Cal Bears Win Second Straight Conference Road Game Against WSU

Stop the presses, the Cal Bears’ basketball team has a two-game road winning streak!

After winning just once in their first nine road games of the season, and going winless in five Pac-12 road games, the Cal Bears took a trip north, and swept the two Washington teams in their home gyms. On Thursday, they travelled to Seattle, beating the Washington Huskies 78-75 in a very highly-contested matchup. On Sunday, they moved about 300 miles east to Pullman and beat the Washington State Cougars (9-18, 1-14) handily, 80-62.

Wazzu controlled the opening tip, but Cal quickly took control of the rest of the game. Jaylen Brown scored the first five points of the game for the second straight contest, getting the scoreboard operator’s night started with a straightaway two-point jumper and a three-pointer fading away from the corner. Just three minutes and 21 seconds into the game, Cal held a 12-2 lead and forced Washington State head coach Ernie Kent to call the first timeout.

Things didn’t get much better for the Cougars, as Cal held a 22-9 lead halfway through the opening half. Wazzu buckled down and were able to keep the deficit in the high single-digits for much of the first half, mostly due to a lot of foul troubles for the Bears, but were unable to get consistent stops on the defensive side, allowing Cal to keep a mostly comfortable lead. At halftime, Cal was ahead 40-31, led by freshman Ivan Rabb‘s 10 points.

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Cal took a hold of the game in the second half, opening their lead to as much as 23 about halfway through the stanza. The Cougars never could get back into the game, and the Golden Bears cruised to a big 18-point victory, nearly notching their sixth win of the year by at least 20 points before a Wazzu three-pointer in the final minute.

Senior point guard Tyrone Wallace made his first start for Cal since his wrist injury, and started slowly with a scoreless first half. He caught fire in the second half, however, scoring all of his team-leading 17 points (including 15 in a row for the team at one point) and hitting all three three-point attempts. He also added three rebounds and two assists.

Brown and Rabb, the top-scoring freshman combination in Cal history, combined for 23 points against the Cougars. After scoring just 11 points in the past two games combined on only nine shots, Rabb scored 15 points, making all five of his field goal attempts and five of his six free throws. Brown was quiet after his quick start, finishing his night with eight points, along with six rebounds, a block and a steal.

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Big man Kameron Rooks had a good night, totaling eight points and seven rebounds while doing a nice job of controlling the paint. Jordan Mathews scored eight and pulled down three rebounds, Stephen Domingo scored five points and picked up a big block, Sam Singer scored four points with three assists, and Kingsley Okoroh scored two points with three rebounds and a pair of blocks. Cole Welle, celebrating his birthday on Sunday, appeared in his fifth game of the season, but didn’t record any statistics.

Reigning Pac-12 Player of the Week Jabari Bird bounced back from a very quiet performance against Washington with a solid game against Wazzu. After scoring just two points on five shots in Seattle, Bird dropped 13 points, including making all three of his three-pointers in the first half, along with three assists. Cal is now 14-2 on the season when Bird scores in the double-digits.

With their fifth straight win overall, the Bears improve to 19-8 on the season, and are 9-5 in the conference. Their conference records puts the Bears fourth in the Pac-12, just one game behind the Arizona Wildcats (22-5, 10-4) and the Oregon Ducks (21-6, 10-4), both of whom Cal has beaten this year. The Utah Utes are third in the conference (20-7, 10-5), moving just a half-game behind the top two with a win over the USC Trojans on Sunday. Wazzu remains last in the conference with a 1-14 record, and are riding a 13-game losing streak.

Next: Cal Beats Washington for First Conference Road Win

Cal’s Pac-12 schedule continues on Thursday against the UCLA Bruins (15-12, 6-8). The Bears are back home at Haas Pavilion, looking to improve their record in the friendly confines to 17-0.