Cal Basketball: Bears Face Stiff Test in Return to Pac-12 Play at No. 21 Oregon
CAL (5-4, 0-2 Pac-12) at No. 21 OREGON (6-1, 1-0 Pac-12)
WHERE: Matthew Knight Arena, Eugene, OR
WHEN: Thursday, 7 p.m.
TV/RADIO: Pac-12 Network/810-AM
CAL-OREGON HISTORY: Cal leads 84-64 but Oregon has won the past seven meetings and nine of the past 10. The Bears’ most recent win in Eugene was in 2016. Oregon is 70-16 vs. Pac-12 teams at Matthew Knight Arena since it opened in 2011, but Cal's 4-4 record in the building is the best among any school in the conference.
*** Grad transfer Ryan Betley talks about the Bears' recent progress in the video above
CAL STORYLINES: The Bears, resuming Pac-12 play, carry a three-game win streak to Oregon. But they are 0-3 in road games this season and 2-23 on their opponents' home floor since the start of the 2018-19 season . . . Cal expects to have Pac-10 scoring leader Matt Bradley (19.1 points) back after the junior wing missed the two previous games with a sprained ankle. Bradley also leads the conference with four 20-point games and has averaged 16.7 points in three career games vs. the Ducks . . . Graduate senior guards Ryan Betley (Penn) and Makale Foreman (Stony Brook), average 10.9 and 9.7 points, respectively, and have combined to make 40 3-point baskets. Both players passed 1,000 career points this season, as did Bradley . . . Sophomore point guard Joel Brown has averaged 11.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists the past two games . . . Cal still is without senior forward Grant Anticevich (10.3 points, 5.9 rebounds), who underwent an emergency appendectomy on Dec. 17. His return date is uncertain.
OREGON STORYLINES: The Ducks have won six straight games since losing their opener to Missouri. Oregon has beaten Seton Hall, USF and Washington . . . The Ducks are coming off an 80-41 win over Portland win which they held the Pilots to 21-percent shooting . . . The Ducks are 4-0 at home this season and have won their past 26 games at Matthew Knight Arena, equal to the fourth-longest active streak in the nation and second-longest in program history . . . coach Dana Altman has posted 675 career Division I coaching victories to tie Denny Crum for No. 24 on the all-time. Next up with 677 wins is former Stanford and Cal coach Mike Montgomery . . . Oregon starts four players who stand 6-foot-6, led by senior Eugene Omoruyi (18.1 points, 4.6 rebounds) and senior guard Chris Duarte (15.4 points, 4.9 rebounds). Omoruyi, a transfer from Rutgers, has scored in double figures every game this season and ranks third in the Pac-12 in scoring . . . The Ducks still are awaiting the return of All-Pac-12 guard Will Richardson, who had thumb surgery on Dec. 2 and is expected to be sidelined another couple weeks.
CAL GAME NOTES: Click here
OREGON GAME NOTES: Click here
.
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo
