Cal Men's Basketball: Cornell Big Red Humble the Bears in 80-88 Loss

Cal's defense wilts in painful upset to Ivy League squad

photo via @calmbball twitter

Two basic numbers might have put you on alert entering this game:

Cornell effective shooting percentage: 57.4%, 21st in the nation
Cal effective shooting percentage defense: 54.3%, 300th in the nation

Cornell is not a notably good team. As you would expect from an Ivy League team, they struggle defensively and they don’t rebound the ball well.

But they run a unique offensive system that’s VERY fast, they move the ball well, they take a ton of threes, and they put a lot of pressure on opposing defenses. They’re good at hitting shots from everywhere and are well prepared to punish a bad defense. Facing a weird team that shoots really well is probably not great timing after having allowed 1.35 points/possession to Stanford and 1.29 points/possession to Missouri (1.05 is the national average).

After allowing Cornell to put up 1.2 points/possession on a night when the Big Red actually shot poorly from 3, we have to have a very serious conversation about Cal’s defense. Because as of right now, Cal may very well have the worst defense in the ACC, if not power conference basketball.

For the second time this year, I found myself feeling like Cal entered a game woefully unprepared. The first time around, it was against Vanderbilt, when the Mark-Madsen-less Bears were overwhelmed by Vanderbilt’s ball pressure en route to 20 turnovers. This time around, Cal didn’t seem ready for Cornell’s unique, extreme offensive system as Cal fell behind early in the game. Worse, Cornell just kept expanding the lead, getting it up to 23 at one point.

The commentary team of Roxy Bernstein and Ben Braun said that they talked to Madsen before the game and that he called Cornell maybe the best team Cal has played so far this year. That’s not particularly true, but presumably indicates that Madsen and the coaches took Cornell seriously as a threat. Why that resulted in such a rough effort to start the game is anybody’s guess.

The Bears roared back in the 2nd half thanks mostly to a bunch of made 3 pointers, and even briefly took the lead back. But Cornell fought back for the win with a series of baskets in the paint. So let’s talk about the single most disturbing stat of the season so far:

Cornell: 24-35 (68.6%) on 2 point baskets

I will say that Cornell impressed me - they’re well drilled, and really really good at off ball cuts. The basic strategy seems to be let one guy try to take his man off the dribble, but have guys constantly cutting to the rim around him so that he can make a pass when it’s open. The problem was that Cal’s defenders were constantly a step slow on these cuts. This in theory could be blamed on Cal focusing on the threat of Cornell’s three point shooting prowess, but Cornell got off 32 three point shots as well and I honestly don’t think their relative off-night from deep had anything to do with Cal’s defense.

I’m honestly perplexed at how bad Cal’s defense has been. The Bears are too long and athletic to allow teams to score at this rate, particularly inside. And yet that’s exactly what’s happening. I do think the absence of the rangy BJ Omot and perhaps DeJuan Campbell may have something to do with it, but this does not look like a defense that is one or two players away from being effective.

I said in the pre-season that this collection of talent reminded me more of the defensive teams that Madsen produced at Utah Valley, where his teams had a ton of shot blocking and rim protection. And Cal has blocked a solid number of shots. But when the shots aren’t blocked they’re falling through the rim. Maybe this is where a lack of chemistry is hurting, and this will get better as the Bears learn to play together. On the other hand, we’re 10 games into the season and two games away from the return of ACC play, so time to turn this around is very limited.

If you’re looking for silver linings, you can point to a breakout game from Joshua Ola-Joseph, who paced Cal with 21 points after getting his 3 point shot going for the first time this season. Four other Bears reached double figures as the Bears poured it on in the 2nd half after a slow offensive start. The offense had iffy moments and the Bears turned it over too often, but it’s clear that the Bears have too many scoring options to ever be held down for long. The more relevant question, as Ben Braun said roughly 30 times on the broadcast, is if the Bears can ever get a stop in support of their dangerous offense.

Cal will be back on Saturday against Northwestern State. which should in theory be an easier win. The Demons are a weaker team than Cornell generally, and specifically less dangerous offensively. But Cal hasn’t earned the right to look past anybody yet.

Either way, this team could use any win anyway after a three game losing streak that now includes a blown big lead, a home loss to your biggest rival, and a gut punch upset after a comeback falls short. That’s quite a variety of pain in the span of a week.