UC San Diego tops Cal for its first win over a Pac-12 foe
Toni Rocak scored a career-high 27 points, Bryce Pope scored 14 of his 18 in the second half and UC San Diego beat Cal 80-67 on Tuesday for the Tritons’ first win over a Pac-12 Conference opponent.
UCSD (1-0), which began its transition to Division I in 2020, lost its first 12 games against Pac-12 teams.
Pope hit two 3-pointers in a 9-2 spurt and the Tritons had their first lead (since 2-0) when Francis Nwaokorie hit two free throws to make it 45-43 with 15 minutes to play. Cal recaptured the lead when Jordan Shepherd hit a 3 about two minutes later, but Rocak scored six points in an 11-0 run that gave UC San Diego a 58-48 lead midway through the second half. The Golden Bears trailed by at least eight points the rest of the way.
Shepherd, a graduate transfer from UNC Charlotte, tied his career high with 27 points for Cal (0-1). Andre Kelly had 17 points and 12 rebounds.
Cal, which lost its leading scorer from last season when Matt Bradley transferred to San Diego State in April, struggled to score, shooting just 40% (24 of 60) overall, 5 of 18 from behind the arc and 58.3% (14 of 24) from the foul line.
New coaches make their debuts
Fans started filing into Indiana’s Assembly Hall as soon as the doors swung open Tuesday afternoon.
They couldn’t wait to see what wrinkles new Indiana coach Mike Woodson had installed on offense, the effort his team would play with on defense and whether another coaching change would finally help the Hoosiers reclaim their spot in the national college basketball conversation.
“It feels good to be 1-0, but we’ve got a long way to go,” he said after Indiana held on for a 68-62 victory over Eastern Michigan, Woodson’s first as a college coach. “And I will keep that ball as a souvenir.”
The opening day of the season was filled with hope, certainly at Indiana and some five dozen schools that changed coaches during a tumultuous offseason including Eastern Michigan. The Eagles brought back former Arkansas coach Stan Heath.
Woodson isn’t the biggest name or most prominent school on the list.
Hubert Davis takes over for three-time national champion Roy Williams at North Carolina. Mike Krzyzewski, a five-time national champ and the career leader in wins, begins his final season at Duke with his successor Jon Scheyer at his side. Former national runner-up coach Chris Beard left Texas Tech for Texas, where he replaced Shaka Smart who landed at Marquette.
Porter Moser, who led Loyola-Chicago to the Final Four, replaced Lon Kruger at Oklahoma. Arizona hired Tommy Lloyd after Sean Miller was fired. So was his brother, Archie,
which opened the door for Woodson’s hiring — and much-anticipated debut.
It was a fitting start for a new era at Indiana.
In December 1971, Bob Knight made his Indiana debut at the grand opening of one of Indiana’s best-known basketball cathedrals. This time, as the Hoosiers tipped off their 50th season inside the building, Woodson was the first true Knight disciple to return to the Hoosiers bench.
“I’m excited for the change,” said 56-year-old Walter Marker, a fan from New Castle, Ind. “I think he’ll bring in some talent and expose the guys to an NBA style. I think it’s great culture change, similar to Bob Knight, and when you talk to people around New Castle, everyone’s excited.” Woodson can sense it. He is the first Indiana alum to run the program without an interim title since Lou Watson was hired in 1965. Longtime fans remember how Woodson dazzled fans on the high school courts around Indianapolis before playing for Knight from 1977-80.
Some new coaches, such as Micah Shrewsberry of Penn State, Kevin Kruger of UNLV and Mark Adams at Texas Tech, are getting their first big breaks. Others like Tim Miles at San Jose State and Richard Pitino at New Mexico are getting new opportunities to prove themselves.
Former NBA All-Star Reggie Theus took the Bethune-Cookman job after being out of college basketball for 14 seasons.
Highlights
NO. 3 KANSAS 87, MICHIGAN STATE 74 >> Ochai Agbaji scored a career-high 29 points and Kansas beat Michigan State 87-74 in the Champions Classic at Madison Square Garden in New York on the opening night of college basketball.
Remy Martin added 15 points and David McCormack had 10 for the Jayhawks, who returned four starters from last season’s squad that lost to USC in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Jayhawks were missing forward Jalen Wilson, who was suspended last week for the first three regular-season games after he was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving last month.
NO. 13 OREGON 83, TEXAS SOUTHERN 66 >> Will Richardson scored 20 points and Oregon opened the season with a victory at home. De’Vion Harmon added 15 points and Jacob Young had 14 for the Ducks.