Cal Finds the Range From Deep Early in 93-65 Rout of Fullerton

Cal coach Mark Madsen was adamant that his team would shoot the 3-pointer more effectively this season, but through two games the Bears had converted just 22.7 percent from deep.

They gave an encouraging sample of what they can do over the first 3 minutes on Monday night against Cal State Fullerton, hitting four straight 3’s to spark a 93-65 victory at Haas Pavilion.

It’s not a high bar given Cal’s recent basketball history, but the Bears are 3-0 for the first time since 2019. The victory was the 100th in Madsen’s coaching career, including 30 over two-plus seasons in Berkeley.

Thursday will bring a better gauge of how much Cal has improved since posting its eighth consecutive losing season a year ago. The Bears visit Kansas State of the Big 12 Conference for their first road game and first matchup against a power conference opponent.

“We need to show that we can handle a little bit of prosperity,” Madsen says in the video at the top of the story. “We’re 3-0 but it’s early in the season, these has been home games, there’s been no travel involved. Now we’re playing one of the top teams in the country in Kansas State.

“This is going to be a battle, an unbelievable test for our players. It’s a great game for us, traveling a long distance, to prepare for the ACC travel.”

Dai Dai Ames heads up court after sinking a 3-pointer | Photo by CK Hicks, Cal Athletics

“It’s a Big 12 team so it will be a better test,” said junior guard Dai Dai Ames, who scored a career-high 24 points against the Titans.

Ames knows all about K-State, having spent his freshman season at Manhattan, KS. “Depending on the crowd, it’s going to be loud,” he said. “That ain’t nothing to fear, it’s just noise.”

Fullerton, coming off a 6-26 campaign in 2024-25 (including 1-19 in the Big West), didn’t figure to offer a severe test, although Madsen praised the Bears' opponent for revamping their approach to go at teams with quickness. The Titans began their season by scoring 136 points, but the opponent was Cal Tech, known more for its computer and engineering programs than hoops.

The Bears played splendid offensive basketball over the first 5 minutes of the game, shooting 7 for 9 from the field with seven assists and zero turnovers to forge a 20-9 lead.

Cal started fast with John Camden sinking a 3-pointer off a pass from point guard Justin Pippen just 25 seconds into the game. Then Ames buried one from deep, also assisted by Pippen.

Ames made another off a pass from Chris Bell and when he made a third straight, fed by Pippen, the Bears had scored 12 points in less than 3 minutes.

Cal led 42-27 at halftime and the Titans (1-2) never got closer than 10 the rest of the night. The margin reached 20 points for the first time at 64-44 when Pippen made two free throws with 10:44 to play and the lead ballooned to 76-46 after three more free throws by Pippen with 8:01 left.

Bell, a Bay area native who played the past three seasons at ACC rival Syracuse, talks in the video above about how the Bears weren’t satisfied with their 77-67 win over Wright State last week.

Ames, the junior transfer from Virginia, made six of his first seven tries from deep and wound up with a career-high 24 points, exceeding the 23 he scored last week vs. Wright State.

Pippen, who played last season at Michigan, had 14 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Delaware transfer forward John Camden scored 16 points including three 3-pointers. Bell had a season-best 15 points and seven rebounds.

Cal got another solid contribution from senior big man Lee Dort, one of three returnees on the roster, who had seven points, eight rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots.

The Bears shot 11 for 30 from the 3-point arc, exceeding the 10 3’s they had over the first two games combined. Cal shot just 31.5 percent from deep a year ago and made 10 or more 3’s just once in their final 20 games.

“What did we finish . . . 36.7 percent? We can shoot even better than that,” Madsen said. “We have a bunch of shooters on this team. It’s good to see a few of them go in. The first two games I don’t believe were a reflection of how good a 3-point shooting team this is.”

Ball movement was good again with Cal distributing 17 assists. A year ago the Bears averaged barely 10 assists a game.

“I think it’s been really good to see how well the ball moves,” said Madsen, whose team has 48 assists to 32 turnovers through three games, a solid 1.5-to-1 ratio. "Last year I'd come to these and everybody would say you only had four assists, you had six assists. Are you working on passing?

"It's great to see this season the ball just flowing naturally. These guys are just doing a really nice job of sharing the ball. We can still be much better. I thought the ball got sticky in the second half a couple of times. We're drawing two defenders and we're not kicking. But it's good to see that."

Fullerton, which got 20 points from forward Landon Seaman, made just two of its first 22 shots from the 3-point arc.

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