Cal Bears Win Streak Snapped at Seven by Arizona’s Comeback
The Cal Bears came into March with seven straight wins and a top-25 ranking, but couldn’t hang on to a late lead to beat the Arizona Wildcats.
On January 23rd, the California Golden Bears upset the then-12th-ranked Arizona Wildcats, 74-73 in Haas Pavilion, and the Cal fans celebrated with a court-storming, causing a bit of controversy, as there always is when fans storm the court. On Thursday night, Arizona, now ranked 18th, got their revenge when they hosted and beat the number-25 Bears at McKale Center, 74-71.
Cal, which entered March ranked in the top-25 for the first time in 13 years, controlled the opening tip, but both teams went back-and-forth for seven scoreless possessions before Arizona’s senior center Kaleb Tarczewski broke the ice with a layup. Cal’s center, sophomore Kingsley Okoroh, put Cal on the board on the next possession on the other end by tipping in a Tyrone Wallace missed jumper. Cal settled in quickly in a loud enemy environment, and held a 9-6 lead at the first television timeout. Just a couple minutes later, Cal scored five points in a row to push their lead to eight, and forced Arizona head coach Sean Miller to call his own timeout.
The Bears got out of the gates slowly, making just eight of their first 23 shots in the first 12 minutes, but made three three-pointers and held Arizona to just 5-of-16 shooting with no deep balls. With eight minutes to go in the first half, Cal was winning the rebounding battle 17 to nine, including six offensive boards to Arizona’s one.
Arizona would not go away in the first half, however. With freshman guard Jaylen Brown on the bench with two fouls, the Bears struggled to score, allowing the Wildcats to go on a 9-2 scoring run and cut what was once a nine-point Cal lead down to two. The Bears scored the final bucket before the half, and should have had another one on goaltending. Jabari Bird‘s layup attempt hit the glass before it was blocked by an Arizona defender, but the refs called it a clean block, and instead of going into the locker room up by six, Cal’s lead was 29-25.
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Neither team’s play in the first half could be characterized as “pretty”. Cal shot a paltry 31.4 percent from the field, while Arizona was only slightly better at 32.1 percent. Both teams totaled five turnovers, but the Bears’ big advantage came on the glass. They pulled down 26 total rebounds to Arizona’s 17, including nine offensive board to Arizona’s four. Cal’s 13-1 second-chance advantage made the difference in the first 20 minutes.
The Wildcats opened up the second half in grand fashion, outscoring Cal 8-2 over the first two-and-a-half minutes. Senior guard Gabe York sparked the run, scoring six of the team’s eight points after being held to zero points on one field goal attempt in the first 20 minutes. The run ended with Arizona taking a 33-31 lead, their first advantage since very early in the first half. After an Ivan Rabb lay-in, Arizona scored four more in a row to open the lead to 37-33.
It was a battle, as Cal and Arizona traded baskets back-and-forth as time moved on. Rabb started to take over a little bit, hitting three consecutive put-back baskets to give Cal the lead again at 46-45 with just under eight minutes to play. Arizona responded, as freshman Allonzo Trier sank a pair of free throws to give Arizona the one-point edge. Jordan Mathews answered for Cal again on the next possession, drilling his first three-pointer after missing his first six attempts to put Cal back ahead. Arizona’s Kadeem Allen‘s two-pointer re-tied the game at 49.
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The power struggle continued, with neither team being able to gain a firm grasp on the lead. Bird hit a mid-range jumper the next time down the floor, putting Cal up by two again. Arizona’s Ryan Anderson hit a free throw to bring it back to within one, but Rabb responded with a three-pointer, his first make on his first attempt from deep this season, to give Cal the 54-50 lead. Mathews made two from the stripe to push the lead to six, but York hit a triple, his first and Arizona’s second from long distance, to halve the lead.
Not to be outdone, Mathews sank his own longball from NBA distance to bring the lead back to six. Senior Tyrone Wallace came up with a steal on the next possession, and took it all the way home with a finger roll to make it an eight-point game. Anderson’s old-fashioned three-point play brought the lead back down to five, and a York three on the next possession cut it to two. With 31.1 seconds left on the clock, Brown fouled out on a charge, giving Arizona the ball down by two in the final minute.
With the game hanging on the balance, York, the hottest shooter on the court, caught the ball coming off the screen, and drilled a long three-pointer to put the Wildcats back on top, 62-61, as the already rabid crowd went wild. Wallace tried to drive on the other end, spinning on his way to basket, but could not get the ball to find the bottom of the net. Two free throws from Tarczewski made it 74-71, which would be the final score.
Rabb led the Bears with 15 points, and pulled down 13 rebounds for his 10th double-double of the year. Bird scored 13 points with seven rebounds, and Mathews scored 12 off the bench. Brown had one of the worst games of his freshman year, scoring just five points on 2-of-9 shooting before picking up his fifth foul.
After being held scoreless through the first 20 minutes, Arizona’s York exploded in the second half. Playing in his penultimate college game in front of Arizona fans, York came out of the locker room on fire, scoring 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including three three-pointers and the game-winner.
Cal had the game in their hands with an eight-point lead and just 1:55 left to play, but Arizona ended the game on a 13-0 run to claim their 23rd win of the season. They are now 11-6 in the conference this year, matching Cal’s record for a third place tie behind the Oregon Ducks (13-4) and the Utah Utes (12-6). Oregon clinches the Pac-12 title with Cal’s loss.
Cal’s conference win streak is snapped at seven games, falling short of becoming their longest in-conference win streak since an 11-game run in their magical 1959-1960 season.
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The Bears get back on the horse on Saturday, heading to Phoenix to take on the Arizona State Sun Devils. At 14-15 overall, and 4-12 in the conference, Arizona State is 11th in the Pac-12 standings. Cal still has something to play for, as a win in the Wells Fargo Arena clinches a first-round bye for the Bears in the Pac-12 tournament.