Second Night Of Coaches vs. Cancer: UNC, 'Cuse, Cal Cruise

After narrowly defeating Murray State, 75-70, on Monday night, No. 13 Cal did on Wednesday night what we’d expect them to do: steamroll a much lesser opponent, which is what they did, beating Detroit, 95-61.

Despite the outcome, SB Nation’s Cal Golden Blogs still isn’t thrilled with how the team has performed in its first two games:

The Bears played out of sync for a lot of the first half. Cal was taking tough shots, and like the Murray State game was living off of free throws and hustle. Good stuff to see the Bears playing tough on the boards, but you’d kind of prefer to see that type of effort in conference play rather than against a fairly mediocre squad like Detroit.

After Randle carried the offense in the first half though, Christopher and Robertson took them home, scoring 26 of the first 30 second half points, including the last 22 points in that stretch. Bears got solid hustle and rebounding from Boykin, Amoke, Zhang (yes, Max looked really good tonight!) and Sanders-Frison, and Cal blew the door open in a game that probably looks closer than the final.

However, at least the slow start can be partially explained to a lot of strange lineups and rotations, with Montgomery liberally subbing in 10 players in. So it can help explain why the Bears offense looked discordant. Once Monty said “screw this, we’re going with our five best guys”, Cal busted it open and never looked back.

Cal’s first real test (well, aside from Murray State) comes next Thursday when they play Syracuse in the Coaches vs. Cancer semifinals in NYC.

This one was never in much doubt, even with the Tar Heels getting a bit sloppy in the second half. They turned it over 12 times in last 20 minutes, compared to only 6 in the first. But it didn’t really matter, as NCCU only managed to shoot 25 percent on the night, while UNC shot a red hot 60 percent from the floor.

Carolina gets one more tuneup before they head to New York for the Coaches vs Cancer semifinals next Thursday. They host Valparaiso on Sunday .

Syracuse rolled over Robert Morris 100-60, equaling the margin of Ohio State’s triumph on Monday night. Andy Rautins was the star of a night where six SU players hit double figures, as he tallied 25, on 70 percent shooting from the floor, all from beyond the arc, while dealing with an ankle injury he picked up Monday.

The second game of the night is underway, and North Carolina hopes to get a similar result against a North Carolina Central team who lost both last year’s leading scorer and starting center not long after new coach LeVelle Moton took over.

Syracuse continues to put the exhibition season behind them, as they lead Robert Morris 55-32 at the half, thanks to a balanced offensive effort.  Andy Rautins is hitting threes (13 points, 4 of 7 from beyond the arc); Wes Johnson is dazzling the crowd with dunks (12 points); and Arinze Onuaku is dominating the inside (14 points, hitting 7 of 8 from the field).  Coach Jim Boeheim has to like the way the offense is running, as the Orange had 16 assists in the half. 8 from Scoop Jardine.  

For a few minutes in the middle of the half, it looked like the Colonials were going to hang around, as Velton Jones drained a jumper to pull within 3 with 8:34 left in the 1st. However, the 'Cuse went on a 31 to 11 run over the last 8-plus minutes to significantly diminish RMU's upset hopes.