Powe wins big-man battle, exposes faults
BERKELEY, Calif. - Although California managed to hit more than half of its 3-pointers during its 87-83 win over Arizona last night in Berkeley, Calif., the battle inside between two of the Pacific 10 Conference's marquee big men proved to be the real difference come crunch time.
Golden Bear freshman phenom Leon Powe finally fouled out UA junior center Channing Frye with just under five minutes to go in the second half and Cal clinging to a six-point lead.
"That was really tough on him, not being able to play against Arizona the first time, but the tradeoff was pretty good for us," said Cal head coach Ben Braun. Powe was forced to sit out the team's first meeting - a 20-point UA win in Tucson - with a swollen left knee.
Frye played just 24 minutes last night after collecting his fourth foul just three minutes into the second half. He finished with 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting, but managed just four rebounds and struggled containing the 6-foot-8, 245-pound freshman for much of his time on the floor.
Perhaps more telling than Frye's inability to stay on the floor was Powe's ability to record his tenth double-double in just 27 minutes. Powe did commit four fouls, but his last didn't come until Frye had already been knocked out of the game.
"I told myself, 'Don't rush too much. Don't over-think it,'" Powe said. "I was totally focused, especially after not playing the first game."
Four minutes into the game, Powe opened round one in impressive fashion. Powe took a pass down low and stutter-stepped, freezing Frye and getting his first points of the game on the easy lay-in.
Powe and Frye would go at it time and time again during the contest, with Powe making the most of his ability to back in on Frye and either draw a foul or turn and hit the fadeaway 10-footer.
"I think I let my team down (on defense)," Frye said. "I think they really needed me."
Frye put most of the blame on himself, failing to recognize Cal's ability to knock down 52.6 percent of its 3-point shots, compared to just 25 percent by Arizona.
Freshman point guard Mustafa Shakur said the blame wasn't Frye's at all, but the team's inability to play tougher defense.
"It's all defense," he said. "Defense wins games. You can't rely on offense to win games, and that's what we've been doing too often. We can play as good as we want on offense, but it all starts with defense."
After giving up 56 second-half points during Washington's upset last week in Seattle, the Wildcats, the highest-scoring team in the nation, gave up 50 to Cal in the first half last night. In the process, they fell victim to a deficiti they just couldn't overcome.
"If a team shoots well, they're going to be able beat us if we're not playing defense," Shakur added.
Arizona's going to have to find a defensive handle quickly. The Wildcats visit No. 2 Stanford tomorrow, fresh off the Cardinal's 81-51 demolition of Arizona State.