Cal’s night against USC started with a jolt and ended with the same old problem: the Bears couldn’t keep the Trojans off the glass, and they couldn’t shoot well enough to make up for it.
USC, ranked No. 21, came into Berkeley on Wednesday night and left with a 77-65 win, handing Cal another tough test in its second straight game against a ranked opponent. The Trojans improved to 2-0 behind Big-12 Player of the Week Alijah Arenas, who entered averaging 26 points and 6 rebounds per game.
Cal opened with energy and confidence. With Lee Dort still out while recovering from a lower leg injury, Montas Kocanas got the start at center again, and the Bears jumped ahead 9-2 early. The burst included a Sammie Yeanay steal and breakaway dunk that forced USC into an early timeout.
For a while, Cal matched USC’s pace and didn’t back down from the size disadvantage. But neither team was exactly lighting it up.
Cal began 5-of-15 from the field and 2-of-10 from three, while USC started 5-of-17 overall and 2-of-9 from deep. The Bears still held a 16-14 lead midway through the first half.
Then the Trojans started squeezing extra possessions out of the game. Yeanay picked up his second foul at the 10-minute mark and sat for more than five minutes.
USC grabbed its first lead, 21-20, with 8 minutes left in the half, using 11 offensive rebounds to create 7 second-chance points. That edge on the boards kept showing up, and Cal’s long-range volume wasn’t enough to balance it out.
The Bears kept firing from deep, but the shots didn’t fall. Cal hit just 2 of 14 from three in the first half, while USC was slightly better at 4 of 14. With Dort unavailable, the Trojans kept piling up second chances and took a 39-30 lead into halftime.
Cal came out of the break with a 6-0 run to cut into the margin, but USC answered enough to stay in control. Yeanay picked up his third foul two minutes into the second half and went back to the bench. The same issues kept hanging around: Cal couldn’t make shots, USC kept generating extra opportunities, and the Trojans stretched the lead to 51-40 with just under 14 minutes left.
Yeanay was Cal’s leading scorer at that point with 11 points in only 13 minutes, so Madsen put him back in to try to jump-start the offense. That move lasted briefly. Yeanay picked up his fourth foul and had to sit again.
Nojus Andrusaitis then gave Cal a push, scoring seven straight points to trim the deficit to 53-49 with 11 minutes left. The crowd got into it, and Cal kept hanging around. USC held a four-point lead until the 7-minute mark, when it was 63-59, but the Trojans followed with a 6-0 run after a couple of Cal defensive breakdowns to open things back up to 10 with just under five minutes remaining.
From there, the Bears couldn’t get back in range. USC continued to work through Cal’s high-trap defense, and the game settled back into the same script as the first half: Cal struggling to score, USC getting cleaner looks and more second chances.
Jake Wilkins fouled out late, and Yeanay’s foul trouble kept limiting him throughout the night. USC closed it out 77-65.
Cal shot 36% for the game and 22% from three-point range. Yeanay led the Bears with 14 points in 17 minutes, while Andrusaitis added 13. USC won the rebounding battle 53-36, with Andrusaitis leading Cal with 6 boards.
Afterward, Madsen didn’t sugarcoat it: “We got punked on the glass.”
Dort missed his fourth straight game, and Madsen said the Bears can’t lean on that absence as an excuse. “We can’t use that as a crutch.
We have to have some other guys step up and rebound the ball. Tonight I told the locker room, our two guards led us, with Nojus Andrusaitis with six.
TT Carr, a 5’ 11” guard, with five. We need more rebounding, and I’ve got to find a way.”
Cal’s center rotation belonged to Kocanas and Dominykas Daubaris, with DK Dhut not playing. The two were serviceable, combining for 8 points and 5 rebounds, and both showed solid positioning and understanding of where to be.
Kocanas also flashed a couple decent moves inside. But USC’s front line was too much, especially with Jacob Cofie going for 13 points and 15 rebounds.
Amier Ali played just two minutes in the first half and did not return, while Dhut never logged a minute. With Dort eventually back, the Bears appear headed toward a core seven-man rotation of Dort, Kocanas, Ross, Andrusaitis, Cooper, Wilkins, and Yeanay, with Carr, Ruff, Daubaris and Ali filling in depending on the matchup and game flow.
The announced crowd was 5,087. The loudest roar of the night came when Arenas missed two straight free throws, triggering a free burger giveaway at Berkeley’s Shake Shack for ticket holders. A close second came at halftime, when a student drilled a half-court shot to win free room and board for a year.
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Sammie Yeanay and Nojus Indrusaitis led Cal in scoring, while USC spread the damage around with four players finishing in double figures. Jacob Cofie was especially difficult to handle inside, giving the Trojans a steady presence on both ends as the Bears again found themselves chasing a game that slipped away after the opening stretch. [Read more 🡒]