Cal Basketball: Bears Try To Bounce Back Against Utah in Saturday Matinee

Cal is coming off its most disappointing performance of the season in loss to Colorado.
Cal Basketball: Bears Try To Bounce Back Against Utah in Saturday Matinee
Cal Basketball: Bears Try To Bounce Back Against Utah in Saturday Matinee /

UTAH (10-16, 3-13) at CAL (11-16, 4-12)

WHERE: Haas Pavilion, Berkeley

WHEN: Saturday, 3 p.m.

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

CAL-UTAH HISTORY: Utah leads 19-18 following its 66-58 win at Salt Lake City on Dec. 5 in the team’s first meeting this season. Utah has won seven of the past 11 meetings but Cal is 9-5 against the Utes at Berkeley.

CAL STORYLINES: The Bears will try to regroup after what coach Mark Fox called the team’s most disappointing performance of the season. Cal led 33-22 with 3 minutes left in the first half against Colorado on Thursday, then lost 70-62. The Bears made just 2 of their first 20 shots to open the second half. Fox talks in video at the top what the Bears must do differently to beat Utah . . . Cal has now lost six straight home games after opening the season 9-1 at Haas Pavilion . . . The Bears are last in the Pac-12 in scoring (64.6 points) but Fox was equally unhappy with the team’s defensive play against the Buffaloes, who scored 42 second-half points . . . Senior guard Jordan Shepherd (14.3 points) scored just seven points against Colorado, five days after going for a career-high 33 in the Bears’ win at Oregon . . . Senior forward Grant Anticevich (10.4 points) is averaging just 7.7 points on 32-percent shooting the past 12 games. . . . Junior forward Kuany Kuany had a career-high six blocked shots against Colorado, one shy of the program record. He had swatted just nine shots in 24 previous games this season . . . The Bears will play their seventh game without senior forward Andre Kelly (13.4 points, 8.4 rebounds), sidelined for the remainder of the season by an ankle injury. Junior center Lars Thiemann has averaged 6.3 points and 4.8 rebounds in six starts since Kelly was hurt. Fox talks in the video below about Thiemann's development.

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UTAH STORYLINES: The Utes scored their first road win of the season on Thursday, knocking off Stanford 60-56. Utah has won two of its past four games after losing 10 in a row. . . . Until two weeks ago, Utah’s only conference victory was over Cal on Feb. 3, when Both Gach scored 19 points. The senior guard scored 13 against Stanford on Thursday but has averaged just 6.8 points on 36-percent shooting over the past 15 games . . . The Utes’ top player is 7-foot, 216-pound junior center Branden Carlson, who leads the team in scoring (13.8 points) and rebounds (6.3). Carlson is averaging 15.8 points over the past five games, including a career-high 25 against Colorado . . . No one else averages double digits for the Utes, in their first season under coach Craig Smith, who came to the program after three seasons as coach at Utah State, where he posted three 20-win seasons and twice won the Mountain West Conference tournament. . . . Defense has been the issue for the Utes, who rank 10th in the Pac-12 in points allowed (69.7). Utah has surrendered an average of more than 77 points in its 13 Pac-12 defeats, just under 57 in its three conference wins.

CAL GAME NOTES: Click here

UTAH GAME NOTES: Click here

Cover photo of Branden Carlson attempting to block a shot by Stan Szeto, USA Today

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


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Jeff Faraudo
JEFF FARAUDO

Jeff Faraudo was a sports writer for Bay Area daily newspapers since he was 17 years old, and was the Oakland Tribune's Cal beat writer for 24 years. He covered eight Final Fours, four NBA Finals and four Summer Olympics.