Cal’s Amit Tamir is the second-leading scorer and rebounder for the Golden Bears, averaging 11.4 points and 5.2 rebounds per game.
He’s the sole senior and veteran of the starting lineup and was shooting 42.5 percent from the three-point line entering Thursday’s matchup with Oregon.
The Oregon big men forgot to look at Tamir’s statistics.
Tamir didn’t make a single field goal in Oregon’s 68-56 win. He shot 0 for 8 on field goals and was 0 for 3 from the three-point line. The center scored only two points off of free throws.
“That was my main assignment, Tamir,” senior Jay Anderson said. “Anywhere he caught the ball, couple feet past the NBA three-point line, just not let him touch the ball. If he got me in the post, I knew there was someone coming to double team him just about every time so I knew I had help.”
Anderson had one of his best games of the year in his 30 minutes, the most he’s played all year. He scored nine points and grabbed four rebounds.
Anderson said he was amazed Tamir didn’t get a field goal. He wouldn’t have bet on that before the start of the game.
“I was pretty sure he was going to hit at least one right in my face,”
he said.
It was a battle of the big men all night long. Oregon (10-5 overall, 5-3 Pac-10) knew about the hype that was surrounding Tamir and freshman forward Leon Powe entering this game.
The plan was to shut those two down. The plan worked.
“This was the best job we have ever done in defending Tamir,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said.
Powe finished with 12 points and seven rebounds, far below his averages of 15.5 and 9.7 rebounds per game. Powe struggled early on with traveling calls, and he was given a technical at the end of the first half.
“They just stayed on us; they had some good defense,” Powe said. “I just told my teammates you got to hit when I’m open, because I (would) be open and they (would) be hitting me when I got people on me.”
Powe leads the Pacific-10 Conference in rebounding with 9.7 per game. Among active players on the California roster, Powe ranks fourth in career rebounds with 152 in his freshman season. The three players above him are all seniors.
Forward Ian Crosswhite had his way on both Powe and Tamir in the low post. Crosswhite finished with 16 points and six rebounds.
He was able to dominate in the second half when Cal’s post players got in foul trouble.
“They got two prolific big guys in Powe and Tamir,” he said. “Powe had three fouls and coach said take it to them and Tamir to get them in foul trouble,” Crosswhite said.
Crosswhite had his moments of flash on offense. After a timeout with 14 minutes left in the second half, he faked like he would pass and then had a 360-degree spin move to help boost an Oregon offense that struggled at certain points.
Crosswhite also made clutch free throws with 1:23 left to put Oregon back up by nine points.
Oregon won the rebounding battle, 33-26. Entering the game, Cal was averaging almost four more offensive rebounds per game than its opponents but was minus three against Oregon.
Anderson finished 3 for 5 from the field and had one three-pointer with 3:02 left in the first half. Crosswhite said he was upset that he missed eight shots in shooting 6 for 14 from the field.
“Thirty minutes was the most Anderson has played all season and he did a fantastic job,” Kent said.