Cal Basketball Closes Season-Opening Homestand vs. Cal Poly

The Golden Bears, who opened with a win over Cal State Bakersfield, host the Mustangs on Thursday night

Cal center Mady Sissoko / Photo by Jayden Yenjai, Cal Athletics

Cal hopes to start its men’s basketball with a second straight victory on Thursday night when it hosts Cal Poly in a 7 p.m. matchup at Haas Pavilion.

Believe it or not, the Bears haven’t opened with a 2-0 record in five years.

Cal is coming off an 86-73 win over Cal State Bakersfield in its season opener on Monday. Cal Poly lost 86-78 at San Francisco on Tuesday night. The Bears and Mustangs most recently met on Dec. 15, 2018, with Cal winning 67-66.

Year 2 under coach Mark Madsen tipped off with a largely decisive but imperfect win. The Bears trailed for just 17 seconds all night and led by as many as 18 points.

Cal got double-figure scoring by five players and Madsen stood by his word, using 10 players and getting contributions from each of them.

He talks in the video above about sophomore forward Andrej Stojakovic, the Stanford transfer, who had 16 points and six rebounds in his Cal debut.

Point guard Jovan Blacksher Jr. provided 17 points and four assists and forward BJ Omot scored 13 points.

Center Mady Sissoki had 10 points and six rebounds and his backup, Lee Dort, chipped in four points and six rebounds.

Madsen reflected on their combined 14-point, 12-rebound effort in the video below:

There were other issues: 

— Cal turned the ball over nine times in the second half when the Roadrunners applied defensive pressure. That allowed the visitors to creep within 78-71 with about a minute left, although Cal made 15 of its final 16 free throws and eight in a row over the final 54 seconds to secure the win.

— The Bears won the rebounding battle 41-37 but Bakersfield had 14 offensive boards, no doubt more than Madsen would like to see.

— Four different Cal players made 3-point baskets — Blacksher had three — but it’s unclear if the Bears are an improved perimeter shooting team. They were just 7 for 23 from beyond the arc, barely 30 percent.

Thursday’s game will be the Bears’ last one at home until a Nov. 21 matchup vs. Air Force. In the meantime, Cal will play two of its more challenging non-conference games, at Vanderbilt on Nov. 13 and at USC on Nov. 17.