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California Golden Bears @ Arizona State Sun Devils Basketball Recap
California 65, Arizona State 61
Is the 2011 Pac-10 basketball season going to have the same trajectory and feel as the 2010 Pac-10 season? It’s really beginning to look that way. Every team in the conference seems to be intent on beating up the other, and when the smoke clears in early March, there might not be very many NCAA Tournament tickets to hand out in the Western United States.
What happened on Saturday afternoon in Tempe, Arizona, just seems to confirm how even and unsettled the Pac-10 chase is going to be over the next two months. Two teams never really separated themselves from each other and failed to leave a distinct imprint upon spectators and pundits who cover the realm of roundball on the West Coast.
It was an ugly affair that transpired at Wells Fargo Arena in the Valley of the Sun. Precious little light flowed from this choppy and inelegant contest between the California Golden Bears and the Arizona State Sun Devils. The best thing that could be said about the 40-minute foray was that the visitors from Berkeley avoided a road sweep on their Arizona swing. Two days after losing a very tough 73-71 decision in Tucson to the Arizona Wildcats, the Cal crew conquered its road woes and left the Grand Canyon State with a much-needed Thursday-Saturday split. It wasn’t pretty, but Coach Mike Montgomery and the rest of the Berkeley boys aren’t in a position to complain.
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Cal won this game by only four points, but in the same breath, it has to be said that the Golden Bears never trailed in this Saturday matinee. Whenever Arizona State made a charge, Cal parried the Devils’ pitchfork thrust and quelled any attempt at an uprising. ASU coach Herb Sendek looked on in dismay as his team tumbled to 1-3 in the Pac-10, largely because it got destroyed on the offensive glass by the Bears. Indeed, the issue that emerged from this game for the Sun Devils is their lack of size. Arizona State’s three-guard lineup could not gang-rebound the ball. Cal’s two pivot players, Harper Kamp and Markhuri Sanders-Frison, combined to snatch 20 total rebounds and 11 offensive boards. Cal used a 15-7 margin on the offensive backboard to earn seven more shots. This is why Cal survived 38-percent field goal shooting compared to ASU’s 43-percent rate from the floor. The Bears weren’t crisp or efficient by any means on Saturday, but because they rolled up their sleeves and corralled a majority of 50-50 balls that were up for grabs, they maintained possession at crucial junctures, and that’s how all of ASU’s comeback attempts got thwarted. It wasn’t a thing of beauty, but it was a show of boldness that might revive a flagging Cal season. The Bears won the Pac-10 regular season title in 2010, so they’re a marked team at the moment. Standing at 1-2 in the league isn’t great, but as Cal hops on a relief-filled plane flight back to the San Francisco Bay, at least the Bears aren’t 1-3.
Yes, it’s going to be another cutthroat year in the world of Pac-10 Conference basketball.
By Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Staff Writer