Despite Cal's struggles, Wildcats must put 'best game forward' vs. Golden Bears

As the Arizona assistant coach assigned to scout Cal this season, Steve Robinson has a pretty tough task this week.

Not so much to break down the Xs and Os of how the Golden Bears run their offense, how they try to stop teams on the other end, who’s who in their lineup.

Instead, Robinson’s toughest task might simply be to convince the Wildcats that they need to play the game with sufficient effort.

Cal is 3-20. The Bears have lost seven straight games, the last four without even scoring in the 50s, and have lost 12 in a row to Arizona.

They are without both their leading scorer last season, Jalen Celestine, and their leading scorer this season, Devin Askew. The one guy left on the roster who can fill up the bucket, 25-year-old DeJuan Clayton, is questionable after missing last weekend with an unspecified illness.

And, not surprisingly, a coaching change appears likely when the season finally does end.

There is no bubble Arizona coaches can hide their players in. They almost certainly know what shape the Bears are in.

So what can Robinson possibly do?

“All you’ve got to do is look around the landscape of college basketball,” Robinson said. “How many ranked teams got beaten last week?”

The answer: 15.

“On any given day, if you don’t bring your best game forward, you could certainly be beaten,” Robinson continued. “I think that’s pretty evident. You hope the guys are well aware that we have to focus in on the things that we can control, and that’s how hard we play and what kind of effort we give on every given possession.”

Will that be enough? Can the Wildcats resist the expected tugs from human nature pulling them in the other direction?

Or is Cal so bad that it doesn’t even matter?

In any case, here are five items of importance for the Wildcats on Thursday:

1. It’s a road game

Eh, actually, maybe scratch this one.

Cal is averaging announced crowds of just 2,405 over six Pac-12 home games (2,170 overall), suggesting the Wildcats could actually have just as many, if not more, fans in attendance at Haas Pavilion.

Arizona typically draws a low four-figure crowd at Cal and Stanford during almost any season, thanks to a large alumni base in the Bay Area that takes advantage of an easy opportunity to watch the Wildcats and gleefully chant “U of A” over and over. A small group of Tucson-based fans usually travels too, with the chance to play tourist between games.

When the Bears were only slightly better last season, during Arizona’s 96-71 win in Berkeley, the “U of A” chant was the loudest noise in Haas Pavilion, sometimes exceeding the canned music.

2. Subs might find some rhythm

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Still searching for an eighth man or more to add to his regular rotation, UA coach Tommy Lloyd has had to evaluate his subs mostly on how they practice, since their appearances in games are typically brief and infrequent.

“My eyes are always open,” Lloyd said. “I see it in practice, and you see it in games. Then you try to help them along with it.”

But if the Wildcats do get a comfortable lead at Cal, Lloyd might be able to give double-digit minutes to guys like Adama Bal, Henri Veesaar, Dylan Anderson and Filip Borovicanin. Maybe he’ll even be able to see how they do when they’re actually tired from playing so much.

Bal, who played an even more limited role last season, said he’s talked to the freshman reserves about how to handle it.

“If you get a chance to just go for it, there is no pressure because it can’t get worse than that,” Bal said. “So you just can ball and enjoy it. If you enjoy it, it’s gonna work pretty well for you.”

3. Cal’s big man can play

Arizona’s highly regarded post players, Azuolas Tubelis and Oumar Ballo, might get a chance to keep their skills sharp. German 7-footer Lars Theimann had 18 points and five rebounds for the Bears while making 9 of 14 shots against the Wildcats on Dec. 4 at McKale Center.

“You can’t allow him to get deep postups and get a lot of touches because he is effective with his jump hook and his ability to shoot the ball facing up at the basket,” Robinson said. “He was really, really productive in that (Dec. 4) game. He probably enjoyed the matchup of playing against other big guys because he can bang and push and make things happen that way.”

4. Askew wasn’t an X-factor

Although Askew was a five-star recruit from Southern California who drew strong recruiting attention from former UA coach Sean Miller, then went on to play for Kentucky and Texas, the Bears have won without him.

In fact, they haven’t won a game with him. Cal’s three wins all came over two weeks when Askew was not available because of injury or illness — while Askew was able to play in the Bears’ loss to Utah over that same period.

Finally, the Bears had to shut Askew down last week after he underwent surgery on Feb. 1.

“I am disappointed for Devin because he loves to play,” Cal coach Mark Fox said in a statement. “Our team will rally again to support him in recovery.”

5. Eyes on the prize

The Wildcats are still a game behind UCLA in the loss column, meaning there’s a good chance they’ll need to keep winning to get a shot at defending their league regular-season title during a trip to Los Angeles March 2-4.

That means a sweep in the Bay Area, then home wins next week over Utah and Colorado, plus a win over ASU on Feb. 25.

They’ll have to keep scouting teams heavily too. While it’s already February, Arizona has yet to play Stanford or Colorado because of the Pac-12’s unbalanced schedule. Its earlier games against Cal and Utah were played in early December.

“It’s interesting,” Lloyd said. “This late in the season, you’re used to kind of starting to get a rhythm playing teams the second time — and you have two teams you haven’t faced yet, which is good. It’s exciting to figure out ways you’re going to be able to be competitive for those teams. But the first order of business is Cal.”