A Cal team that was picked second to last in the Pac-12 preseason media poll will try a third time to secure its first win of the season in a trip south Tuesday night to face UC San Diego.
The Golden Bears (0-2) took both of their opening losses at home by a combined 19 total points to begin coach Mark Fox’s fourth season in charge.
On Friday against Kansas State, Cal closed a 15-point halftime deficit to 47-46 with 5:37 to play before ultimately succumbing 63-54.
Junior guard Devin Askew scored 17 points and senior forward Kuany Kuany had 13 in a game Fox believed might have been different if Cal had simply matched the opponents’ first-half intensity.
“I thought today’s game was really hard-fought, conference-like,” Fox said. “We didn’t respond well to it in the first half, but once we found our competitive fight, we were able to really play pretty solid. We just dug too big of a hole in the first half.”
Cal finished in 10th place in Pac-12 last season, and both of last year’s leading scorers, Jordan Shepherd and Andre Kelly, aren’t back.
The Bears visit UC San Diego for the first time ever, with the Tuesday hosts having won the previous meeting 80-67 last November in Berkeley.
Like Cal, UC San Diego (0-2) was picked second to last in the preseason poll in its conference, the Big West. The Tritons are also winless in two home games to open the season.
Bryce Pope led UC San Diego with 17 points on Saturday in a 65-55 defeat to Sacramento State but went just 1 of 7 from 3-point range. As a team, the Tritons shot only 2 of 16 from beyond the arc.
“I also thought we had some looks that I think we would make a pretty high percentage of the time,” UC San Diego coach Eric Olen said. “I know our guys would like some of those shots back. That’s just the way it goes sometimes. We had a hard time getting the ball to go in the basket for different periods of the game.”
–Field Level Media