Trilok Reddy

On Wednesday, the Bears returned to Las Vegas as the 11th seed — this time to give the sixth-seeded Cardinal a 76-58 beating.

After going 3-17 in conference play this season, the Bears enter the Pac-12 tournament as the last seed. Their road to a Cinderella run will begin Wednesday when they take on sixth-seeded Stanford.

The Bears would not give up, as they fought back from a seven-point deficit with 0:45 on the clock to give Matt Bradley a chance at the game-winning three.

The blue and gold are no strangers to offensive struggles, but their defense has usually been consistent under second-year head coach Mark Fox. That has been slightly different this year, as the Bears’ defense has had its fair share of struggles.

A few poorly timed turnovers for the Bears gave the Cardinal an opportunity to build a lead that, despite Cal’s best efforts offensively, carried into halftime.

Cal plays two consecutive games against Stanford on Thursday and Sunday. Wins in both would drastically change the trajectory of the Bears’ season, but even one win would give them a much-needed boost.

Anticevich continued his hot streak, and Brown set a career-high on six-for-eight shooting, but the Trojans were able to stay just ahead of the Bears.

Defeating the Trojans will be a tough ask without star junior Matt Bradley, who has missed five consecutive games with an ankle injury. Over the last five years, the Trojans have defeated the Bears by 20 points on average.

Cal came out of the locker room looking like a completely different team. The Bears traded baskets with the Redhawks and everyone on the team was contributing.

The blue and gold look to turn their third consecutive home game into their third consecutive win after starting just 2-4.