California Teams

Cal's reward for beating USC 71-60 in the regular-season finale of the Pac-10 Conference season Saturday is the chance to play the Trojans again on Thursday.
And while the Bears are taking a low-key approach to the rematch in the opening round of the Pac-10 Tournament, USC coach Tim Floyd said he's not excited about his team's draw at the Staples Center.
"They've already beaten us twice — those guys have our number," Floyd said.
If Cal (18-9, 12-6) can pull off a third win this season over the Trojans (17-12, 8-10), they may find their way into the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2003.
Or maybe the Bears, who finished alone in third place, are in the postseason mix already.
For 17 consecutive years, every Pac-10 team that has won at least 12 conference games — all 50 of them — have been rewarded with an NCAA bid. Of course, few of those teams entered the regular-season finale having lost three of four games, as the Bears had. "It's a real tough science," senior Rod Benson said of trying to decipher the NCAA picture. "It's hard to predict who's in, who's out. I, like everyone else, watches the bracketology shows.
"It's really up to the (NCAA selection) committee. All we can do is play the games."
Cal played this one well enough in the second half to extend a 24-23 lead at the intermission to 16 points with 11 minutes left. It didn't hurt that USC missed 22 of its first 25 3-point shots and finished the game at 29.5-percent from the field overall.
On Senior Day, sophomore Leon Powe had 22 points and 11 rebounds for his 13th double-double of the season, then tried not to pay attention as the Cal student section chanted, "One more year."
This was a critical game for the Bears, wounded emotionally by Thursday's 67-58 overtime loss to UCLA, a setback that cost them a chance for their first conference title in 46 years.
Cal coach Ben Braun, whose mantra is to take games one at a time without considering potential distractions such as the NCAA Tournament, actually addressed the subject in his pregame talk.
"Here's what I said ... I told the guys we can't go back and get the Pac-10 championship," Braun said. "But we can achieve our goal of playing in the postseason."
The players knew exactly what was on the line. "I'll tell you one thing," Powe said, "if we had lost this, I knew we were
out."
Neither team played inspired ball in the first half, the Bears leading by just one point over a team that shot 29 percent. Powe had 14 points by halftime, but Braun encouraged him to get his teammates more involved in the final 20 minutes.
"I said, 'OK, coach, you're right. They're all keying on me. I'll try to do that,'" Powe said. "And they were getting better shots. But give them the credit, they did the rest."
The Bears got some easy fastbreak baskets, and junior guard Ayinde Ubaka, who has struggled the past couple of weeks, came alive. He scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half, including a 3-pointer with 6:16 left after the Trojans had scrapped to within 50-38.
Braun conceded that Ubaka, who ranks second in the Pac-10 in minutes played, may be getting tired. He also suggested, "Ayinde's getting what Leon's getting right now. That's the price you pay when you become a pretty good player. They're not giving him a lot of looks.
"But Ayinde has a knack. He seems to always hit a big shot for our team."
The Trojans hit very few shots until the final 3:10, after which they made five of their eight 3-point baskets. They needed a Haas Pavilion-record 35 attempts to reach that total.
"The shot chart told the story," Floyd said.
The teams have just a few days to prepare for the rematch.
"It's a new game when we get to Staples," USC sophomore Nick Young said.
Powe agreed but said the Bears would like to add to their postseason rsum.
"I want to do some more," he said. "I think we're very close ... if we get a couple more wins, I think that will assure us."