Facing by far its stiffest competition of the young season, the Cal men’s basketball team suffered its first defeat with an 86-68 setback to 10th-ranked Houston at the Caesars Lake Tahoe Classic at Stateline, Nevada on Sunday evening.

The Bears never led against a Houston team that has won at least 30 games for five consecutive seasons and has advanced to the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA tournament seven years in a row.

Coach Kelvin Sampson’s program has more victories than any school in the country over those seven seasons.

Cal (2-1), down by 17 points midway through the first half, rallied to get within seven points but got no closer against the Cougars’ ferocious defense.

“We got a bad start. No. 1, in terms of transition defense, they ran us and got layups, they got dunks. And on the offensive glass, they really hammered us,” coach Mark Madsen said on his post-game radio show. 

“We shored it up a little bit in the second half, but very poor start and we were playing from behind from there.”

Houston (2-0) bumped its lead to 20 points for the first time when forward Joseph Tugler converted a post move for a 56-36 advantage with 15:25 to play.

The Bears have now lost 22 consecutive games to AP Top-10 opponents, dating back to a 60-58 win over No. 1 Arizona on Feb. 1, 2014 at Berkeley.

Madsen said facing teams the caliber of Houston will pay off for the Bears.

“We scheduled this game, knowing Houston is a top-10, top-15 team based on the belief in our team and in our players,” he said. “Honestly, there’s a number of things that happened on the court that are controllable, that are preventable that we can correct.”

The story of the game was Houston’s aggressive defense and interior play. Cal averaged 99.5 points in wins over Division II Adams State and Radford in its first two games, but never could find a consistent offensive rhythm against the a team that is annually one of the best defensive clubs in the country.

Houston scored 22 points off 16 Cal turnovers, scored 16 second-chance points and pounded the Bears for 50 points in the paint. That allowed the Cougars to convert 52 percent from the field.

A bright spot for the Bears was sophomore guard Michael Cooper, a transfer from Wright State, who continued his strong early-season play. Cooper scored 19 points, including 5 for 8 from the 3-point arc, and is averaging 19.7 points on 62.5 percent (15 for 24) shooting from deep through three games. 

Aside from Cooper, the Bears shot just 4 of 18 from the 3-point arc.

Senior guard Jordan Ross, who came to Cal from Georgia after two seasons at Saint Mary’s, added 15 points on 7-for-10 shooting and dished five assists.

Redshirt freshman guard Jovani Ruff scored eight points off the bench

Pitt transfer Nojus Indrusaitis, who averaged 25 points in the Bears’ first two games, was guarded tightly and limited to six points.

Point guard Dedan Thomas Jr., a transfer from LSU, led the Cougars with 20 points and seven assists while Tugler had 16 points and four of his team’s seven blocked shots.

Houston jumped out to leads of 22-11 and 33-16 before the Bears settled down and fought their way back into the game.

Cal used a 12-2 that featured two baskets by Ross and a pair of 3-pointers and a layup by Cooper to pull within 35-28 with 5:32 left in the half.

Houston answered with an 8-2 burst, fueled by two of Cal’s 10 first-half turnovers, before Jovani Ruff converted two free throws with three seconds left in the period to make it 43-32.

The Cougars shot 53 percent in the opening half, outscored Cal 24-10 in the paint, 18-5 in transition and 18-9 off turnovers.

Cal, which never led in the half, made 40 percent from the field, including 5 for 14 from 3-point range. Ross and Cooper each scored eight points in the period, with Ross also contributing four assists.

NOTES: Houston now has a 5-3 all-time lead in the series . . . Cal played its third straight game without senior center Lee Dort, the team’s lone returning starter, who is sidelined by what Madsen has called a day-to-day injury . . . The Bears return home to face No. 21 USC on Wednesday at Haas Pavilion. Tipoff is 8 p.m.