Cal Men's Basketball Opens Pac-12 Play on Dec. 2

Game against Oregon State appears to be the Golden Bears' earliest conference opener in history

Cal’s men’s basketball team will start Pac-12 conference play early this season, beginning with a home game against Oregon State on Dec. 2, as noted in the Pac-12 schedules announced Thursday.

Dec. 2 appears to be the earliest date that the Golden Bears have ever played a conference game. In last year’s pandemic-influenced season, Cal began Pac-12 play on December 3, but prior to that the last time Cal had played a conference game before Christmas was the 1988-89 season.

And though dates of Cal games before 1940 are elusive, it appears the Bears have never played a conference game before Dec. 2.

The Golden Bears will play one more Pac-12 game before Christmas, when they face Utah in Salt Lake City on Dec. 5. Cal won’t play its third conference game until the week of Dec. 29 to January 5.

Cal has not announced its 2021-22 nonconference schedule, but the Golden Bears are scheduled to face Southern Utah at home on Nov. 18, then travel to Fort Myers, Fla., to play Florida on Nov. 22.

The early start for conference play is necessitated because Pac-12 teams will play 20 conference games in 2021-22, just as they were scheduled to do last season. Prior to that Pac-12 teams played just 18 conference games.

The rest of the Bears’ Pac-12 schedule is listed below, with approximate dates.

The announcement indicates the games being played and the home/away designations each week of the Pac-12 regular season. Specific dates and times for each game within a week will be announced later this summer after selections by the league's television partners are finalized. All 120 Pac-12 games will be televised by Pac-12 Network or ESPN/2/U or FOX/FS1 or CBS.

Cal is entering its third season under head coach Mark Fox after finishing the 2020-21 season with a 9-20 record, including 3-17 in the Pac-12. Cal returns two of the four players who averaged eight points or more last season, but leading scorer Matt Bradley transferred to San Diego State in the offseason, and Ryan Betley opted not to return for another season.

2021-22 Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Early-Season Games

» Dec. 2 – vs. Oregon State

» Dec. 5 – at Utah

2021-22 Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Weekly Matchups

» Dec. 29-Jan. 2 – at Stanford

» Jan. 5-9 – vs. UCLA/USC

» Jan. 12-16 – at Washington/Washington State

» Jan. 19-23 – vs. Arizona/Arizona State

» Jan. 26-30 – at UCLA/USC

» Feb. 2-6 – vs. Washington/Washington State

» Feb. 9-13 – at Oregon/Oregon State

» Feb. 16-20 – vs. Colorado/Utah

» Feb. 23-27 – vs. Stanford

» March 2-5 – at Arizona/Arizona State

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Cover photo of Mark Fox by Jeffrey Swinger, USA TODAY Sports

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