Mar 12th, 2010
Jerome Randle has those moments when you shake your head wonder, “What was he thinking?” Then there are those moments like he had Thursday in Cal’s 90-74 Pac-10 tournament victory over Oregon, times when he’s somewhere between unconscious and semi-lucid, when he performs basketball feats others would not consider attempting, let alone attempt, let alone pull off.
Jerome Randle had 22 points in the first half Thursday -- Photo by Lea Suzuki/The Chroncle
The raw numbers of his first half on Thursday — 8-for-8 from the field, 4-for-4 on three-pointers, 22 points — give a hint of what went on, but just a hint.
Six of his eight attempts were of the, shall we say, low-percentage variety, and there was one six-second sequence early in the game that capsulized his performance. He pulled up from nearly 30 feet from the basket, early in the shot clock, and threw up a three-pointer that dropped through without rippling the net. Seconds later, he stole a pass, drove to the basket, then went behind his back to beat a defender — not a behind-the-back dribble, but an around-the-waste, non-dribble maneuver — before throwing up a reverse layup that went in.
(Capsules of all 65 NCAA Tournament teams will posted at this site shortly after the selections are announced Sunday.)
Randle added two more silly-long three-pointers and a turnaround, fall-away 15-footer that he had no right taking — all of which went through.
“I just have these moments sometimes,” he said. “When I hit the third shot, I just felt that I couldn’t miss.”
His assist-to-turnover ratio was 1-to-2 (what kind of a point guard is that?), although Mike Montgomery might find his way to overlook that this time.
Randle then shut it down in the second half, missing his only two shots after intermission and sitting out the final 12 minutes as the Bears played out the garbage time of what presumably was the final game for Ernie Kent as the Ducks’ head coach. Kent, who was a Stanford assistant coach under current Cal coach Mike Montgomery 18 years ago, is expected to be relieved of his duties after the Ducks finished 16-16 overal and tied for eighth place in the conference.
In Friday’s6 p.m. semifinals, the top-seeded Bears will face UCLA, which beat Arizona 75-69 in its quarterfinal game on Thursday. Reeves Nelson, who sat out the Bruins’ past four games with an eye injury, had 19 points (on 8-for-9 shooting) and 10 points against the Wildcats.
Often caused by sports or other physical activity, eye injuries can be serious and are usually quite painful. They are also a common cause of vision loss in children. Eye injuries can range from corneal abrasions and chemical burns to bruising and having foreign bodies in the eye.