Cal Basketball: Richard Solomon, Tyrone Wallace Show Their Best Against UNLV

What are the biggest positives from the UNLV loss? Which player stood out to you the most?

NorcalNick: The biggest positive is that Cal should have beaten a top 25 team that will be playing in March, and it's what I try to keep coming back to. If the Bears bring that kind of effort every game they'll do just fine in Pac-12 play. That they were so close to that win without Ricky Kreklow, despite Allen Crabbe's foul trouble and despite another relative off-night from Justin Cobbs speaks well to their ability to compete if it ever all comes together at once.

Avinash: The nicest positive for Cal is that players we need to step up for this season to have any hope of success are beginning to find their groove. Richard Solomon had no chance of muscling down low with Anthony Bennett, but offensively he kept us afloat for one half with his ability to sink midrange jumpers. A lot of the other stuff was hit and miss, but it's hard to diss someone who puts up a nice statline of 14 and 8.

Tyrone Wallace also did some great stuff down the stretch to give Cal a glimpse at his potential. He showcased intelligence and ability with a dose of athleticism in creating shots, contact, and free throws. There was a really intelligent drive where he had trouble getting a good angle at the basket, so he pump-faked to draw his defender in the air and then ran right into him to get the foul, and Cal would get two big free throws from him. He is getting some great experience with Kreklow sitting out, and hopefully will become a bigger part of the rotation going forward.

LEastCoastBears: The highlight of the game for me was the play of Richard Solomon, with his season high 14 points (and could have easily been more had he been able to finish around the rim better) and team high 8 boards. He showed a great midrange game on Sunday. Even though it's not necessarily a good thing that Solomon has to take those shots, it's good to know that he can make them.

Our shooting has also been quite good for the game, making 52.8% from the field. This was almost better than our free throw percentage for the game (sure, this meant more that we were pretty terrible from the charity stripe).

Vincent S: Richard Solomon really stood out to me. Playing against physical, athletic opposition, Solomon seemed to make nearly every single one of his turn-around jumpshots in the first half. I believe he played a huge role in keeping us in the game, especially with some of the more questionable calls coming in during the first half.

TwistNHook: Well, I thought the first half shooting was really good. Look at these numbers:

Shooting 65% on field goals with 50% on threes is solid. Of course, we were down by 7 or so heading into half and came roaring back shooting 40% in the 2nd half. So, nothing makes sense ever. But that first half was one of the best offensive performances I've seen in a long time.....besides the free throws, of course.