Cal Basketball: Bears Close Regular Season on the Road, Starting Thursday at ASU
ARIZONA STATE (12-16, 8-10) at CAL (12-17, 5-13)
WHERE: Desert Financial Arena, Tempe, Ariz.
WHEN: Thursday, 5 p.m. Pacific time (6 p.m. Mountain time)
TV/RADIO: Pac-12 Network/810-AM
CAL-ARIZONA STATE HISTORY: Arizona State leads the all-time series 48-41 but Cal won 74-50 on Jan. 2 in Berkeley, snapping a seven-game losing streak against the Sun Devils. That was Cal’s first win over ASU since February 2017.
CAL STORYLINES: The Bears are coming off a dominating 53-39 win over Stanford in their home finale. Cal, which led 35-12 at halftime, got 28 points from senior guard Jordan Shepherd and held the Cardinal to 23.5 percent shooting . . . Shepherd improved his scoring average to 14.6 points, which ranks him tied for sixth in the Pac-12 . . . The Bears continue to rank last in the Pac-12 in scoring offense (63.9 points) but they are fourth defensively (65.1), thanks in part to allowing foes to convert just 30.7 percent from beyond the 3-point arc, best in the conference . . . Cal won its past two road games, sweeping the Oregon schools three weeks ago. Those were the team’s first road victories of the season after losing its first seven games played on the opponent’s floor . . . Cal has played the past eight games without 6-9 senior forward Andre Kelly (13.4 points, 8.4 rebounds), out for the season with an ankle injury. But the Bears actually have outrebounded five of those eight teams, despite his absence.
ARIZONA STATE STORYLINES: The Sun Devils are one of the Pac-12’s hottest teams, having won five of their past six games, including a home victory over Oregon and a road sweep of Colorado and Utah last weekend. They are 6-3 in their past nine games, a stretch that began with an overtime defeat of UCLA . . . Improved defense has been one of the keys to ASU’s surge. Their past six opponents have averaged just 59.5 points while shooting 37.6 percent from the field. The Sun Devils have held 16 teams under 40 percent . . . Sophomore guard Jay Heath (10.6 points) had his best weekend of the season on the mountain trip, scoring 18 points at Colorado and a season-high 20 at Utah. He shot 14 for 21 in the two games, including 6 for 11 from the 3-point arc . . . The Sun Devils’ leading scorer is sophomore guard D.J. Horne (12.2 points), who scored 17 points in the first Cal game. But he’s averaging just 9.0 points on 31-percent shooting the past three games . . . Junior forward Jalen Graham (10.0 points) is averaging 13.6 points over the past seven games . . . The Sun Devils rank 10th in the Pac-12 in rebound margin at minus-3.8.
CAL GAME NOTES: Click here
ARIZONA STATE GAME NOTES: Click here
Cover photo of Jordan Shepherd by Chris Pietsch, Register-Guard for USA Today network
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo
