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Basketball: Louisville game thread
By Jeff Faraudo
Friday, March 19th, 2010 at 6:10 pm in Basketball, Gameday, NCAA Tournament.
FINAL SCORE: Cal 77, Louisville 62. The Bears improve to 24-10 — their most victories since 1960 — and advance to Sunday’s second-round game vs. top-seeded Duke. It will be a rematch of the game played 17 years ago Saturday, in which Jason Kidd powered the Bears to an 82-77 upset of the two-time defending national champs. Here, Randle and Robertson each had 21 points and Christopher scored 19. More later.
3:53 2nd H: Louisville got within 62-58 before Robertson hit a big 3-pointer. He has 20 points. Gutierrez has a layup and free throw, then two FTs since and Cal leads 70-60. Zhang blocked a Louisville shot and is providing a lift on defense. My apologies in advance if I leave you shortly — print edition deadline is approaching. Pretty good game, huh?
7:40 2nd H: Louisville won’t quit. The Cardinals have outscored Cal 10-2 over the past 4 minutes and now trail just 62-56. Randle, Christopher and Robertson each have 17 for the Bears.
11:31 2nd H: Pitino just called timeout after Louisville left Randle alone on the perimeter and he hit an open 3-pointer for a 60-46 Cal lead.
14:46 2nd H: Cal leads 52-39 and Robertson is shooting one FT after scoring on a drive to the basket. He has 13 points, Christopher has 15. Monty put Zhang into the game with 16:08 left, giving Boykin a break that will be equivalent to more than 5 minutes real time. Louisville got within seven points early in the half, but Cal withstood it and seems to have control. Or at least as much as you can against a team as physical and aggressive as these guys.
MORE HALFTIME: Besides Sanders-Frison, who had three fouls, no other Cal players collected more than one in the first half. With one fewer body available after the suspension of Omondi Amoke, staying out of foul trouble was going to be a big key. Cal had seven turnovers in the half, only a couple of them directly off full-court pressure. The Bears more than made up for that by beating the press for layups. But pressure teams hope to grind down their opponents, so the final 20 minutes will be a challenge. Louisville has a 21-16 rebounding edge, including nine off the offensive glass. No surprise there. The result is a 10-0 Louisville edge in second-chance points. Also, Louisville’s bench has scored 15 points, to zero for the Bears. If Cal doesn’t wilt, continues to make shots and defends the halfcourt as well as in the first half, they should be in good shape.
HALFTIME: Cal 41, Louisville 30. What a half! Randle hit a running 35-footer at the buzzer off a hook-and-ladder shuttle pass from Christopher and Cal’s lead is back to double digits. Randle and Christopher each have 13 points. Cal shooting 15-for-28, including 5-for-9 from 3-PT. Louisville at 12-for-33. Sanders-Frison has three fouls, no one else for Cal in any fouble trouble. The Bears may need some ogygen at halftime, but they have played quite well.
3:26 1st H: Cal’s lead is 34-28. Yes, it’s a game again. The 18-point lead is a memory. Christopher just had a basket disallowed when he was called for charging. The Bears are shooting 13-for-23, but have seven turnovers. They coped well with Louisville’s pressure early, but perhaps it’s having a wearing effect now. Long TV timeouts for NCAA could help some.
5:34 1st H: Cal leads 32-24. Louisville’s run reached 12-0 on a 3-pointer by Swopshire, but Boykin answered with a basket to stop the bleeding. Louisville PG Edgar Sosa just picked up his third foul on a charge into Boykin. A big play. Randle and Christopher haven’t had a break — wonder how long they can go in a game this physical and fast-paced.
7:21 st H: Louisville has cut the margin to 30-21 and Monty just called timeout. When it was 30-12, Cal was shooting 11-for-15. Since then, Louisville has gone 9-0 and Cal has four turnovers — three of them by Randle.
10:37 1st H: Cal leads 30-12 after a one-man fastbreak by Randle, who converted the reverse layup, drawing oohs from the crowd. The basket came off a turnover when Samuels passed wildly out of the double-team – just like the scouting report suggested.
11:22 1st H: Cal leads 26-10 after a goal-tend basket by Gutierrez; he will go to the line for one FT. Randle, by the way, has made four FTs to break Cal’s record for consecutive FTs made. He now has 38 and counting. Louisville amping up the fullcourt pressure. Cal is attacking back. Bears are shooting 9-for-13.
13:37 1st H: It’s 22-4 Cal after Christopher’s third 3-pointer of the game. Cal is shooting 7-for-10, including 4-for-6 from 3-PT. Louisville is 2-for-12. Cal is moving the ball superbly against the zone and having little trouble with Louisville’s press. Mike Montgomery didn’t have dreams this good.
15:20 1st H: Cal scored the game’s first 12 p23-4oints and leads 12-2 at the first break. Robertson and Christopher sandwhiched 3-pointers around a jumper by Boykin an two FTs by Randle. Cal moved the ball well against the zone, attacked and got shots in rhythm. Louisville missed its first five shots and turned the ball over three times before Terrence Jennings finally got the Cardinals a basket by converting a layup with 15:43 left. Cal’s last two possessions weren’t so good — a forced long — even for him — 3-pointer by Randle that clanked and an airball 3-PT shot by Knezevic, who was giving Gutierrez a break.
WARMUPS ARE OVER . . . and nothing else is broken. We may have a basketball game.
SO WE START ANEW: Yes, with a new set of warmup drills. Let’s just pretend the last 10 minutes never happened.
THE SHOT CLOCK LIVES: The crowd roars! Well, sort of.
YOGI ON RADIO NOW: Michael Stewart is doing an interview on 1550 in just a moment during this unplanned pregame delay.
HOW MANY LADDERS DOES IT TAKE . . . Threre’s a second one out there now. Why? Who knows?
RETREAT TO THE DRESSING ROOM: There’s a guy on a orange ladder working to repair the shot clock. The teams have left the floor for their locker rooms.
PERFECT . . . A DELAY: One of the shot clocks has malfunctioned, so tipoff has been held up.
STARTING LINEUPS: As expected, Cal will start Jerome Randle, Patrick Christopher, Jorge Gutierrez, Theo Robertson and Jamal Boykin. Louisville will go with Edgar Sosa, Jerry Smith, Reginald Delk, Jared Swopshire and Samardo Samuels.
FACES IN THE CROWD: Ex-Bears Michael “Yogi” Stewart and Solomon Hughes are in the house. Second-year NBA man Ryan Anderson is scheduled to be the radio halftime guest of Roxy Bernstein and Todd McKim on 1550-AM.
BECAUSE THERE’S NOTHING ELSE TO DO: A couple quick official stats from the Duke game. The Golden Lions of the Southwestern Athletic Conference shot 32 percent from the field, converted 6-for-19 from the 3-point line, attempted just seven free throws and got outrebounded 41-24. Duke converted 51 percent, shot 6-for-13 from 3-point, attempted 28 FTs and quite possibly won this game without breaking a sweat.
START TIME: The P.A. man just annouced the official starting time as 10 p.m. — that’s 7 p.m. PDT.
WHO ARE THE CHEERS FOR? So far, anyway, not for Cal. The Golden Bears arrived for warmups, greeted by hardly a peep. Louisville followed them onto the court a minute later to some nice applause from the crowd. This ain’t gonna be a home game for Cal.
IT’S OVER: Duke 73, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 44.
DUKE UPDATE: There is 2:41 left and Coach K is clearing his bench. Duke leads 70-39. Kyle Singler has 22 points, Jon Scheyer 13 and Nolan Smith 1o. These guys are going to be a handful for whoever gets to Sunday.
GREETINGS: I’m here at Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena and Cal’s tipoff approaches. We’re in the midst of the third of four games here today and the Dookies are clobbering Arkansas-Pine Bluff, apparently without much effort. It’s 58-37 with 7:22 left. The Blue Devils are long and skilled, and very confident looking. UAPB is winning the battle of the bands, but its basketball team is badly overmatched.
This game should be over in plenty of time for Cal-Louisville to get started by 7 p.m. PDT, or a bit earlier. We’ll be back with lineups and anything else you’d like to know.
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March 19th, 2010 at 6:31 pm
How full is the place Jeff? Is it like a home game for Louisville or something close?
March 19th, 2010 at 6:31 pm
Jeff yes there is something I’d like to know. If Amoke says he’s sorry and will never do it again, will Monty let him play and make his suspension for the first game next season (lol)? Obviously he hasn’t been arrested but it has to be serious because it could be career ending (if Cal loses).
Anyway enjoy the game its one of the perks of your job.
March 19th, 2010 at 6:38 pm
New Mexico State 61 – Michigan State 59 with 5 min left.
Why is this significant?
1. MSU had a starter but not a star suspended and it was predicted it would hurt team chemistry- it has.
2 I doubt they will show Cal right away as this game continues to be a nail-biter.
March 19th, 2010 at 6:55 pm
Robert,
The place is pretty full — not capacity at this point, but it probably will fill up some more. The Cal Straw Hat Band is playing and there is a Cal presence. But Louisville is driving distance.
SteveNTexas,
I think that remains to be seen, and obviously it depends on what the infraction was. Saying sorry doesn’t fix all things. Stay tuned.
Enjoy the game.
March 19th, 2010 at 7:08 pm
JF:
I’d like to provide a little color to you for once.
The end of the Mich St. – NM St. game?
Oh my God, do I think that is a joke. M. St was up by two with 18 seconds left, at the line shooting 1. He misses and NM St. gets the rebound and has a chance to tie or win.
But the baseline ref calls a lane violation and M. St. makes the redo, now up by 3.
NM St. misses it’s chances for 3 and loses.
But here’s the catch. I used slow mo replay to examine who entered the lane and when the ref raised his hand for the violation. He raised his hand before anyone was going into the lane.
In other words, it has the appearance that M. St. paid this guy off. And that’s all the edge they needed for the W.
I realize people will disagree, but if they use freeze frame, they might agree.
March 19th, 2010 at 7:17 pm
Go Bears!
March 19th, 2010 at 7:19 pm
If it was a Pac 10 ref I believe it.
March 19th, 2010 at 7:24 pm
They are showing Syracuse 34-10 here – wish they would switch to Cal’s 7-0 lead
March 19th, 2010 at 7:26 pm
I should turn off the game. It can’t get better than this, lol.
March 19th, 2010 at 7:29 pm
Ok, they scored. 12-2. Why is Knez shooting that 3? Randle forced his, too. You can’t shoot from that deep when it is contested. Just cause we got off hot doesn’t mean get wreckless, Bears. Randle needs to drive and dish to create the open looks like Robertson had early. Wait until they start fearing the drive to shoot that deep three.
March 19th, 2010 at 7:33 pm
22-4, OMG!
March 19th, 2010 at 7:34 pm
Cal is winning 22-4 but its the only game they won’t show.
This may be the best start in Cal history -definitely of an NCAA game.
March 19th, 2010 at 7:36 pm
Incredible start. Loving this.
March 19th, 2010 at 7:42 pm
Steve, go to Justin.tv
I can’t imagine they won’t have it running. Goggle it if it doesn’t show up.
March 19th, 2010 at 7:46 pm
Steve,
http://www.ncaa.com/mmod
Enjoy!
March 19th, 2010 at 7:49 pm
It’s online. CBS, Yahoo and a bunch others. It’s an open feed.
It’s not over lads. Hold on tight. Cal needs a double digit lead going into the half.
Go Bears!
March 19th, 2010 at 7:52 pm
Cal needs to keep up the attack. Attack the attack! It was working until they slowed down.
March 19th, 2010 at 7:54 pm
Man this is the NCAAs. Holy hell. 40 minutes. It’s about the counter punch.
BTW, Nance you boob.
March 19th, 2010 at 7:57 pm
We havn’t held a lead well all year, no change tonight. Sosa getting his 3rd is huge, though. Time to build that lead back up. I want to see it back over 10-15 at half.
March 19th, 2010 at 8:05 pm
Subbing knesevic at the peak of our rally was a bad idea. Zhang is playing like a girl, an ever since getting hosed on that traveling no call it’s been all up hill. Rebound bears! Quit spazzing Randle.
March 19th, 2010 at 8:11 pm
Randle! WTF!
March 19th, 2010 at 8:12 pm
I won’t complain on the Louisville over the back no calls after that Randle 3! No reason to spoil the moment…that was sweet!
March 19th, 2010 at 8:16 pm
BOOM!
Great momentum for going into halftime.
I’m calling right now. Louisville comes out flat to start the second half. They were obviously tired to start the game. That delay probably hurt them mentally being ready to play so late on their internal clocks. Now, the adrenaline of that comeback spurt is wearing off. Cal will need to execute just as they did to start the game to take advantage of them before they get their second wind.
Regardless, Louisville will be winded come the last 4 minutes. I know they play 11, but adrenaline rushes are not easily overcome, and there can be no doubt, No Doubt, they had one when they had that nice comeback.
The Randle 3 to end the half had to be a knife to the heart type low that helps them crash after the adrenaline rush. It may not be a long time at the start of the half that we have that advantage, but we start with the ball and execution will be key.
I am happy with our foul situation, only MSF is in any trouble. Boykin has been solid. They have a great opportunity to advance.
March 19th, 2010 at 8:22 pm
This game is on CBS video at least – I hope Randle’s shot gets on SportsCenter and gives us some publicity. Mostly I hope we win and get a shot at Duke.
March 19th, 2010 at 8:25 pm
Great first half from the Bears. Definitely concerned about fatigue headed into the 2nd half – hope the press doesn’t suck the life out of Cal towards the end. Need some quality minutes from the guys off the bench.
March 19th, 2010 at 8:36 pm
Refs are clearly letting Samuals have his way.
March 19th, 2010 at 8:44 pm
Don’t even moan about the refs, Joey. They are letting things go both ways. That’s why we are not in foul trouble.
March 19th, 2010 at 8:54 pm
Wisdom, I’ll stay on the refs and you keep telling Monty how to coach.
March 19th, 2010 at 8:58 pm
Joey wouldn’t be Joey if he couldn’t moan a little bit. Its what a good b—th needs to do to be happy. But its all cool.
Randle’s ability to hit from everywhere has to be demoralizing to Louisville- Cal moves the ball around much better.
March 19th, 2010 at 8:58 pm
On Monty, then: you know Monty is loving having senior athletes that more athletic than his Stanfurd squads were. He could never go over the top with his Stanfurd squads.
March 19th, 2010 at 8:58 pm
lol. left out over the top of the press defense.
March 19th, 2010 at 9:03 pm
uh Oh Cal has to stop this run NOW
March 19th, 2010 at 9:06 pm
Yeah, a couple 3s and Louisville is right back in it. The need to execute when they drive instead of improvise.
March 19th, 2010 at 9:18 pm
IN YOUR FACE, Patino. Intentional foul against Max, and rightly so. Great call, ref.
March 19th, 2010 at 9:19 pm
My working the refs is providing results!
March 19th, 2010 at 9:24 pm
Eat my shorts Seth Davis and Jay Bilas. Cal belongs! Pac 10 is not as bad as you east coasters say. Big East is just a bunch of east coast favoritism.
March 19th, 2010 at 9:33 pm
Max made Samuels work, and that was huge. And when Buckles picked up the 4th foul and had to leave the game — that helped too. Theo came to play!
March 19th, 2010 at 9:44 pm
Get them a body bag. Cal Wins!
March 19th, 2010 at 9:46 pm
Whats up with Pitino running past Montgomery after the game? Take it like a man, Rick.
March 19th, 2010 at 9:47 pm
NEXT UP: Golden Bears vs. Blue Devils. GO BEARS!
March 19th, 2010 at 10:26 pm
The Bears outplayed their opponent in every facet except one: REBOUNDING. Offensive rebounding is the only reason these guys managed to stayed in the game. We owned these guys in every other aspect including basketball IQ. Way to go Bears and lets take it to the Devils.
March 19th, 2010 at 10:32 pm
Okay, for those who have been following my posts, I would like to say VERY LOUDLY AND CLEARLY,
I
WAS
WRONG !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Excellent poise on the part of the Bears. Excellent game plan by Monty.
I love how they did not rush on the press – they broke it and then set up in half court and slowed the game down, which was important b/c of the fatigue, fouls, depth aspect.
I also love how Monty had 4 players (Gut, Randle, Theo, PC) bring the ball up on the press and they ALL did a good job at it. I thought Pitino could have attacked some of our dribblers in the back court, but I suppose it’s hard to do when we have 4 guards on the court and one of them is going to eventually dribble past Louisville’s big man on his way to the basket, so I guess the bad matchup worked to our favor in this sense.
I noticed that Randle made two TO’s and one near TO on 3 straight plays toward the end of the first half, and Monty then called Time Out, and when we came back he had a different player bringing the ball up – very astute, as Randle was obviously getting tired.
Nice move, Monty!
And then at the end, bringing in Max and Max doing a great job keeping them away from the basket. Max had some tips, blocks, rebounds, and was QUICK in getting in the double team position, forced the other post to pass out of the post. Excellent.
Great job all the way around, and I am SO VERY pleased to be able to say, I DON’T KNOW SCHLIT! Well, let’s not go that far. Let’s just say that this Cal team proved themselves to be a very good, smart team all the way around. They shut up the doubters, even those amongst their fans. What a satisfying win!!!
WOOPIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ah, it’s so much better to be pleasantly surprised rather than stunningly disappointed. Thank you, team. Everything else at this point is gravy.
March 19th, 2010 at 10:34 pm
so proud of this team. enjoy this win, everyone.
seth davis should eat his own poop.
what an effort by the seniors – coming out fired up and stopping several runs with big plays.
check out the minutes played:
STARTERS MIN
Jamal Boykin, F 34
Theo Robertson, F 38
Jorge Gutierrez, G 32
Jerome Randle, G 40
Patrick Christopher, G 38
BENCH MIN
Nikola Knezevic, G 2
Max Zhang, C 13
Markhuri Sanders-Frison, C 3
we’ll need Max to have a big time performance down low on Sunday. 2 bench points won’t get it done against Dook.
Go Bears.
March 19th, 2010 at 10:35 pm
Great game Bears! The seniors stepped up big time. Agonizing to watch the inside game by Louisville but Cal just kept counter punching and when they were on, they were a pleasure to watch. Bang, bang, bang.
Duke is going to be tough. They press and score. Cal matches up okay. I’m looking for a HUGE, HUGE game from Boykins and I think he takes it personal. If he busts out like he can and the Big 3 score and play as usual, Cal can be in it.
Go Bears!
March 19th, 2010 at 10:36 pm
Abe’s last comment is the only thing worth noting, that, and we never gave up the lead. Zero leads for Pitino, but we need to board better.
March 19th, 2010 at 10:42 pm
Please beat Dook just to shut Dickie V up! His nose is so far up coach K’s butt.
March 19th, 2010 at 10:45 pm
Did anyone else lose their voice in the first 7 minutes? Or was it just because I got off work at 3 and started drinking beers to get ready to will the team to victory? Go out in the WC! Got my Cal hat on, Cal Shirt and Cal shorts..Haters beware!
March 19th, 2010 at 10:48 pm
I watched a good part of the 2nd half on a iPhone in a car (not driving, just screaming).
March 19th, 2010 at 10:49 pm
The Bears have set themselves up to do something very special Sunday. They are on the big stage and if they can knock out a #1 man oh man the nation will take notice.
Great win tonight. Our starters carried us from start to finish. Will need to play even better vs dukies. Of course need to try to rebound better, but also need to take better care of the ball and get more contributions from the bench. Only guy tonight that did anything off the bench was Max. And he needs to play much better than he did tonight.
Very impressed by our four seniors performance but they have more in them and it will take all their bests to make the sweet 16.
We got a shot to really make some noise and I’m really excited for Sunday.
Go Bears
March 19th, 2010 at 11:04 pm
The Bears played with such confidence; even when Louisville got it back to within four points, they just stuck with their game plan. Patrick was unbelievably hot at the start, and Theo was so solid and dependable throughout. Jerome kept himself and his team in (and under) control. Jorge had a few turnovers, but he was absolutely essential on defense. And Max came in and disrupted Louisville’s inside game. I loved it when Louisville tried to foul him away from the ball, to get him on the free throw line, then got an intentional foul, and then a technical foul; Max then calmly sank his his two free throws – Game Over…
It was also great seeing how Cal countered the full-court pressure. They just took turns bringing the ball up the court, with Jerome, Theo, Patrick, and Jorge all handling the ball. It totally negated the pressure. Then, they got the ball into Jerome’s hands to set up the play, or took advantage of Louisville not getting back in time to set up their half-court defense. Well done.
Although this was not technically an upset, you’d think it was from all the pre-game talking-head predictions. I think the Bears are going to “surprise” again on Sunday. Win or lose, I think they will make it interesting and close. Cal as a team is now greater than the sum of its players.
Go Bears! Keep it rolling on…
March 19th, 2010 at 11:35 pm
That was freakin’ awesome! Beating Duke in ’93 was more exciting, but I feel incredible emotion after this win. The Pac 10 was so disrespected this year. What vindication! What a win!
Seniors were all business. Max was gettin’ into to it late. That was one tasty game!
It IS all gravy now. Hope I can relax and enjoy the rest.
Go Bears!
March 20th, 2010 at 1:18 am
True Blues BELIEVE in our Golden Bears and PAC-10 POWER!
Roll on against dukee!
March 20th, 2010 at 9:00 am
Max was great, enjoyed watching his confidence grow as the game went on – then the blocked shot late in the 2nd and doing some woofing and chest pounding after was outstanding. Would love to see what he could do if he could stop being such a thinker and instead just went out and played like his hair was on fire. Hope to see it soon. We’re going to need MSF to stay out of foul trouble vs dook, you have to laugh a bit about how snake bit the kid is vs the whistle. Hopefully his game will continue to come on.
Lots of visible composure on the court for the Bears last night, never rattled once. Had an answer for anything that Pitino threw at them. Put their foot on their opponents throat early and didn’t step off. Most enjoyable game of the year, yes they won, but enjoyable to watch because they played to their potential. The Bear looked very dangerous last night.
March 20th, 2010 at 10:02 am
Mitch from the Ville?