Two basketball players with little in common — besides their alma mater — share the single-game steals record at the University of California.
Physically gifted guard Jason Kidd, one of the most highly recruited 6-foot-4 players in history, had eight thefts in a Pac-10 contest against Washington in January of 1993.
That feat was matched last month by unrecruited 5-9, 175-pound junior A.J. Diggs, who plucked eight steals in a nonconference clash at Cleveland State.
Kidd, of course, is one of the NBA’s best players, while Diggs hopes to follow in the professional footsteps of another tiny guard — 5-5 NBA veteran Earl Boykins — who played college ball for seventh-year Cal coach Ben Braun at Eastern Michigan.
“I think there’s a place for a little guy in the game. They don’t measure heart when they measure your height,” said Braun, who awarded former Golden Bears’ walk-on Diggs a scholarship last summer.
Diggs’ intangibles have sparked Braun’s Bears, who take a 6-1 record into Saturday’s Newell Challenge opener against 6-3 Kansas University (2:30 p.m. CST, Oakland Arena).
Diggs will make no apologies as he attempts to guard McDonald’s All-American Aaron Miles of KU.
“You have to have that confidence being my height,” Diggs told the Oakland Tribune. “Everybody’s going to be taller than me, so you have to have that heart to go out there and know you can play with those taller players and that you can have an affect on the game one way or another.
“I’ve always been a defensive-minded player,” he added. “That’s just something I pride myself in — to stop my man, to try to get steals and stuff like that.”
The former Long Beach Poly player has dished 24 assists against 14 turnovers while chipping in an average of six points a game. He also has 23 steals.
He’s helped his team survive the shocking loss of three-year starter Shantay Legans, who transferred to Fresno State last August rather than become the Bears’ first four-year starter at the point since Kevin Johnson.
“I was quite surprised — actually, kind of hurt — he left because I felt the bond we’d made the past two years was pretty good. He was a good friend,” Diggs said.
Legans’ departure figured to deflate a team that also lost former McDonald’s All-America center Jamal Sampson to the NBA after just one season and prize recruit Kennedy Winston, who reneged on an oral commitment in order to play basketball at Alabama.
“You expect some injuries, some illness along the way, but it’s tough to start out like that,” said Braun, who also lost senior reserve guard Donte Smith to injury until January.
At least senior center Gabriel Hughes (2.3 points, 3.3 rebounds per game), who had announced intentions of transferring to Rutgers after last season, changed his mind and returned for his senior campaign.
Diggs and Hughes are joined in the starting lineup by 6-5 senior bookends Joe Shipp and Brian Wethers, plus 6-11 sophomore Amit Tamir.
Shipp, who averaged 14.8 points a game last season, spent the summer playing 1-on-1 against former Cal standout Lamond Murray of the Toronto Raptors and now is up to 19.3 points per game.
“He showed me some moves and how to create shots off the dribble,” Shipp said. “I learned some tricks from him. He’s hard to guard. He’s smooth and agile and he’s got a great shot. I’m trying to model my game after him.”
Weathers contributes 14.9 points and 5.1 boards a game.
“Brian and Joe give you some luxuries a lot of guards don’t give you,” Braun said of the 220-pound Shipp and 215-pound Weathers. “They are big enough and strong enough and agile enough to guard perimeter players or switch off onto post guys. They are not intimidated, not going to give up ground.”
Tamir, a 6-11, 260-pounder, averages 15.8 points and 8.3 boards an outing.
Jerusalem native Tamir hit five three-pointers in the Bears’ only loss — a 78-73 overtime defeat against Georgia in Los Angeles.
For the year, Tamir has cashed 15 of 32 threes, while the Bears as a team have made 54 of 131.
“My team trusts me that I can score from both places,” Tamir said. “Even if I’m missing down low, they keep getting me the ball.
“I feel it’s better for me to start closer to the basket than come out,” Tamir added. “The space on the floor will be better and when I get the ball, players can get it from me more easily.”
He’s not the only foreign player on the team. Richard Midgley, a 6-1 freshman from England, averages 8.7 points and 3.7 rebounds while spelling Diggs at the point.
Cal, which is holding opponents to 42.1 percent overall marksmanship, has won at New Mexico (76-68) and at Cleveland State (73-64 in OT) and has won home games against Howard (80-70), UC Santa Barbara (67-60), Grambling (84-65), Louisiana-Lafayette (77-61) and lost to Georgia at the Wooden Classic (78-73 in OT).
The schedule heats up starting now. After the one-day Newell Challenge, Cal plays host to Stanford and Oregon in successive games.
KU will return home to meet UNC Asheville next Thursday.
