Cal Basketball: Bears Go For Second Straight Win as Northridge Visits

Matadors among two new games on Cal's schedule before Christmas

The Cal basketball teams both play Saturday, the men hoping to score a second consecutive victory and women facing a stiff challenge to secure their first win of the season.

The Golden Bears’ men (3-4) face Cal State Northridge (3-2) at Haas Pavilion in a 2 p.m. non-conference matchup that was added to the schedule this week,

The Cal women (0-5, 0-2 Pac-12) return to conference play on the road against No. 11 UCLA (4-1, 2-1). Tipoff is noon on Saturday.

Here’s our preview of Cal men’s game:

CAL (3-4) vs. CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE (3-2)

WHERE: Haas Pavilion, Berkeley, CA

WHEN: Saturday, 2 p.m.

TV/RADIO: Pac-12 Network/810-AM

CAL-NORTHRIDGE HISTORY: Cal leads 7-0 and won 83-63 on Nov. 28, 2017 in their most recent meeting. The Bears have won all seven by double-digit margins . . . Cal and Northridge were involved in a couple significant games in the 1990s. Their game on Feb. 10, 1993 marked Todd Bozeman’s debut as coach after Lou Campanelli was fired. Cal won 92-68, sparking an 11-1 surge that included the Bears’ upset of two-time defending national champion Duke in the second round of the NCAA tournament. When the teams met two years later at Northridge, Bozeman and a facility security supervisor became embroiled in a confrontation during the second half of Cal’s 76-65 win. Bozeman was accused of striking the man. Bozeman said he was provoked when the man used a “trigger word.” Both were eventually cleared by their respective schools.

CAL STORYLINES: The Bears scheduled this game when it became apparent they would not make their trip to the East for two games, including a Dec. 22 matchup at Boston College . . . Cal comes off a 72-70 win over USF on Sunday when senior transfer guard Makale Foreman hit a long 3-pointer at the buzzer. They were Foreman’s only points of the game and Cal’s first lead all afternoon after he missed his first six shots of the game. (Coach Mark Fox discusses Foreman and fellow transfer Ryan Betley in the video above). A transfer from Stony Brook, Foreman needs just six points to reach 1,000 for his Division I career . . . Junior Matt Bradley is third in the Pac-12 at 19.1 points per game and tops the conference with four 20-point performances . . . Sophomore guard Jarred Hyder, who played last season at Fresno State, was cleared to play this week when the NCAA gave all Division I transfers a blanket eligibility waiver. It’s unclear whether Hyder, who recently was nursing an unnamed injury, will play today.

CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE STORYLINES: The Matadors beat Pepperdine 89-84 last Saturday behind 24 points by junior guard TJ Starks, a transfer from Texas A&M, who leads the team with a 19.2 scoring average. But two days later, Northridge lost 82-71 at home to Stanford, despite 20 points from senior forward Lance Coleman II and 19 from Starks. Coleman, who grew up in the East Bay, is the team’s No. 2 scorer at 17.2 points . . . Northridge was 15-17 a year ago but went 10-6 in the Big West Conference and had won four games in a row before its season ended before the start of the conference tournament. . . . Northridge has an all-time record of 4-46 against current members of the Pac-12 Conference.

CAL GAME NOTES: Click here

CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE GAME NOTES: Click here