Cal Basketball: Bears Open Regular Season vs. UC Davis on Monday Night

Cal is 33-0 all-time vs. the Aggies, but beat them by just 6 points in 2019.

The Cal men’s basketball team will face plenty of serious challenges this season, including a home game Friday against Kansas State of the Big 12 Conference.

So who can blame coach Mark Fox for opening his regular-season schedule on Monday night with a matchup against a team that has never beaten the Bears.

Cal is 33-0 all-time vs. UC Davis, although their most recent meeting in 2019 produced a narrow 72-66 victory by the Bears.

The Bears played for the first time in front of fans last Thursday, posting a 62-55 exhibition win over Division II Chico State. 

Monday night’s game tips off at 8 p.m. in Haas Pavilion after the Cal women debut at 4 p.m. vs. Cal State Northridge. Cal is charging separate admissions for the two games.

The Bears got 11 points apiece from junior transfer guard Devin Askew and freshman forward ND Okafor in their win over Chico. Senior center Lars Thiemann added 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Cal had double-digit leads late in both halves, but missed 13 free throws, shot 2-for-18 from the 3-point arc and allowed Chico to convert 16 offensive rebounds into 19 second-chance points.

It was the kind of game that gave Fox plenty to address in practice in the days since.

While the Bears are trying to end a five-year streak of losing seasons, Davis was 13-11 last year, 5-6 in the Big West Conference in another season impacted by COVID-19. The Aggies lost games to Sacramento State and the Academy of Art, but beat Oregon State on the road.

Antioch native Ezra Manjon was the hero of that victory, scoring 27 points. But the all-Big West guard, who averaged 15.0 points a year ago, transferred to Vanderbilt. Davis also lost senior guard Caleb Fuller, who averaged 12.1 points, to Montana State.

The Aggies’ best player is 6-foot-4 junior guard Elijah Pepper, who averaged 15.1 points and had five games of at least 20 last season. Pepper is a two-time All-Big West second-team selection who was voted by the league’s coaches to the preseason first team.

Davis also features senior Christian Anigwe, a 6-9 forward who produced 9.9 points and 5.7 rebounds last season. He is the younger brother of Cal alum Kristine Anigwe, the all-time scoring and rebounding leader for the women’s program.

Cover photo of Cal senior center Lars Thiemann by Stephen R. Sylvanie, USA Today

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