make a free throw, but he was tough and clever inside. Freshman Tyler Honeycutt, in his first start, had 10 rebounds. Sophomore PG Jerime Anderson turned the ball over four times, but hit a huge 3-pointer late. And Howland can coach. This UCLA team will get better, not worse.
The Bears better make sure that’s their formula, too.
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January 7th, 2010 at 11:54 am
Bottom line is Montgomery needs to do more. His lack of coaching was reflected heavily in this game. He didn’t make adjustments needed on defense or offense.
January 7th, 2010 at 11:59 am
Jeff,
Was Jerome OK last night? He seemed to be out of sorts, and I am not just talking about his woeful shooting from 3 point land. He was seen taking pills on the bench and then went into the locker room a couple of times. When FSN panned to him as Smith was playing, he also closed his eyes emphatically and grimaced briefly like he was in pain. Just a weird night but still even with all that bad stuff going on, we were one loose ball from winning the game. Theo, Omondi and Smith had good games. Boykin made a clutch bank shot that should have won the game.
KAB
January 7th, 2010 at 12:50 pm
KoreAmBear,
I did not have the chance to talk to Jerome last night. He wasn’t among the players who came to the interview room, and it was late with the overtime. I, too, noticed him standing on the sidelines a couple times. I will check into it, but you can ask him yourself Friday at 11 a.m. if you join our live online chat with Jerome.
January 7th, 2010 at 12:57 pm
if randle was sick, i’ll give him a pass for his performance, but he should have taken himself out of the game. a sick randle is not like a sick michael jordan. when you’re firing up 40 footers with the flu, you’re gonna miss ‘em. anyway, if he’s sick, i hope he gets better soon, but shame on monty for not tearing into these guys at half-time like i did my television.
January 7th, 2010 at 1:41 pm
Montgomery makes these losses worse. He’s not a Cal guy. He’s a Stanford guy. When we lose it makes it feel even worse for me that there’s not a coach in there that I’m rooting for. I hope he leaves after this year and we get someone else that will wear a blue and gold tie.
January 7th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
…”Sometimes I don’t understand how we cannot treat a UCLA game as a big, big game in terms of coming out full of fire. We didn’t seem to have that…”
Maybe Monty should think about that old cliche about the team being a reflection of the coach…very disappointing.
January 7th, 2010 at 2:34 pm
Jeff- Thanks for this post. It really put things into perspective. That was a bad loss, no matter how this seeason goes for the Bears. Also, I appreciate the fact that you editorialize a bit in your post here. I always want a bit more than you get from most beat writers. In sharing your opinion a little bit, you are not saying anything we didn’t all witness last night anyway. So thanks.
For whatever it’s worth, you’re right- Ben Howland can (still) coach. He sure didn’t forget how to coach since last season. He sure seemed to coach circles around Montgomery last night. UCLA got Cal to play its game and its tempo virtually the whole night. Montgomery did nothing defensively to try to take those screens out of the picture (3-2 zone anyone?) or to try to change the tempo (trap, press??). It would have been interesting to see him try something else for 3-4 possessions. You could see the tidal wave coming, and the Bears just continued on hoping things would turn their way. Hope is not a strategy. I would have at least appreciate that Montgomery tried soemthing else.
January 7th, 2010 at 3:18 pm
Bear basketball and football players, it seems, don’t have what it takes to reach an elite level. Is it the drive, talent, heart? More and more disappointment…
January 7th, 2010 at 3:24 pm
The indications seem that Randle might have had the runs and that’s why he went to the locker room a couple of times. That’s also probably why he didn’t wait to talk to anyone and even want to share that. I’m sure he’ll deny it on Friday, LOL. Pepto Bismol anyone?
January 7th, 2010 at 6:59 pm
Monty is a good coach. His players did not get it done last night against UCLA. I was there, they had so many chances to win that game even though they played terrible. They should have won by at least 10 if they had come to play.
Very dissapointed that our four senior starters allowed themselves to lose at home to a team they should have beat.
These guys just don’t have what it takes to win the Pac. Very sad.