California's Allen Crabbe missed a 3-pointer midway through the first half and shook his head in frustration when the ball clanged off the front of the rim.
Justin Cobbs just wanted to rest his head after crashing hard into a support late in the game.
It was that type of night for the Golden Bears' two leading scorers.
Cobbs had 18 points and Crabbe added 14 after missing his initial 12 shots from the floor in a 74-64 loss to No. 16 Creighton on Saturday night.
''I thought I was going to get into a rhythm at some point in the game but I didn't,'' said Crabbe, who finished a season-worst 6 of 26 from the floor. ''That's pretty unacceptable. They were shots I usually make, that's the frustrating part.''
Crabbe was out of sync most of the night and grew increasingly frustrated after an offensive foul early in the second half before hitting an 8-footer at the 16:53 mark for his first field goal. He missed again the next time down.
After Crabbe's basket with 11:49 remaining pulled Cal to 46-43, Doug McDermott hit the first of three straight 3-pointers by the Bluejays as they pulled away.
Crabbe led Cal in scoring in seven of its first eight games and was sixth in the country with a 21.9 average before being held to his second-lowest point total of the season. He had 13 against Georgia Tech on Nov. 23.
''We didn't do a good job of getting other people involved, which is what we needed to do,'' Cal coach Mike Montgomery said. ''We have to get over the idea that he's the only guy that can score. We've got to get other people involved.''
Cal (6-3) lost its third in a row following a 6-0 start and second straight against a ranked opponent at Haas Pavilion. The Golden Bears were beaten 76-75 on a buzzer-beater by No. 21 UNLV last Sunday. They have three remaining nonconference games before the start of Pac-12 play at UCLA on Jan. 3.
Doug McDermott had a season-high 34 points and nine rebounds with more than a dozen NBA scouts watching as Creighton (10-1) ran its winning streak to four games.
McDermott, averaging 22.7 points coming in, posted his seventh straight game with 20 or more points and became the first Creighton player with consecutive 30-point games since Bob Harstad in 1990. It was McDermott's third 30-point performance of the season.
''We got them frustrated early,'' McDermott said. ''We held Crabbe in check, that was our main goal. He's a really good player but we did a good job of locking him down.''
Gregory Echenique added 10 points, 11 rebounds and five blocked shots for the Bluejays.
McDermott scored 18 in the first half and shot 6 for 8 from the floor with a pair of 3-pointers, putting on quite a show for all the scouts in the building - primarily in attendance to see him.
Cobbs hit a late layup, crashed into the basket support and was down briefly, then came out holding his head. He did not return.
Creighton showed few signs of being travel weary out West, going 25 for 61 from the floor and building off a 77-61 victory at home against Akron last Sunday in which McDermott scored 30 points and had a career-high six 3s.
The Bluejays' lone loss was an 83-70 defeat to Boise State on Nov. 28.
Creighton played again without reserve guard Josh Jones, who is scheduled for a procedure Tuesday to restore a normal heart rhythm after he passed out before a Dec. 6 game at Nebraska.
Cal missed its initial nine shots before Robert Thurman's layup at the 16:16 mark, and began the game 2 for 15. Each team was 0 for 4 from long range in the opening 8 1/2 minutes.
Crabbe was 0 for 9 in the first half and 6 for 26 overall - including 0 for 8 from long range - while facing constant pressure and a hand in his face. He missed a breakaway layup going to his left with 18 seconds remaining in the first half as Cal trailed 34-29 at the break.
''I took some shots that hurt my team,'' Crabbe said. ''I've got to learn from it. I just couldn't get into a rhythm tonight.''
A moment of silence was held before the national anthem for the victims of Friday's deadly attack at a Connecticut elementary school.
The game attracted more than a dozen NBA scouts, with 15 NBA personnel credentialed in all. General managers Bob Myers of the Golden State Warriors, Dell Demps from the New Orleans Hornets and the Oklahoma City Thunder's Sam Presti attended.
Cal won the previous two meetings between the schools, but they hadn't played since the 1987-88 season. Creighton coach Greg McDermott lost at Cal in December 2009 while coaching Iowa State.
