Cal Basketball: Arizona Jumps on Bears Early, Cruises to 91-65 Victory
Cal and Arizona will go their separate ways next season, and the Golden Bears may not miss facing the Wildcats on the basketball floor.
Arizona beat Cal for the 15th straight time — the 10th straight time at McKale Center in Tucson — and it wasn’t close.
The No. 11 Wildcats (16-5, 7-3 Pac-12) led by as many as 23 points in the first half and roared to a 91-65 victory on Thursday night. This came on the heels of a 100-81 victory at Berkeley in their first meeting.
The Bears (8-13, 4-6), coming off back-to-back wins over Washington State and Stanford, have been competitive against everyone else in the Pac-12. Against Arizona, not so much.
"Look, they're good," Cal coach Mark Madsen said on his post-game show. "Tonight, they had all the answers."
Each of Arizona’s past 12 wins over the Bears have been by double-digit margins. At McKale, the Wildcats have won 26 of the past 28 matchups.
Jaylon Tyson had a tough evening against Arizona.
Photo by CK Hicks, Cal Athletics
In what can only be considered a public service to Cal fans, the Pac-12 Network experienced technical issues and lost its feed for much of the game’s final 10-plus minutes.
Barring a meeting in the Pac-12 tournament next month at Las Vegas, this may have been the final meeting between the two schools for quite some time. Cal heads off to the ACC next year while Arizona will play in the Big 12 Conference.
Cal can get a weekend road split with a victory on Saturday afternoon at Arizona State (11-10, 5-5), which lost 71-62 to Stanford on Thursday night. The Bears led by 16 points in the second half in their first matchup vs. the Sun Devils before falling 71-69.
Scoring on its first seven possessions, Arizona surged to leads of 12-2, 29-11 and 36-15. The Wildcats shot 56 percent to lead 48-28 at the end of the first half, Cal made just 36 percent. The Cats controlled the boards, outrebounding the Bears 25-11.
Even ball security, a Cal strength the past several weeks, went awry. The Bears had six first-half turnovers, matching their full-game average of the past five outings.
It didn’t help that Jaylon Tyson, the Pac-12’s top scorer at 20.6 points per game, missed his first seven shots. Tyson, who sat out the final minutes of last Friday’s game vs. Stanford with an undisclosed leg ailment, was in the starting lineup but did not score until the final 40 seconds of the half.
Tyson finished the night with 10 points, 10 rebounds and four assists.
Madsen was frustrated that Tyson, who routinely attacks the basket, was sent to the free throw line just once all night. He missed a foul shot with 10 seconds left in the first half, then had his second disallowed by a lane violation.
Jalen Celestine, despite foul trouble, led the Bears with 13 points, and Fardaws Aimaq had 10 points. Freshman Rodney Brown Jr. scored 12 points off the bench.
Arizona center Oumar Ballo, a 7-foot, 260-pounder, established dominance in the paint early and chalked up 22 points on 8-for-8 shooting to go with 10 rebounds.
"They killed us on the glass to start the game," Madsen said. "Oumar Ballo had five offensive rebounds in the first half. We didn't match his physicality. Ballo killed us."
Keshad Johnson added 15 points, KJ Lewis scored 14 and Caleb Love had 12 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
Arizona, which began to pull its regulars just past the midway mark of the second half, finished the night at 51 percent from the field. The Cats had a 51-32 final rebounding edge.
Cover photo of Jalen Celestine by CK Hicks, Cal Athletics
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo
