Forty-two days after the Cal football team said goodbye to UCLA with a 33-7 rout of the Bruins at the Rose Bowl, the Bears walked out of Pauley Pavilion for perhaps the last time on Saturday night with a 66-57 victory over their UC cousins.
It’s the end of an era, with the schools headed to new conference addresses next fall, and the Bears got the last word in two of college sports’ most hallowed venues.
It’s also the start of a new era for the Bears’ basketball program, which earned its first Pac-12 Conference victory under first-year coach Mark Madsen.
Cal hadn’t beaten the Bruins at Pauley since 2010, when Mike Montgomery — who once was Madsen’s coach at Stanford — guided the Bears to their first conference title in 50 years.
The Bears are just 5-10 so far this season, 1-3 in Pac-12 heading into a Wednesday night matchup vs. Colorado at Haas Pavilion. But the win at UCLA — even against a young and struggling team — is the most tangible sign yet that things are turning.
After six grim seasons, punctuated by last year’s record-gruesome 3-29 record, the Bears snapped a handful of embarrassing losing streaks:
— Cal ended an 11-game skid vs. UCLA
— The Bears won in Westwood for the first time since 2010, when Theo Robertson and Patrick Christopher each scored 20 points in a 72-58 victory
— They ended a 19-game drought against conference opponents, including the 2023 Pac-12 tournament, that spanned exactly one year
— They snapped a 16-game road losing streak and won for the first time away from home after 24 losses
Senior guard Jaylon Tyson, who has emerged as the best player in the Bay Area this season, said afterward this team is looking forward, not back.
“It’s a little bit of relief,” Tyson said of ending the streaks. “We knew it was going to come soon. We knew we were going to get over that hump soon. Now we’ve got to build on this. We’ve got to turn it into two (wins), turn it into three.”
Tyson, who came to Cal from Texas Tech, is one of four first-year transfers in the starting lineup. They were not part of the recent struggles.
“It means something to make history,” he said, “but it means more for the team to win this one.”
Tyson took charge against the Bruins, scoring 17 of his 22 points in the second half. It was his 10th game this season of at least 20 points and his fourth in a row — the first Cal player to achieve that since Allen Crabbe in 2012-13. A native of Plano, Texas, Tyson is averaging 20.1 points and 7.3 rebounds.
20 points in four straight games
JT is the first Golden Bear to accomplish that feat since Allen Crabbe in 2012-13!#GoBears pic.twitter.com/3DALVCrr8o
— Cal Basketball (@CalMBBall) January 8, 2024
“I told Jaylon Tyson the way he controlled the tempo down the stretch reminded me of an NBA point guard. He was fantastic,” Madsen said afterward.” He had some key attacks to the rim, he had some phenomenal passes when he drew a double team. His composure was so strong.”
In fact, Tyson is a 6-foot-7 wing, not a point guard, but he’s been drafted to play the role because Devin Askew, the team’s only veteran point guard, has missed eight games, including the past two, with a nagging foot injury.
Tyson said he feels the confidence the coaching staff has in him.
“Every time when it comes down to the last 10 minutes,” he said, “they tell me, ‘You’re the guy. You’re the best player on the court.’ I go out there and act like I’m the best player on the court.”
It’s been a while since any Cal player could say that.
Feeling a draft
The NBA Draft is more than five months away, but a couple players from Bay Area teams are drawing speculative attention in online mock drafts.
Stanford freshman guard Kanaan Carlyle, who scored 28 points in the Cardinal’s upset win over then-No. 4 Arizona two weeks ago, is listed among “rising” prospects and projected as the No. 11 pick on NBADraft.net.
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Could Santa Clara have a third straight first-round selection after Jalen Williams went at No. 12 to Oklahoma City in 2022 and Brandin Podziemski was taken by the Warriors at No. 19 last summer?
Guard Adama-Alpha Bal, a native of France who came to the Broncos as a transfer from Arizona, is projected by NBADraft.net as the No. 12 pick. Bal is averaging 15.9 points and shooting 41 percent from the 3-point arc.
North Carolina’s Harrison Ingram, who played his first two seasons at Stanford, is penciled in as the No. 51 draft pick by Bleacher Report.
Santa Clara vs. Gonzaga, times 2
Santa Clara and Gonzaga will collide in a pair of key early-season West Coast Conference games on Thursday.
On the men’s side, the Broncos (11-6, 2-0) will face the No. 23 Zags (11-4, 2-0) at the Leavey Center (6:30 p.m. on ESPN) while the SCU’s women (13-3, 1-0) take on No. 16 Gonzaga (14-2, 1-0) in Spokane (6 p.m.).
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