BERKELEY, Calif. – Looking to complete a Bay Area sweep to conclude its non-conference schedule, the UT Arlington men's basketball team struggled offensively against a lengthy California team on Wednesday in a 73-51 setback to the Golden Bears inside Haas Pavilion.
 
After leading wire-to-wire in its impressive 68-63 win at San Francisco on Monday night, UTA led for the opening five minutes against Cal and then never again as the Bears limited the Mavericks to just 32 percent (16-50) from the floor while connecting at a 57-percent rate (26-46) themselves.
 
That 57-percent clip for Cal is by far the best UTA has allowed any opponent to shoot this year (previous: 46 percent by East Carolina) as the Mavs entered the game ranked 43rd in the nation in field goal defense by holding foes to just 39 percent.
 
Shemar Wilson registered his third double-double of the season – and first against a Division-I opponent – as he delivered a team-best 14 points and game-high 11 rebounds to lead UTA.
 
True freshman Chendall Weaver reached double-figure scoring for the fourth time this year with 12 to tie for his most points against a D-I opponent. The Mansfield native also corralled six rebounds.
 
BOX SCORE NUGGETS

• With the loss, UTA drops to 5-8 while Cal improves to 1-12.
• Wilson's double-double is now his 16th across all collegiate levels. It was also his fourth double-figure rebounding performance of the year and 20th of his collegiate career.
• Kyron Gibson finished with nine points, and Marion Humphrey passed out six assists – his most versus a D-I foe this year – to go along with five points.
• True freshman Brandon Walker came off the bench to net six points, while Aaron Cash (three) and Montez Young Jr. (two) rounded out the UTA scoring.
• Joel Brown and Lars Thiemann paced Cal with 17 points each, with Kuany Kuany was close behind with 16 in a non-starting role.
• UTA utilized the same starting lineup for the sixth-straight game: Humphrey, Gibson, Weaver, Cash and Wilson.

QUOTABLE
"This is about as disappointed as I've been after a game all season. We have to get more mature; we didn't handle success well after the win at San Francisco and we didn't play hard enough tonight. We didn't show up ready to play; I thought we were, but that's on me. But our non-conference schedule is over, and we made some strides. I'm excited about coaching our guys in WAC play, and I expect them to come back after a brief break ready to go for league action."
– UTA Head Coach Greg Young
 

GAME FLOW
UTA jumped out to a quick 6-2 start, but Cal's defensive switching between zone and man began to impact the Mavs as the Bears rattled off a 12-1 run over the next eight minutes to build a 14-7 lead before Gibson stopped it with a second-chance 3-pointer from the top of the arc.
 
However, after the Mavs had pulled back within four, 14-10, Cal rebutted with another scoring stretch – this time 9-0 – to open up its largest lead to that juncture at 13, 23-10.
 
It remained a 13-point margin, 25-12, coming out of the under-4 timeout before UTA clipped off a 7-0 response and pulled within six, 25-19. A Cal 3-pointer on its last possession of the half stopped that surge from the Mavs and gave the Bears a 28-19 halftime lead.
 
After UTA had trimmed the deficit down to eight, 33-25, after Wilson's first collegiate 3-pointer at any level, Cal orchestrated a 6-0 stretch as part of a larger 17-3 run which extended the host's cushion to 22, 50-28, with 11 minutes to play and it got as big as 28 for the Pac-12 Conference member.
 
THIS AND THAT

• This was the first-ever meeting between UTA and Cal; the Mavs are now 0-8 all-time against current Pac-12 members.
• Since the start of the 2012-13 season, UTA is now 8-2 in games played in the state of California.
• UTA was in search of its first Power 5 win since Nov. 29, 2016, when the Mavs cruised to a 72-61 win at Texas.

NEXT UP
UTA will have a week between games for the holidays as the Mavs will next return to the court when they open Western Athletic Conference play at Tarleton on Thursday, Dec. 29, at 7 p.m.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
For updates, behind-the-scenes photos, videos and more engaging and personal content, be sure to follow the men's basketball program on Twitter (@UTAMavsMBB), Instagram (@UTAMavsMBB) and Facebook (/UTAMavsMBB).