The Bears leave SoCal winless after dropping games to UTEP, Tulane and San Diego State. That now makes it four straight losses for Cal as it has struggled to find ways to close teams out late in games.
Cal men’s basketball hit the road for the first time this season to compete in this year's SoCal Challenge. After spending nearly a week in Southern California, the Bears couldn’t find ways to win in any of their three contests against UTEP, Tulane and San Diego State — extending their losing streak to four games.
In its three games, Cal lost to UTEP 75-72, then to Tulane 84-81 and finally to San Diego State 76-67for a combined differential of 15 points.
The tournament presented many challenges to muster as blown leads and near comebacks ultimately wrote the tale of Cal’s shortcomings. It didn’t matter what situation presented itself, Cal continuously found itself on the wrong end — from leading Tulane for 34 minutes of the game but failing to close the game out, to rallying back in its game against UTEP just to give up a wide-open three for its ultimate defeat.
However, regardless of the opponent, the glaring issues continue to be the team’s health and ball security. Over their last three games, the blue and gold amounted to 55 turnovers while dishing out just 23 assists.
“The team knows that each of these last four games now have come down to basically one possession. Where we have to get better is to not turn the ball over as much. We were averaging 19 turnovers a game in the prior three (games) … so we have to continue to attack ball control and as we do the wins are going to stack up,” Madsen said.
Though turnovers were the story coming out of the tournament, the Bears’ transfer class continued to impress as Fardaws Aimaq and Jaylon Tyson led the way over their three-game stretch at San Juan Capistrano.
In those three games, Aimaq’s average of 18.3 points on 57.9% shooting and 14.3 rebounds awarded him with Pac-12 Player of the Week honors.The 6’11” forward has now recorded four consecutive double-doubles for the Bears and currently leads the Pac-12 in rebounding, while also sitting top-ten in points.
On the other hand, Tyson contributed averages of 20.7 points and six rebounds on a 44% shooting clip over the past week. The all-around transfer guard scooted himself to second place in the Pac-12 in points per game at 20.3 and tops the conference in total points with 122.
“Fardaws has been locked in. Fardaws is always going to go out there — he’s one of the best rebounders in the country,” Madsen said. “Jaylon Tyson has been fantastic … He makes his teammates better with his passing. He's a phenomenal rebounder. He has the ability to draw fouls and get to the free-throw line. He went through a lot of tough days and tough weeks … I’m incredibly proud of Jaylon Tyson and he’s a huge part of this team.”
Despite the recurrence of close, hard-fought losses for Madsen and Cal, the team still remains without three starter-worthy players in Keonte Kennedy, Devin Askew and Jalen Celestine.
Though Askew and Celestine have seen the court this season, Kennedy has yet to make his Cal debut, but his offensive and defensive versatility will add another layer to a Bears team that is still trying to mesh and get their legs under them.
Cal will return home to Haas Pavilion for a matchup against Santa Clara this Saturday as it hopes to showcase the growth and progress before hitting the road again to play Butler.
Contact Eric Hayrapetian at Eric.hayrapetian@gmail.com
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