Cal Basketball: Bears Open Home Schedule on Nov. 30 vs. Nicholls State

The Cal men’s basketball team will begin its non-conference schedule with a pair of games in a multi-team event at Corvallis, Ore., next week, then will open its home slate on Monday, Nov. 30 against Nicholls State.

The Bears announced a partial list of their pre-conference schedule on Friday, but plans for the full slate are pending.

Cal opens next Wednesday against Colorado State in the two-day MTE event at Gill Coliseum on the Oregon State campus. Tipoff is 4 p.m.

The Bears will take on NAIA foe Northwest University at 3 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. That game is an exhibition for the team from Kirkland, Wash., but counts as a regular-season game for the Bears.

The Nicholls State game at Haas will tip at 5:30 p.m.

All three of those games will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Network as fans will not be permitted to attend games at Haas Pavilion, per conference restrictions.

Cal has scheduled six non-conference games so far. The others:

— Dec. 9: at Pepperdine, 5 p.m.

— Dec. 13 vs. USF, noon

— Dec. 22: at Boston College, 9 a.m. (PT)

Cal opens Pac-12 play Dec. 3 at home against Arizona State and plays at UCLA on Dec. 6. Those games were previously announced, although game times have not been set.

Nicholls State, from Thibodeaux, LA, has scheduled a five-game trip to Northern California that includes its visit to Cal. The Colonels were 21-10 last year and finished in a tie for second place in the Southland Conference but lost six players. One of their top returnees is a name familiar to Cal fans — guard Kevin Johnson.

Cal beat Nicholls during the 2007-08 season in their only previous meeting.

Colorado State was 20-12 last season and finished in a tie for fifth in the Mountain West Conference at 11-7. Point guard Isaiah Stevens, the reigning MWC Freshman of the Year, averaged 13.3 points and 4.5 assists a year ago.

Cal is 1-0 all-time vs. the Rams, a victory during the 1998-99 season.

Northwest University, which plays in the Cascade Collegiate Conference, was 18-12 last season.

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

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