Cal has to hope that the return of Wallace, its senior point guard who missed five games with a broken bone in his hand and who’s second on the team in scoring, will be a steadying hand that can help this team grow when away from its friendly confines.
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That could change for the 11th-ranked Ducks (20-4, 9-2) if they make it through the weekend with wins over the Golden Bears (15-8, 5-5) and two days later at Stanford, but that’s a big if even for the conference leaders. Que Johnson scored 25 points for the Cougars.
Dillon Brooks scored 17 to lead the Ducks, who had won six in a row and nine of their previous 10 games.
Cal’s an interesting team, something of a bipolar group because it’s automatic at home (now 15-0 this season) but entirely unreliable outside of Haas (1-8). By no means a certainty, but will provide the news as soon as we get it.
Oregon-California Preview With a six-game winning streak, a 1 1/2-game conference lead and seven games remaining, the initial thought might be Oregon is favorably positioned for its first regular-season crown since 2001-02.
To anyone eager to proclaim OR the clear-cut best team in the Pac-12, you’ve gotta pump the brakes on that for now.
We’ve reset the Play of the Day with fresh bankrolls and turned it into a yearly competition.
In addition to Byrd’s production, Cal’s dynamic freshman – Jaylen Brown and Ivan Rabb – combined for 29 points, 11 rebounds and four assists.
That was as close as the Ducks could get.Cal shot 55.7 percent, including 9 of 16 on three-point shots. The season series opened with Oregon’s 68-65 home win on January 6 as Brooks was limited to four points on 2-of-10 shooting.
“He’s probably the first guy that I’ve ever been around that you deal with him, you coach him, you get after him and he never pouts, he never complains”, Martin said. Junior guard Jabari Bird had one of his best games as a Bear, with 24 points on five made threes and 16 points in the first half to help Cal build an early 42-24 lead.
OR plays at 6 p.m. Thursday at California.
Bird matched his career high with 24 points (9 of 14) and went 5-of-8 from three-point range. “Once a good team gets confidence it’s hard to stop them”.
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“We came out with no energy, no effort on defense, ” Benjamin said. The Bears pushed their lead to 21 points late in the first half before a 3-point shot by OR forward Dwayne Benjamin with 30 seconds left set the halftime score.
