Cal's Offense Grinds to a Halt in Unceremonious Loss to Mississippi State

A bad day to have a bad night results in an early exit for Cal

All it takes is one bad night in the NCAA Tournament to get sent home. Unfortunately for Cal Women’s Basketball, its second lowest offensive output of the season costed them a chance at advancing in a 59-46 loss to Mississippi State at the Galen Center.

Mississippi State’s pressure and switch ability proved to be too much, too often for Cal on Saturday. The Bears turnovers conundrum reared its ugly head once again, resulting in 12 turnovers in the first half and 24 for the game. Marta Suarez, one of the key cogs for Cal was taken out by the Bulldogs all game, held to 1/8 shooting and 8 turnovers from the field.

The rest of the Cal offense couldn’t convert in picking up the slack. Ioanna Krimili shot 2/14 from the field, Kayla Williams had minimal impact across the board, going 1/7 from the floor and 4 turnovers. Other than Lulu Twidale and Michelle Oniyah, a team that relies heavily on its starters didn’t get the job done in the Bears first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2019.

On one hand, its an entirely disappointing situation to see this team go out on a whimper. On the other hand, its important to recognize everything this roster has accomplished in the revival of Cal Women’s Basketball, which will be addressed later.

The pressure broke the dam at the worst time

In some of Cal’s struggles offensively throughout the season, its been teams who can guard and switch at the point of attack who have slowed the Bears down. The Duke’s, North Carolina’s, and Notre Dame’s of the world. Mississippi State never let Cal turn the corner on drives nor feel comfortable from the outside.

Much like some of those aforementioned opponents, the Bears unfortunately could not will themselves past the pressure, missing shots they normally make and turning the ball over at the worst times. When you look back at the season, turnovers were understandably the biggest stain on an otherwise really good resume, and the Bulldogs took full advantage.

Shot making escapes Cal

Basketball analysis is usually more than saying Cal didn’t score enough points therefore they lost. However, the manner in which they scored less than 50 against Mississippi State was the beginning of the end for the Bears.

Cal started 0/7 from the floor including four missed layups in the early going. Once the Bulldogs established the pressure, it became a chicken and the egg issue for the Bears. They couldn’t hit open shots, then tougher shots, and ultimately led to the demise of the offense over the course of 40 minutes.

Living and dying by the 3 does present this type of situation but in this case, the drought included layups, mid range shots, and second chance opportunities. It’s unfortunate to not go out with your best but as its thrown around all the time, sometimes that’s just basketball.

The game in one clip

MSU’s pressure defense made everything uncomfortable for the Bears. When there appeared to be an opening, Cal could not take advantage. Here, Ioanna Krimili appears to have an open lane, but defender Jerkalia Jordan never loses track of the assignment, and has a clean block from behind that results in Krimili on the floor.

This was Cal’s first possession of the second half. In her post game comments, Coach Charmin Smith said “At times we try to force the issue and try to do too much.” Any spark of a comeback was quickly extinguished.

The conclusion

This team accomplished a lot. The seniors accomplished a hell of a lot. Ioanna Krimili, Michelle Oniyah, Marta Suarez, Kayla Williams, Jayda Noble, and the others who didn’t suit up against Mississippi State have nothing to hang their heads about.

25 wins. A return to March Madness for the first time since 2019. The most wins in a season at Haas Pavilion in program history. There’s no rewriting over dismissing of those accolades.

This program needed a shot in the arm. They gave it and then some. While the lasting memory of the NCAA Tournament won’t be pretty, its important to recognize and contextualize the 2024-25 California Golden Bears.

Cal was picked to finish 14th in the ACC and finished 7th. They defied a lot of expectations. Now its time to recalibrate and hope Charmin Smith can retool the roster for another run next season.

Michelle Oniyah’s lasting memory on her growth with Charmin Smith

”We grew a lot together. We trust each other, still being here and doing this together. We said we were going to do this and we turned the program around.”