Men's Basketball: Cal Overmatched Against #23 Virginia, Loses 84-60
Team dominance by the Cavaliers in their decisive win
Cal was presented with a tall task tonight. The 23rd-ranked Virginia Cavaliers are a deep, well rounded team led by their frontline tandem of Thjis De Ridder and Johann Grunloh. The Cavaliers are 4th in the nation in blocks per game (6.3), and have seven different players who have led them in scoring. It was a homecoming game for Dai Dai Ames, who played for Virginia last year. Could John Camden snap out of his 2-game funk? Would Cal avoid an early game slump and be competitive across 40 minutes?
Cal came out aggressive on defense, playing physical on-ball defense and trying to limit clean entry passes to the Cavaliers’ front line. Montas Kocanas played five early minutes as Coach Madsen emphasized pressure whenever the ball got into the post. Dai Dai Ames and Justin Pippen fueled Cal early on, with 8 points and 7 points, respectively. After an early 5-point lead for Virginia, Justin Pippen connected on a long 3-pointer to give Cal a 19-17 lead with ten minutes remaining in the half.
Cal’s aggressive ball defense led to early foul trouble for the Bears. Milos Ilic committed 3 fouls and John Camden had 2 as Virginia was in the bonus for the last eight minutes of the half. Virginia reclaimed the lead and pushed it to eight, 34-26 with six minutes left in the half. The interior focus on defense left outside shooters open, and Cal was slow on the closeout. Virginia only shot 6-of-16 from outside in the first half, but each made basket broke whatever momentum Cal was gaining. A late 3-pointer from Virginia’s Malik Thomas gave the Cavaliers a ten point lead going into halftime, 43-33. Virginia was playing complementary basketball, with eleven assists on their fourteen made baskets. The Cavaliers scored ten second chance points, while Cal had zero.
Cal could not find their shot early in the second half. Cal started out 1-of-10 as Virginia pushed the lead to 57-35 at the thirteen minute mark. If Cal wasn’t missing shots, UVA was blocking them with 4 blocks over the first eight minutes of the half. At the 12-minute timeout, Virginia lead 57-37.
The game was effectively over. Virginia’s defense continued to stymy Cal, and Virginia continued to play team basketball, recording assists on 80% of their baskets. The Cavaliers easily closed out the 84-60 victory.
Virginia’s team statistics tell the story better than individual statlines. Five different Cavaliers scored in double digits, with Malik Thomas leading the way with 20 points. Virginia logged 23 assists on 28 baskets. The Cavaliers recorded 9 blocks, well above their season average. Virginia outrebounded Cal, 45-26. Dai Dai Ames led Cal with 18 points. Cal shot only 35% for the game, including 3-of-19 from long range. John Camden broke out of his scoring slump, scoring a quiet 15 points on respectable 5-of-8 shooting.
Notes and Observations
John Camden had scored only 3 points in each of the two previous games on 10% shooting. His 15 points tonight on efficient shooting is slightly above his season average. Still, he felt tentative at times, was 1-of-4 from long range and took his fewest attempts in over a month. Corey Brewer on the broadcast pointed out that he bypassed a couple open three looks from outside and went in for a midrange shot.
Starting Center Lee Dort played 14 minutes, usual backup Milos Ilic played 13 minutes. When Ilic got into foul trouble early, Montas Kocanas gained the floor time, logging 13 total minutes. This near-even split of playing time is worth monitoring going forward. Ilic and Kocanas are the better facilitators, each connecting on a nice-looking bounce pass assist from the high post. But neither of them can body up on the inside like Dort is able to.
Cal falls to 13-3, 1-2 in ACC play. This is the midway point of the season, and the midpoint of the opening 6-game ACC gauntlet of Quad 1/Quad 2 opponents. I don’t think we have a true gauge on this team’s ceiling quite yet. The results against ranked Louisville and Virginia would indicate the team is still talent deficient to compete against upper-tier competition, but home games against UNC and Duke next week present opportunities to drastically change that narrative. Saturday’s opponent Virginia Tech, like Notre Dame last week, is a middle-of-the-pack opponent who presents as a more even matchup. It’s too early to call it a must-win game, but a 2-2 conference record would be much better than 1-3 with Duke and UNC coming to town.
The program appears to be making progress, but we are not on Virginia's level yet. Beating them in their gym was indeed a very tall order.
Given Madsen’s background as a player, it’s disappointing that the Bears have not been able to recruit many inside bangers. Without this, their offense is mostly outside-outside.