Cal Men's Basketball Fouls Up Game Against Virginia Tech

The Bears commit 28 fouls in close road loss to Hokies

photo via @calmbball twitter

Basketball is a game where aggression can be absolutely critical, but sometimes debilitating. If you’re not aggressive enough, the opponent physically bullies you. Too aggressive, and you can get out of position or foul out.

Cal may not have been aggressive enough in an ugly loss to Virginia. The Bears were thoroughly outrebounded, and Virginia dominated the paint. It was evident from the start that Cal came into this game having been challenged to play tougher, harder, more aggressive. The announcers repeatedly talked about how Madsen challenged his team to control the glass ahead of the game.

That fight was evident, particularly on the offensive glass, where Cal crashed early and often. Mark Madsen even occasionally threw out a rare double-big lineup in an attempt to dictate physicality.

Unfortunately, I think the plan backfired in Cal’s 78-75 loss to Virginia Tech.

It didn’t entirely backfire, to be clear. Cal pulled down nine offensive rebounds in the first half, and went on an extended 19-2 first half run that gave Cal an 11 point lead that they would hold onto until late into the 2nd half.

But in the long run, the plan backfired. Lee Dort fouled out in just 28 minutes of play, and picked up his 4th foul with 14:16 left in the game. Mantas Kocanas fouled out in just 15 minutes, committing his final foul with 8:21 left. Of Cal’s three centers, only Milos Ilic made it to the end without fouling out.

It was a vicious cycle. As Cal fouled more, their interior defense softened. As Cal fouled more, Tech was encouraged to go inside more, leading to more fouling. As Cal fouled more, Tech enjoyed a parade to the free throw line, making 27 of 31. Fully 35% of Virginia Tech’s scoring came from the line, and this wasn’t a situation where one dominant player kept drawing fouls - no Hokie attempted more than 6 free throws as an individual! Cal fouled early, fouled often, and fouled everybody.

28 total personal fouls by Cal might not seem like an insane outlier, but this was a pretty tepid game in terms of pace. The game was just 67 possessions, meaning Cal committed a foul more frequently than 1 in every 2.5 possessions.

There was an unlucky aspect to the way this game went. Tech is a roughly average free throw shooting team (~72%) and would typically be expected to make 22 of 31 free throws.

Even then, Cal maybe should have won the game?

The Bears held the ball down just 1 point after a Justin Pippen steal, and got two really excellent looks inside for Dai Dai Ames and Chris Bell, but both short jumpers missed.

That forced Cal to play the fouling game. Tech barely missed any free throws until the very end of the game, but two different 1-of-2 free throw trips gave Cal chances to tie or even win late. But one possession was lost when John Camden had a miscommunication with Ames and threw the ball out of bounds, and the final possession ended with a shockingly good look from 3 for Pippen that rimmed off.

Game Notes

• Cal desperately needs John Camden to find his 3 point shot. After shooting 35-80 (44%) during non-conference play, he’s 3/24 in ACC play.

• Milos Ilic had his best offensive game in a Cal uniform, scoring 10 points and dishing out 4 assists. His skill as a passer really unlocks something in Cal’s offense, and he’s one of the few players on the roster who has a knack for offensive rebounding. He also has some defensive weaknesses that Tech exploited down the stretch, and the challenge facing Madsen is balancing out what Ilic can do offensively while putting him in a position to succeed defensively.

• The Bears had an uncharacteristic 13 turnovers, and more than a few led to run outs and easy baskets. If the Bears take care of the ball in this game like they’ve done for most of the season, they probably win.

This one hurts for multiple reasons. It hurts to lose a game when you led for 28 minutes. It hurts when you get multiple clean looks in the final 30 seconds on shots that would give you the lead. And it hurts because this was a winnable game in a stretch of difficult games.

Next up is Duke and North Carolina, then another three game road trip.

The bad news is that the schedule is full of games where Cal will enter as underdogs. The good news is that the schedule is full of games that will mean a lot of Cal can pull off the win.

Cal hasn’t beaten Duke since Jason Kidd was on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Cal hasn’t beaten North Carolina since the team that won the NIT. It’s about damn time that Cal basketball started adding something fun to the history book, no?