BERKELEY — The NIT is different. To many, it’s something to not even bat an eye at. To others, it’s an opportunity to finish something you started, and often, for those “others,” it may be the last time they do it. Founded in 1938, the National Invitational Tournament has been a staple of college basketball, as it predates the current March Madness NCAA Division I Tournament by a year. Once considered the most prestigious tournament in college basketball, the tournament has fallen in reputation as a “consolation” invite to the college basketball postseason in the minds of “March Madness bracket-only” fans.
Known online as the “Not Invited Tournament,” that is exactly why Cal is here. California had their first 20+ win season since 2016-2017, with coach Mark Madsen inheriting a three-win Pac-12 squad in 2023 and improving their record every single year with whatever the staff could pull together in the transfer portal. To have 21 wins and not be invited to “THE” tournament is easily explainable for Cal fans; they “pulled a Cal,” losing must-win games to Q3 and Q4 teams late in the season, just as “bracketlogists” started to catch wind of the smoke in Madsen’s kitchen.
On the one hand, Cal has not been in this conversation for quite some time now, having not had a winning season since 2016-2017, and was not expecting to pull together wins against Stanford (twice), UNC, or UCLA at Chase Center. On the other hand, losing to Wake Forest, Pitt, Syracuse, and then FSU in a first-round ACC-tourney exit shows that Cal probably was not ready for the bright lights, even after such a miraculous turn-around season.
But that does not mean they deserve to be stopped. The NIT is no consolation prize; it is a final opportunity to compete with your team, for your school, and for a title in an era of uncertainty and everlasting change in college sports. Cal men’s basketball has a handful of student-athletes who will be taking the NCAA basketball stage for the final time in this tournament, and for them, it’s an opportunity to show up and show out. As for Cal, it’s a national stage, on national television, against some of the nation’s best basketball players. Winning is how the program grows, no matter the tournament's title.
California entered the NIT as the two-seed in the Albuquerque Region and was matched up against the University of Illinois Chicago Flames. The Flames finished 19-15 with a 12-8 record in the Missouri Valley Conference, and are led by 2nd year head coach Rob Ehsan.
First Half Highlights: UIC Doesn’t Do Enough with Early Cal Foul Trouble
Tip off of the NIT first round in Berkeley began with the Golden Bears jumping on top with a quick three-point basket from Bay Area Native, Chris Bell, but the Flames would jump ahead as Pippen and Dort quickly fell into foul trouble in the midst of a nine-point UIC run. California had committed five fouls within the first four minutes of the game.
UIC’s largest lead in the first half came after back-to-back turnovers from Pippen and Dort, with the Flames ahead 15-6 with 14 minutes remaining on a fast break layup from Junior Guard Mekhi Lowery. After UIC’s Rob Ehsan and Cal’s Mark Madsen made their substitutions, the Bears immediately caught wind as Milos Ilić scored on an Ante Beljan turnover. Chris Bell then would pull up for a turnaround jump shot at the free throw line and pick up a foul on the play to give the Cal three quick points and bring the Bears within arm’s reach.
Shots began to fall for Cal as DJ Campbell hit a corner three to make it a two-possession game, as the Flames then began to throw the lead away with back-to-back turnovers that would turn into another three for Campbell to make it 18-17.
UIC would keep their points up through short streaks, as Cal’s John Camden was struggling to get shots to fall at first for the Bears - but he ended up hitting a huge three with eight minutes remaining, which was followed by Chicago-native Dai Dai Ames grabbing a key defensive rebound to get back for a layup to once again keep Cal within one. But every time the Bears got close, the Flames pushed further away, as Elija Crawford put up 10 points in 17 minutes for UIC in the first half.
With less than four minutes to go in the half, and Cal down four, UIC once again began to give away points as Crawford turned a defensive rebound over to Pippen, passing it to Dorsey to assist Camden on the fast break turnover layup to make it 32-30 Cal. Consecutive points on a breakaway layup from Ilić and an alley-oop dunk by Bell to give Cal their first lead since less than two minutes into the game.
Cal would go into the second half leading 39-37, with Chris Bell leading the team in scoring with 13 points in 15 minutes while knocking down five of six shots. Cal’s 15 total rebounds were led by Bell as well, as Dort’s usage was minimized due to the foul trouble he had found himself in. UIC’s Elija Crawford led the offense in points (10) and assists (6) while Abdul Momoh put up 8 points in 12 minutes, posting a +/- of 5.
Second Half Highlights: The Three Ball Falls
Coming out of the half shooting, UIC’s Andy Johnson and Cal’s Chris Bell threw up back-to-back missed threes before the Flames got the first points of the half on a fastbreak alley-oop funk to Rashund Washington Jr. from Crawford to bring UIC back within a one-score game. Crawford put up his second career double-double for the Flames, with a career high of 12 assists against the Bears on Wednesday night. The Flames then sent Pippen to the line on a shooting foul, giving Cal two back before a back-and-forth exchange of baskets made it a 43-41 game for UIC due to a missed layup from Dort that Momoh grabbed and got back on offense for a game-leading layup.
Cal began to find their rhythm as Chris Bell was fouled on a three-point opportunity, knocked down a three-point shot on the following possession, and then ANOTHER in response to Washington Jr. scoring off a shot clock turnover from DJ Campbell. Dai Dai Ames and Justin Pippen knocked down threes of their own on Cal’s next two possessions, with Pippen making two in a row to give Cal an 11-point lead, their largest of the night.
UIC was starting to crawl back as the Flames were applying a lot of pressure to the Bears in the paint, outscoring the Bears 10-2 in two minutes with just less than 8 minutes remaining to make it a three-point game, but John Camden knocked down another clutch three for the Bears to put them up 66-60, and a bad pass bringing the ball back in play allowed Milos Ilić to grab the steal and dunk on the fast break to put the Bears up by eight.
Seven unanswered points for Cal off of a pair of free throws and a dunk from Pippen gave Cal their largest lead of the game at a 13-point differential, Cal piled on from there with Pippen knocking down a jump shot in the paint and picking up a rebound on a Washington Jr. miss, leading to back-to-back threes for Bell, compiling a final stat line of 31 points (career high) in 30 minutes and putting up a +/- of 20.
Three Golden Bears finished in double-digit scoring in Mark Madsen’s Berkeley postseason debut, as Cal knocked down 56.1% of their shots compared to UIC’s 50.9%, but California’s 15 three pointers were far too much to overcome as the Flames shot 4-15 beyond the arc on a night where the Bears couldn’t seem to miss.
Chris Bell, on his mentality tonight; “This is my first time playing in the postseason, so just to come out here and have energy was the biggest thing for me, and I’m just excited. I get to keep playing basketball games.”
Onto the Next:
California will take on Saint Joseph’s at 6pm On Sunday. The Hawks defeated Colorado State 69-64 earlier this evening..
Dort looks almost checked out? Maybe hurt. He looks slower at basically all aspects of the game. Bell clearly doesn't wanna go home yet.
It was one of the Bears’ better second halves. D could be better though.