Cal Basketball Faces Vandy, Seeking First-Ever Road Win vs. SEC Foe

The Bears (2-0) haven't beaten any non-conference opponent on the road in nearly seven years

Vanderbilt forward Devin McGlockton / Mark Zaleski / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Cal basketball team plays its first road game of the season and faces its first major-conference opponent on Wednesday night when the Bears take on Vanderbilt of the Southeastern Conference.

The Bears (2-0) and Commodores (2-0) will tip off at Memorial Gymnasium at Nashville, Tenn., at 5 p.m. PT. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network+.

Hard to believe, but Cal is seeking its first non-conference road victory since an 81-59 win at Seattle on Dec. 19, 2017 — just shy of seven years ago. The Bears have dropped their past 10 non-league road games and are 0-7 all-time on the road vs. SEC opponents.

Vandy is led by former James Madison coach Mark Byington, who replaced Jerry Stackhouse, the one-time North Carolina and NBA standout, dismissed last March after going 9-23 in his fifth season.

The Commodores haven’t advanced to the NCAA tournament since 2017, which is one year more recently than the Bears earned a bid.

Cal, 2-0 for the first time since the 2019-20 campaign, beat Cal State Bakersfield and Cal Poly by a combined 31 points. Fourteen of 18 ACC teams entered Tuesday with unbeaten records as the conference compiled a record of 35-4 to start the season.

Vandy opened by beating Maryland Eastern and Southeast Missouri by a combined margin of 48 points. SEC teams so far are 31-5.

The Commodores feature 6-foot-7, 230-pound forward Devin McGlockton, who is averages 19.0 points and an NCAA-leading 16.0 rebounds. McGlockton, who played the past two seasons at Boston College, has made 14 of 19 shots (74%) from the field and also has six blocked shots.

North Texas transfer Jason Edwards adds 18.0 points per game for a team with four players scoring in double figures. The Commodores are shooting 64 percent on 2-point attempts but just 18.6 percent (11 for 59) from 3-point range.

Vanderbilt's rebounding prowess will test the Bears. The Commodores are averaging 50.5 rebounds per game and boast a plus-19.5 rebound margin. Cal is at plus-7 on the boards through two games.

Second-year coach Mark Madsen used a 10-man rotation in the Bears’ first two games. Senior point guard Jovan Blacksher Jr. is scoring 17.5 points per game and Stanford transfer Andrej Stojakovic is at 15.5 points.

Cal has three players or staff members with connections to Vandy, starting with center Lee Dort, who is providing the Bears 6.0 points and 8.5 rebounds in his first season since transferring.

Associate head coach Adam Mazarei was part of the Vandy coaching staff for four seasons through 2023, and Shasha Brown, director of operations & player development, was on the Commodores’ staff for three years through 2022.