Cal Bears On Thrilling Win Streak
By Andrew Kahn
Call them the Buzzer-Beating Bears or Cardiac Cal. Since starting 1-6 in Pac-12 play, California is on a four-game win streak. The Bears have won their last three in dramatic fashion, hitting three-pointers in the final seconds to win. Under first-year coach Cuonzo Martin, they’ll try to get to .500 in conference and 16-9 overall tomorrow at Colorado.
The wild win streak started on Jan. 29 at Washington State. Down 65-64 with 3:35 left, Cal closed the game on a 12-2 run. A few days later at Washington, Sam Singer hit a three with four seconds left to give the Bears a 90-88 win. At home against Southern Cal, Tyrone Wallace raced up the court after a missed free throw and nailed a three at the buzzer to win it 70-69. And Saturday against UCLA, Dwight Tarwater made, in his words, the shot of his life—a three with 19 seconds left that put Cal up two. UCLA failed to score on its two subsequent possessions and the Bears celebrated another crazy ending.
Wallace, Cal’s leading scorer at 17.4 points per game, has been critical during this run. He shot one of the game-winners and assisted on the other two. “Tyrone has done a great job,” Martin said after the UCLA game. “He could have forced the shot but he’s been making the extra pass and trusting his teammates. That’s hard for a guy who can score 20 every night. He’s growing in that department.”
Wallace’s trust was rewarded by unlikely candidates. Singer had hit just four threes all season before knocking down the game-winner against Washington after a hard jab step provided space from his defender. Tarwater had missed 11 of his previous 13 long-range attempts but Wallace floated a pass to him in the corner, and he put the perfect amount of arc on the shot. Tarwater said after the game that he was supposed to be on the other side of the court but a teammate did not cross as instructed.
That’s just how it’s gone for Cal lately, but the start of Pac-12 play was far different. The Bears beat Washington but lost their next six, all but one by double digits. Martin has certainly seen improvement from his team these last couple of weeks, but he wasn’t panicking during the skid. “Guys were making progress, but it’s hard to see that when you’re losing.” Martin, who came to Cal after two years at Tennessee, said the program is about 70 percent of the way to where he wants it. This wasn’t a rebuilding job per se, as the previous coach, Mike Montgomery, retired as opposed to being fired. Cal had reached the NCAA Tournament four of the previous five seasons before failing to get a bid last year. On the other hand, the Bears haven’t gotten out of the second round since 1997.
The offense will have to improve—Cal is 242nd in KenPom.com’s adjusted offensive efficiency rankings—and crashing the offensive glass and/or getting to the free throw line more often would help with that. Cal will lose two frontcourt starters in Tarwater and Kravish, but Wallace is a junior and second-leading scorer Jordan Mathews is a sophomore.
In the more immediate future, the Bears hit the road for their next three against Colorado, Utah, and Stanford, a difficult trio of games. But if they can keep it close down the stretch, they’ll have all the confidence in the world.
Andrew Kahn is a regular contributor to CBS Local who also writes for Newsday and The Wall Street Journal. He writes about college basketball and other sports at http://andrewjkahn.com. Email him at andrewjkahn@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter at @AndrewKahn.
