Bring on the Pac-10! Cal goes 2-0 after upset victory over ASU

January 5, 12:03 AMCal Bears ExaminerRob Calonge

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California's bench, including coach Mike Montgomery,
left, react to the upset win over Arizona State during
the second half of an NCAA college basketball game
Sunday, Jan. 4, 2009, in Berkeley, Calif.
(AP Photo/Ben Margot)

Two months ago, Mike Montgomery nearly sounded desperate when he flatly stated that the Bears were not good enough to compete in the Pac-10 until they were able to play better defense.

As the season has continued, Montgomery's Bears have made strides to improve in that area, while continuing to shoot the lights out on the other side of the court.  As they have improved, Montgomery's criticism has become more and more gentle than it was when they were dusting off the rust prior to their non-conference schedule starting.

Something tells me that Montgomery believes that these Bears (13-2, 2-0 Pac-10) can compete with anyone in the country now, especially after beating the #14 Arizona Sun Devils (12-2, 1-1 Pac-10) at home Sunday night 81-71.  When it comes to getting into the NCAA Tournament, a term that is often used is 'quality wins', which is code for wins over good opponents - this is a quality win.

If Montgomery has become more confident in his team, he's hiding it pretty well, but some of the confidence shines through anyway.  When asked about how going 2-0 in Pac-10 play colors the overall big picture, he had this to say:

This just means we did a nice job, we held homecourt. We want to compete every night out. We're going to take our chances. We had to see if we could compete, and I think we can if we do the things we did tonight.

Once again, Jerome Randle led the way for Cal with his most impressive performance on the season.  Randle scored 26 points on 7-10 shooting from the field, 8-8 from the line, and 4-7 from three-point range.  When he wasn't scoring, he was helping others score by dishing 10 assists and snagging five rebounds on the night.  It was Randle's first career double-double and both career highs in points and assists.

Sometimes stats don't tell the entire story, and this is one of those times.  When the Bears were stagnating on offense, or their lead was getting smaller, or they just needed something to get them going again, Randle came up big every time.  So important was his contributions, he played all 40 minutes of the game.  He had some help though.

Patrick Christopher gave the Bears an inside game on offense by driving the lane several times to keep the Sun Devils off-balance on defense.  Christopher, who scored 20 points on 9-16 shooting from the field and 2-5 from beyond the three-point arc, also had three rebounds, three assists, and a steal.

The Sun Devils continued to defend the inside game, but Christopher continued to drive the lane and perform acrobatic manuevers to get his points inside.  Because of his work inside, ASU often gave open looks outside, leading to the Bears connecting on 9-17 three point attempts.

California's Jerome Randle (3)
looks to pass away from Arizona
State's Rihards Kuksiks, of Latvia,
during the first half of an NCAA
college basketball game Sunday,
Jan. 4, 2009, in Berkeley, Calif.
(AP Photo/Ben Margot)

The Sun Devils were led by James Harden with 26 points, as the future NBA player showcased his skills in front of Montgomery's former boss, Chris Mullen of the Golden State Warriors.  Harden was as good as advertised.  The Bears did everything they could to stop the 6'5" sophomore guard, and you could make a case for them succeeding, but he was still able to tie Randle with the most points scored and add eight rebounds, two assists, and two steals.

Two other Sun Devils scored in double-figures as well.  Rihards Kuksiks scored 16 points on 6-10 shooting from the field (4-7 from three-point range) and also had four rebounds, two assists, and two blocks.  Jeff Pendergraph, who was limited by foul trouble, scored 16 points on 5-8 shooting and shooting 6-6 from the line.

Where the Bears were able to limit Harden was in his effectiveness on offense.  Even though he scored 26 points, he only shot 9-22 from the field, 2-7 from three-point range, and he also had trouble with free throws, shooting 6-9.

Cal was also able to hold the Sun Devils to 44.8% shooting from the field and 31.8% from the three, while they themselves continued to stay hot.  The Bears shot 58% from the field and 52.9% from the three.  If Montgomery would like the Bears to improve anywhere, he may want to have the team stay after practice and get better at free-throw shooting - they shot 70% in that area.

Coming into the game, the Sun Devils had an eight-game winning streak, was ranked #14 in the nation, and had just beaten a more respectable Stanford at Maples Pavilion by 30 points.  The Bears now have a seven-game winning streak and have a perfect home record of 11-0 this season.

Arizona State's James Harden, right,
looks to pass away from California's
Patrick Christopher during the second
half of an NCAA college basketball
game Sunday, Jan. 4, 2009, in
Berkeley, Calif.
(AP Photo/Ben Margot)

QUOTES:

He just wants me to go out there and be aggressive.  You know, that's what he's been preaching about in practice, you know, and I just do the best that I can.  He wants me to be smart, get everybody involved, play great defense and, you know, just be aggressive out there, just be more aggressive than my opponent.
- Randle when asked about his emerging confidence under Montgomery

Randle definitely has been getting better at all of those things.  As his game has become more and more impressive, the Bears have become more and more impressive.

Their zone causes you problems and you have to just kind of freelance a little bit and see if you can find some stuff. I thought Jorge did a really nice job of going in and playing against Harden - you've got a freshman out there just kind of guttin' up, at least cause some problems. At least we made him have to take 22 shots to get his points. And that's what you wanted to do. Defensively, I thought we did a pretty good job. We had some breakdowns, but you're going to have some. You've got give these kids credit, they just battled their tails off.
- Montgomery on his team's play against ASU and James Harden

Montgomery may not have had much to say about Harden, but Randle did have his view on ASU's budding star:

We knew it was going to be tough guarding him.  Just one on one, I don't think no-one in the Pac-10 can stick that guy.

ASU's head coach, Herb Sendek, was very complimentary when talking about how well Cal played his Sun Devils team.  When asked about coming within two points of Cal in the second half only to watch the Bears pull away, he had this to say:

That was the biggest key: we had a hard time getting stops. They really took us apart. They're a very difficult team to defend, and we just didn't have the answers we needed on the defensive end of the floor tonight. They're quick and they're skilled.

In the first half, the Bears took a 12-point advantage with only 8:53 left, but they then watched it slip away until both teams were tied at the half.  Both teams went back and forth on the lead in the second half until the Bears took the lead for good with 16:37 left in the game.  Sendek was also asked about his game-plan when having to defend a good outside shooting team such as Cal:

That's what makes them a tough guard. They shoot the ball No. 1 in the country [in 3-point percentage] with three prolific shooters, and all those guys can also go off the bounce. That's pretty tough to deal with.

Under Montgomery, Randle has begun to blossom into the type of point guard that helps teams move past the first round of the NCAA Tournament.  While nobody on the Cal team is talking tournament right now, but when Randle was asked he'd been given a 'green-light' from Montgomery, he didn't hesitate to share his appreciation:

Definitely, definitely.  I just love playing for him.  He's a great coach, great, great teacher.

The play of the Bears certainly shows that.

Technicals: None
Officials: Bobby Mcroy ,Gregory Nixon ,Randy Mccall
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