Cal Men's Basketball: Losing Streak Continues, Bears Fall to Butler 58-82

The Golden Bears now have the worst record in men's basketball at 0-11

California senior guard Joel Brown had nine points, two rebounds and three assists against Butler on Saturday, Dec. 10, 2022. (Courtesy: Cal Athletics)

The California Golden Bears might as well be called the bad news bears.

California (0-11, 0-2 Pac-12) maintained its worst-in-the-country record Saturday, dropping a 58-82 decision at home against the Butler Bulldogs (8-3, 0-0 Big East). The loss in which the home team never once led is the blue-and-gold’s 11th straight.

But to be fair, the Louisville Cardinals have also kept a winless streak alive, with two fewer games played this season than the Golden Bears.

California shot for a measly 35% against Butler and made only one out of its last seven field goal attempts in the game. Despite the scoring difficulties, two Golden Bears scored in the double digits: first-year Grant Newell and junior Devin Askew, the team's leading scorer, both put up 17 points against the Bulldogs.

“We are all disappointed with the results so far this season,” California Athletic Director Jim Knowlton told the San Francisco Chronicle last week after the Golden Bears succumbed to the USC Trojans to start Pac-12 Conference league play, its eighth defeat.

The sports boss continued: “I can assure you that nobody is more frustrated than Coach Fox and myself.”

Contributing to the Golden Bears’ dismal record, the team has struggled with injuries this season.

In its last outing, against the Big Sky’s Eastern Washington Eagles Wednesday, California had only eight active scholarship players and never once led their opponents.

Jalen Celestine, DeJuan Clayton and Jarred Hyder have been notably absent. Celestine, a key contributor last year as a sophomore, has yet to play this season, as is the case for graduate guard Clayton. Worse still for California, Hyder is expected to miss the rest of this season after undergoing surgery earlier this week.

California’s next game is next Sunday, Dec. 18, against the Santa Clara Broncos, and there may be more bad news coming for Cal fans. The Golden Bears are not favored to win the match against the West Coast Conference foe.