Cal Basketball: Players Credit Mark Madsen For Giving Them Confidence; Oregon Looms

The Bears face the Ducks on Saturday, seeking their first 3-game conference win streak in five years.

In its quest to win a third straight Pac-12 Conference game for the first time in five seasons, Cal finds itself preparing to face the the league’s hottest team.

Oregon (12-3, 4-0) has won five straight games and eight of nine to sit alone atop the Pac-12 standings.

Cal (6-10, 2-3) hasn’t won three in a row in conference play since the final three games of the 2018-19 regular season but now has paired an 82-78 come-from-behind victory over Colorado with a win at UCLA last weekend.

Two of Cal’s four starting transfer players gave credit Wednesday night to first-year coach Mark Madsen for keeping the team pointed in the right direction after a 4-10 start to the season.

“The way I’d describe Mark Madsen is he’s an everyday guy,” said senior guard Jaylon Tyson, a transfer from Texas Tech, who scored a career-high 30 points vs. the Buffaloes. “When we were losing a couple games stretches, he’s the same person every single day. When we win these games, he’s the same person every single day.

“That’s the two words I would use to describe him: Everyday guy.”

Jalen Cone, formerly of Northern Arizona, also is playing for Madsen for the first time.

“He’s great. He has the ultimate confidence in us,” Cone said. “When things get tough and we go down 20 or some shots are not falling, he always tells me, `Take the next shot. Don’t hesitate.’

"It just allows us to be our best selves on the court with his energy, his enthusiasm, his confidence in us.”

The Bears will have to be the best version of themselves when they face the Ducks on Saturday at 5 p.m. in Eugene. Oregon is 8-0 at home and weathered a spate of early injuries that left the Ducks scrambling in back-to-back neutral-site losses to Alabama and Santa Clara after Thanksgiving.

All-Pac-12 center N’Faly Dante, who has been sidelined since aggravating an ankle injury in the season opener, is reportedly close to returning.

A 6-foot-11 senior, Dante had 21 points and 16 rebounds against Georgia before being injured. A year ago, he averaged 13.5 points, 8.2 rebounds and blocked 43 shots.

Nate Bittle, a 7-foot junior center, has played just three games (13.0 points, 6.0 rebounds) due to a wrist injury. Senior guard Jesse Zarzuela (10.0 points) is out for the season with an ankle ailment.

Oregon coach Dana Altman often has relied on a smaller lineup, with freshman guard Jackson Shelstad (14.8 points, 43.5% 3-point) and senior guard Jermaine Cousinard (13.6 points, 5.3 rebounds) leading the way.

Freshman Kwame Evans, a 6-9 forward, provides 9.5 points and 5.9 rebounds.

Altman, in his 14th season at Oregon, has won at least 20 games every year. His teams have won double-digit conference games 12 years in a row but missed the NCAA tournament the past two years.

Cover photo of Jaylon Tyson by Darren Yamashita, USA Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo