Cal Basketball: Mark Madsen Era Begins on Nov. 6 at Haas vs. St. Thomas

New Cal men’s basketball coach Mark Madsen will unveil his team in a Monday, Nov. 6 season opener at Haas Pavilion against St. Thomas of Minnesota.

The Bears, expected to rebound from a calamitous 3-29 campaign in 2022-23, will play four home games over the first 11 days of the season.

Cal’s non-conference home schedule includes a total of six games, highlighted by a visit from Bay Area neighbor Santa Clara on Saturday, Dec. 2.

St. Thomas is in the process of vaulting from Division III to Division I, having last year compiled a 19-14 record, including 9-9 and a tie for fourth place in the Summit League.

The Tommies competed well in a 72-60 road loss to then-No. 9 Creighton, although they were routed 95-66 at Utah.

St. Thomas is led by 6-foot-6 left-handed forward Parker Bjorklund, who averaged 15.1 points and 5.5 rebounds to earn second-team all-conference honors.

Cal will be play subsequent home games on Nov. 10 vs. Pacific, Nov. 14 vs. Cal State Bakersfield and Nov. 16 vs. Montana State.

After facing Santa Clara, the Bears close out their non-conference schedule on Dec. 20 vs. UC San Diego at Haas.

Tipoff times for Cal’s six home games have yet to be announced.

The Bears will play five non-conference games away from home, including a Saturday, Dec. 9 game at Butler — their only true road game during pre-conference play — and a Saturday. Dec. 16 matchup vs. Ole Miss in San Antonio.

Butler is coming off a 14-18 campaign, including a ninth-place finish in the Big East, in coach Thad Matta’s debut season. It was the third straight losing season for the Bulldogs, who made back-to-back national championship game appearances in 2010 and ’11.

Cal lost 82-58 to Butler last season when the teams met in Berkeley.

Most of Matta’s 2022-23 team is gone, including the top four scorers, but he has reloaded with six transfers, including Posh Alexander of St.John’s, DJ Davis of UC Irvine, Kahmyl Telfort of Northeastern and Pierre Brooks II of Michigan State.

Ole Miss was 12-21 last season and finished next-to-last in the Southeastern Conference with a 3-15 mark.

New coach Chris Beard, fired last season by Texas after he was charged with a third-degree felony for family violence, has brought in nine new players, including 7-1 center Moussa Cisse of Oklahoma State, guard Allen Flanagan of Auburn and guard Brandon Murray, former of Georgetown and LSU.

Cal previously had announced three games during Thanksgiving week at San Juan Capistrano.

The Bears will play in the SoCal Challenge, involving Bradley, UTEP and Tulane, on Nov. 20 and 22, and will face 2023 Final Four participant San Diego State in the SoCal Showcase on Nov. 25.

All three of those games will be held at The Pavilion in San Juan Capistrano.