Cal Basketball Heads to Utah Looking for Road Win
CAL (6-8, 1-6 Pac-12) vs. UTAH (5-5, 2-4 Pac-12)
WHERE: Jon M. Huntsman Center, Salt Lake City, Utah
WHEN: Saturday, 7 p.m. Pacific time
TV/RADIO: Pac-12 Network/810-AM
CAL-UTAH HISTORY: The Cal-Utah series is tied 17-17. Cal won the most recent meeting, 86-79 in overtime last season in Berkeley when Matt Bradley scored 21 points. Cal has lost nine of its last 13 games against the Utes and has lost five straight road games against Utah. The Utes beat Cal in Salt Lake City 60-45 last season, and Cal’s last road win against Utah came in the 2012-13 season.
CAL STORYLINES: Cal is coming off an 89-60 loss to Colorado on Thursday in Boulder, Colorado. Cal is 0-6 on the road this season and 2-26 on its opponent’s home floor since the start of the 2018-19 season. . . Cal has played the past three games without leading scorer Matt Bradley (17.8 points), who is out with an ankle injury and is unlikely to play against Utah . . . He has missed five games this season . . . Forward Andre Kelly was the Bears’ leading scorer in the past two games, recording 16 points in the loss to Colorado and scoring 22 points in the win over Washington last weekend. He shot 17-for-20 from the field in those two games. Kelly is averaging 10.4 points, and joins Ryan Betley (10.8 points) and Makale Foreman (10.5) as Cal players averaging in double figures . . . Grant Anticevich has played the past three games after returning from an appendectomy, but has averaged just 5.4 points in those three games. . . . Cal is averaging 68.2 points per game, which ranks 11th in the Pac-12.The Bears limit opponents to 70.4 points a game, which is 10th-best in the Pac-12. . . Cal ranks last in the Pac-12 in free-throw accuracy at 66.9 percent.
UTAH STORYLINES: Utah ended a four-game losing streak with its best win of the season, a 79-65 victory over Stanford on Thursday in Salt Lake City. . . Forward Timmy Allen scored 22 points against the Cardinal and leads the Utes in scoring for the season at 16.4 points per game. He is particularly good at maneuvering inside and scoring from close range despite being just 6-foot-6 , . . Alfonso Plummer, who has been in and out of the starting lineup, is the Utes’ second-leading scorer at 13.5 points a game and is their top perimeter threat. . . . Utah will be looking to sweep the Bay Area schools at home for the sixth straight season . . . Utah commits just 10.7 turnovers per game, which leads the Pac-12 . . . Utah is not a good three-point shooting team overall, hitting 30.8 percent of their shots from long range . . . Utah is 5-2 at home this season, with the home losses coming against Colorado and Oregon.
CAL GAME NOTES: Click here
UTAH GAME NOTES: Click here