California Golden Blogs: Defense And Free Throws Carry The Day

CGB has some post-game analysis on Cal's too-close-for-comfort 75-70 win over Murray State:

Give credit to Murray State. They battled us right through the first half, then came back from what seemed like an insurmountable late deficit to make everyone fritter. Their team is really good as rags indicated, probably one of the best mid-majors in the country. Don’t be shocked to see them earn a #14/#15 seed come March.

Still, from an aesthetic standpoint, it wasn’t the most impressive win in the world for the Bears, and Jerome Randle continued to struggle (4/12 shooting, again nearly a 1:1 assist-turnover ratio); Isiah Canaan battled him hard and really didn’t let him rest out there. The offense was out of sync, they were slow to run out on the 3 point line (they conceded everything from downtown to prevent the penetration to the paint, and gave up 24 points from downtown), and there were too many awkward-looking shots that I’d like to forget.

But hey, a win’s a win. The Bears now get ready to face Detroit on Wednesday before their showdown with Syracuse later this week.