Outclassed Bears unable to handle ‘havoc’ defense
LAHAINA, Hawaii — For the second day in a row, an opponent used fierce defensive pressure to rattle an inexperienced Cal team.
This time, it was Virginia Commonwealth, which rolled up a huge early lead and breezed to an 83-69 victory over the Bears on Tuesday in a consolation-bracket game at the Maui Invitational.
Using constant defensive pressure, VCU built a 26-point halftime lead behind a rash of layups and three-pointers and did not look back.
The Rams (3-2) forced 18 turnovers and outscored the Bears 29-10 in fastbreak points. VCU shot 50 percent and was 12-for-29 on threepoint shots.
Don Coleman had 21 points to lead the Bears (2-3), who played better in the second half but couldn’t recover from VCU’s early onslaught.
“It starts with how we come out of the gate. Today, we came out of the gate very slow,” Cal head coach Wyking Jones said. “We had good looks in the post. We traveled it, turned it over. You know, we don’t have the kind of experience or depth where we can start off slow and make a run late.”
A day earlier, Cal had appeared to be headed to the semifinals, building an 18point lead over No. 6 Wichita State early in the second half of its tournament opener. The Bears are young, though, and became flustered when the Shockers turned to a fullcourt press, leading to a 92-82 loss.
That didn’t bode well for their second game.
VCU has a new head coach, Mike Rhoades, but the same philosophy: Speed up opponents and force mistakes with its “havoc” defense.
The Rams did just that early against Cal, forcing four turnovers while opening the game on a 12-2 run. VCU maintained the pressure and the Bears kept succumbing to it as their deficit grew.
“As a team, we came out slow, lackadaisical” Cal forward Marcus Lee said. “We had to get our team ready to play and focus all the way through.”
The Rams forced 12 turnovers in the first half and scored 20 fastbreak points to lead 55-29.
De’Riante Jenkins had 27 points and 11 rebounds for the Rams.
Cal will face host Chaminade in the seventh-place game at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday.