Cal recently found success at the Haas Pavilion, winning three of his previous four home games. Oregon put an end to that by dominating the Bears 87-58 Wednesday night at Berkeley.
Cal (3-16, 2-6 Pac-12) had a bad night of shooting, in large part due to Oregon’s sticky defense. Four minutes into the second half, the Bears shot 25.8% from the field, and by that point the Ducks had built a 22-point lead.
Oregon increased the lead to 26 points (60-34) with 10 minutes left in the game and the rest was garbage time.
Cal’s recent home win was credited to including DeJuan Clayton in the starting lineup, and the Bears went into Wednesday’s game with a 2-2 record, with Clayton down to start the games. But against Oregon, Clayton didn’t get his first points until 15:32 of the second half, and by then Cal was 22 points behind.
Clayton finished the 1-on-6 shooting with three points. ND Okafor led Cal with 10 points in 5v5 shooting.
Oregon (.11-8, 5-3 Pac-12) pulled off a 19-point home win over then-No. 9 Arizona, and the Ducks appeared to be shaping up to be in the form expected of them preseason.
The Ducks shot 59.6% from the field, 66.7% of which was in the second half, and they only made five turnovers for the game. The only concern for the Ducks was a knee injury sustained by Rivaldo Soares in the closing minutes.
The Ducks are now 2-0 with South Carolina transfer Jermaine Couisnard in the starting XI. He had just nine points Wednesday, but five Oregon players had double digits, led by N’Faly Danter, who had 12 points in 6-for-7 shooting.
Cal again played without his top scorer Devin Askew, who missed his seventh game of the season with a foot problem.
Cal junior Jalen Celestine, who underwent offseason knee surgery, has not played a game this season but wore a uniform with a leg splint on Wednesday and completed pregame warm-ups. He started in 16 games last season and is the Bears’ top returning scorer from last season when he averaged 7.5 points.
However, he was declared inactive before the game and did not play.
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Cal shot just 28% from the field in the first half, and that included 1-on-8 three-point attempts. That and Oregon’s 52 percent shooting in the first half resulted in the Ducks leading 34-21 at halftime.
The Ducks capitalized on a 10-0 run early in the first half to take the lead. After Cal closed within 19-17, Oregon reeled off 11 straight points to extend their lead to 13 points, with 3:09 remaining in the first half.
Oregon is the worst three-point shooting team in the Pac-12, and the Ducks were just 1-10 from long range in the first half. But they made up for it by making 12 of their 15 two-point shots as they were consistently able to penetrate Cal’s defense.
Keeshawn Barthelemy came off the bench and scored eight points in the first half as league leaders. Cal reserve Sam Alajiki leads the Bears with seven points pre-half, and he had Cal’s only three-point bucket in the first half.
A first-half dunk by Oregon freshman Kel’el Ware
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Cover photo by Joel Brown of Cal Athletics
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