The Cal basketball team wrapped up 2022, the worst calendar year in program history. Haas scored his 80-76 victory over Colorado in his pavilion on Saturday afternoon, his first Pac-12 conference win in nearly 10 months.
After controlling the game for most of the afternoon and nearly losing control at the end, the Bears ended the year with a smile on their face.
“We didn’t finish the game the way we wanted to,” coach Mark Fox says in the video at the beginning of this article. “But we ended up like we wanted with a win.”
The Bears have won just five times in 2022 and lost 28. He started the season with a 0-12 record. Cal’s fewest wins in a calendar year so far is his six, which he achieved in 2018.
For 38 minutes, this was a near-strong show by the Bears (2-13, 1-3). Cal shot well, and at halftime he built a 12-point lead, neutralizing Colorado’s top scorer for much of the game and rebounding the visitors to his 36–23 lead.
It was a far from perfect show, with endgame panic and a total of 21 turnovers. The Bears lead by a whopping 21 points and he looked like he was in complete control of CU until his final two minutes (9-6, 1-3).
Before the Colorado press unraveled them, they were up 18 points, 74-56, after two free throws by Sam Arajiki with 2:14 remaining. Colorado’s K.J. Simpson played with a twisted ankle late in the first half, and in the final 2:06 he scored 16 points (including three 3-pointers) and was beaten by Saturday’s rainstorm. Terrorized most of his 1,253 souls who endured and entered the match. .
Colorado’s defense is Cal Guard’s Dejuan Clayton.
Photo courtesy of D. Ross Cameron, USA Today
The Buffaloes trailed to 74-68 with 12 straight points and Kuany Kuany made two free throws with 40.7 seconds remaining. Freshman Grant his Newell made two more with 23 seconds left, but Simpson’s final 3-pointer with 8.5 seconds left cut Cal’s lead to his 79-76. rice field.
Colorado fouled Joel Brown with 6.3 seconds remaining, and he missed the first free throw. .
Brown played one of his best games, attacking the basket and scoring 21 points. This is his game of 20 points for the first time in his 105 games of his career. Fox talks about his development and his confidence that Brown will sink his second free throw in the video below.
Senior center Lars Tiemann had 12 points, freshman forward Grant Newell had his first double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds, and Kuani had 11 points.
Transfer guard Dejuan Clayton contributed 10 goals in just his second appearance after missing the first 13 games of the season with a hamstring injury, but he went 12-3 on shooting and lost 32 minutes on the floor. recorded 5 turnovers.
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Clayton played just two games for Hartford last season before suffering another season-ending injury. He talks below about his long journey to find rhythm.
Leading scorer Devin Askew is sidelined due to injury, and junior guard Jalen Celestine hasn’t played yet this season as he recovers from offseason knee surgery. He said he wasn’t sure if Askew would be available for Friday’s home game against Stamford.
However, coach Mark Fox showed confidence across his roster, substituting freely and getting at least 15 minutes from eight different players. He talks about it in the video below, and also mentions freshman forward ND Okafor, who recorded 6 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and blocked shots in 15 minutes.
Brown echoed those sentiments, saying that this could be the deepest team in the four seasons he’s played for Cal.
Cal, who ranked last for the Pac-12 with a 40 percent shooting percentage from the field, posted 58 percent (50 to 29). almost 8 years.
The Bears made 7 of their 13 tries from outside the arc, as opposed to a season average of 26%, and it was the 350th time in the nation.
The Bears scored 12 straight points early on (including 3-pointers from Monty Bowser and Kuani) to build a 14-4 lead, and the Buffaloes never came closer than 7 points in the remaining half.
Tiemann, who had just five points against Utah on Thursday, scored 12 points in the first half, 10 of which came in 2 minutes and 53 seconds to give the Bears a 24-13 lead.
Cal did a great defensive job against Simpson, who was averaging 18.2 points and scoring a career-high 31 points at Stanford. The sophomore guard scored just four points in the first half on 2-of-8 shooting, including 0-of-5 on 3-point attempts.
Simpson played after halftime after seemingly injured his ankle in the final minutes of the first half, but finished with 25 points.
Joel Brown cover photo by Rob Edwards, KLC fotos
Follow Cal Sports Report’s Jeff Faraudo on Twitter: @jefffaraudo