Cal Basketball: After Late-Night Loss, Mark Fox Praises Team's Initiatives vs. COVID-19Posted by Norman Good on March 12th, 2021 
It was too late on Thursday night, perhaps too late in the growing season, for Cal coach Mark Fox to feel like dissecting the details of the Bears? 61-58 loss to Colorado in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 tournament at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Fox praised his workforce for playing ?super hard,? but following a defeat that ended the most complicated of seasons in the worst season most people have experienced, he wasn?t wanting to talk X?s and Os.
?Under the circumstances of the season and all these players have had to endure, which I don?t think people have any idea, it was an effort that I was proud of but we came up small,? Fox said.
The Bears finished 9-20, the program?s third 20-loss period in four years, and they haven?t advanced to the semifinal circular of the Pac-12 tournament since 2012.
But the COVID-19 pandemic trumped every other obstacle, and Fox was pleased with how his players stood up to everything that was included with it, including significant health and safety restrictions.
?I told them a calendar year ago we didn?t include a chance to experience this discomfort because we didn?t get yourself a chance to play the game,? he said, discussing the 2020 Pac-12 tournament, where the Bears furthermore opened with a win over Stanford then were sent residence when the event was abruptly turn off.
?These kids have been from their families,? he said. ?Haven?t been permitted to even see their mother and father or their brothers or their sisters. They haven?t arrived at any games until yesterday.
?They haven?t been able to visit the barber go shopping. We?ve been cutting one another?s wild hair. They don?t possess a locker room. They show up every day and dressed certainly not the sidelines. They don?t have a film room. It?s been a fantastic ask of these young people.
?Because they love to play, they signed up for it, they didn?t complain about any of it and we went through thousands of COVID tests without one constructive. What I advised them I was pleased with them because there?s going to be crisis in life and you?ve got to get through them. Sometimes you?ve got to get through them before you start succeeding.
"What they?ve endured in the last several months is something I have plenty of respect for.?
The night after Cal played its greatest defensive game of the season in an 18-point win over Stanford, the Bears? problems were mostly at another end of the floor.
Matt Bradley scored 29 details in Cal's win over Colorado last month, so the league's best defensive workforce, trapped the Bears' top scorer seemingly each time he touched the golf ball. The Bears had no response for it.
Bradley was scoreless in the initial half but his teammates couldn?t receive much going, either. The Bears held the head until the final 4 a few minutes of the half next went in to the break down 24-20.
Matt Bradley attempts to elude a Colorado double-team.
Photo by Stephen R. Sylvanie, USA Today
?I won?t be vital of our players? execution for the reason that situation,? Fox mentioned. ?It wasn?t as clean as we wanted but I considered our intent and our decision was the right way.?
Foul trouble became a concern for Bradley and others, including point guard Joel Brown, who did much of the defensive job in holding CU star McKinley Wright IV to a 4-for-14 shooting night time.
The Buffaloes built their lead to 13 points with 7 1/2 a few minutes left before Cal charged back again. Bradley obtained eight of his 10 points in period of 2 1/2 a few minutes and the Bears were down just 53-49 when he built a 3-pointer with 3:52 left.
But he fouled out another trip down the ground on defense and the outcome seemed sealed. Not quite. A hard 3-pointer by freshman Jalen Celestine with 40 seconds kept pulled the Bears within 61-58 and the Buffaloes turned the ball over with 11 2nd remaining.
Makale Foreman dribbled behind a display and got a decent look at a 3-point shot but the ball wouldn?t go down. ?That?s Makale?s chance,? mentioned senior Grant Anticevich, recalling Foreman producing basically the same chance to beat USF.
Anticevich brought the Bears with 11 points, Bradley scored 10 after missing his first eight shots, and Celestine and DJ Thorpe each got nine points, a career-very best for Thorpe off the bench.
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The 23rd-ranked Buffaloes (21-7) will enjoy in Friday night?s semifinal against No. 24 USC (22-6), with both teams projected to very easily make the NCAA tournament discipline.
Cover photo of Mark Fox by Stephen R. Sylvanie, USA Today
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