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Cal Men's Basketball: Bears Drop 12th Game in a Row, Lose to Washington, 56-65

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Cal Men's Basketball: Bears Drop 12th Game in a Row, Lose to Washington, 56-65

Contest featured a shocking eight technical fouls

Rick Chen
Feb 24
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Cal Men's Basketball: Bears Drop 12th Game in a Row, Lose to Washington, 56-65

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California forward Sam Alajiki scored a team-high 13 points against the Washington Huskies on Feb. 23, 2023. (Courtesy: Cal Athletics)

The losses keep coming for the California Golden Bears (3-25, 2-15 Pac-12).

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The men’s basketball team lost its 12th-straight game Thursday evening, as the visiting Washington Huskies (16-13, 8-10 Pac-12) rolled to a 65-56 victory in Haas Pavilion.

Washington held California’s offense at bay all night. The Golden Bears shot 31% overall and never tied or led the Huskies. In less than eight minutes of gameplay, the home team trailed by 18 points.

“We just didn’t play clean enough offensively,” California head coach Mark Fox said in the post-game press conference. “You can’t shoot the three like that and turn it over and win.”

The Golden Bears’ three-point shooting against the Huskies was a dismal two-for-16. Only California forward Sam Alajiki successfully connected from behind the arc. Alajiki ended the evening with a team-high 13 points. Grant Newell added 12.

In comparison, the visiting Huskies had three players in the double-digits, including senior forward Keion Brooks, Jr., who completed a double-double with 24 points and 11 rebounds.

Making matters worse, California coughed up the ball 15 times, allowing Washington to score 22 points from turnovers.

A shocking number of technical fouls also marred the California-Washington basketball game.

“Obviously, it’s late in the year. They had a quick trigger on both sides," Coach Fox said, referring to the game’s eight technical fouls.

Game officials called four technical fouls against each team, including two, resulting in a player getting ejected. California redshirt sophomore Monty Bowser left the game soon after halftime after picking up a second technical foul.

After a shot-clock violation call late in the game, Coach Fox also picked up a technical foul after an emotional outburst on the sideline.

“I saw the ball hit the rim on [the play] I was upset with,” the head coach explained. “I might have to get a rule clarification on why that’s not a reset because I saw it hit the rim.”

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Cal Men's Basketball: Bears Drop 12th Game in a Row, Lose to Washington, 56-65

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TD_24
Feb 24Author

As of reading this I have received a technical foul

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Jimmy Chitwood
Feb 24Liked by Rick Chen

Thanks Rick…good stuff.

One thing that was evident in watching this game, as well as the Stanford/Wazzu tilt immediately following, is just how far this Cal team is from actually competing in its current incarnation. I’ve felt for awhile that a different scheme more catered to the actual skills of the players would have this Cal team at least playing better than 3-25, though as others have pointed out, probably not a whole lot better. That said, even 11-17 would look a helluva lot better.

But UW and Wazzu are both decidedly better teams than Cal, yet find themselves treading water near .500 in the P12. We’ve got a long, long ways to go…but it starts with a new leader in Berkeley…

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