THOUGHTS ON LAST NIGHT
Our keys to victory were basically met:* Tough defense on Oregon's guards? Check. Porter and Brooks combined for 26 points but were a combined 10-25 from the floor and 6-17 from three. Ayinde had twelve boards!
* Anderson back to form? Check - Ryan was 7-12 for 18 points, including the crucial three-point play late in the game.
* Theo forcing the issue on offense - not so much. He ended with one point, but did a pretty good job on Bryce Taylor, who finished with only eleven points.
* Stay out of foul trouble? Mission accomplished, Only Randle and Christopher picked up as many as three fouls on the night. By contrast, Leunen was in foul trouble all night (courtesy of Mr. Anderson and played only 29 minutes).
Oregon really has to worry about being one-and-done in the tournament, because they're playing like a tired team. Tired teams settle for jump shots, and 17 of Oregon's 29 first-half shots were from three. That's too many, even for a talented perimeter team.
As for the Bears, they can improve to 14-12 with a win on Saturday against the Beavers. This is a *cliche alert* must-win, since the Bears figure to struggle on the LA road trip. If Cal simply takes care of business (winning the games in which they are favored), they'll finish 15-15 and probably need a first-round win at Staples to get into the NIT.
Taking care of business won't be so easy, though. Oregon State is a classic trap game, and someone has got to guard Marcel Jones this time around. We'll have a look at the game later today, along with a fond retrospective of a memorable Cal/OSU home game.
posted by Tightwad @ 12:00 PM
2 Comments:
You have excellent taste in picture selection. I saw the same photo on the wire last night and thought there couldn't be a much better representation of the future of Cal basketball. Christopher has struggled this year but came up big last night, Randle will be an aggressive starter at the point next year, and then there's Boykin, who could team with Anderson to create havoc in the post. Suddenly, things don't seem so bad.
They'll seem bad again with a loss to OSU, though.
Christopher was the one guy I've had a hard time figuring out, but he definitely showed it last night. OSU is a big-time trap game, though.
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