It’s that time of the year. Gifts are being wrapped, hot cocoa is being sipped and families are coming together to celebrate the holidays and watch basketball, as the season is finally starting to reveal who’s elite and who has been underperforming.
Eleven games into the season and Cal still has fans torn. Will the Bears actually be good this year, or has the weak schedule been the main factor behind the team’s best start in three seasons? The Bears will be hoping for an early gift Saturday as they try to keep their winning record alive, hosting Boston College in the brand new Chase Center.
Cal sits at 6-5 after an embarrassing loss last Saturday to Saint Mary’s, but the defeat did come with some high notes. Cal sophomore Andre Kelly poured in a career-high 26 points and the team recorded less than 10 turnovers for its second straight game. The Bears also made their long-range bombs count, shooting 5-10 from three.
In every other game that Cal has shot over 50% from the three-point line this season, it has resulted in victory, and low turnover performances usually come with a win tied at the end of them. For the first time all season, the defense seemed to be the Bears’ problem — not the team’s struggle to score.
Cal allowed 89 points to Saint Mary’s, even more than the team allowed to then-No. 1 Duke or against UNLV in overtime. Luckily for the Bears, the Eagles’ offense has struggled this year almost as much as Cal’s. Boston College averages an awful 67.9 points per game, so if the Cal defense was hoping for a gift to help bounce back, it’s there for the taking.
Ironically, this sloppy Eagles offense still averages 1.3 points per game more than the Bears. Chase Center will likely see a defensive battle take place when these two sides meet this weekend.
Cal has also struggled on the boards this year, and with Boston College averaging almost four more rebounds per game, the Bears will need someone to have a big game on the glass. None of the Cal players are averaging more than six boards per game, and the team will need to improve if it wants to continue competing this season.
The Bears only have two more nonconference games remaining and in these games, they have a lot to prove. Nobody knows if Cal is 6-5 because the team is actually decent this year, or if Cal is 6-5 because they have been playing mostly subpar opponents from weaker conferences.
With an ACC opponent on the schedule this weekend, fans may get a real feeling for what to believe. Can the Bears secure a win and go into nonconference play with a guaranteed winning record? Or will they fall to 6-6 and let the Harvard game decide their story to wrap up 2019?
The Eagles sit at 7-5 and are currently on a three-game winning streak, one they will be hoping to extend Saturday. Cal will host Boston College on Saturday at the Chase Center in San Francisco, as part of the Al Attles Classic.
