Cal Looks to End 3-Game Skid in Saturday's Game at Arizona

CAL (7-11, 2-9 Pac-12) at ARIZONA (12-4, 6-4 Pac-12)

WHERE: McKale Center, Tucson, Arizona

WHEN: Saturday, 2 p.m. Pacific time

TV/RADIO: Pac-12 Networks/810-AM

CAL-ARIZONA HISTORY: Arizona leads the alltime series 67-31, and the Wildcats have defeated Cal eight times in a row, including a 68-52 victory over the Bears in their only matchup last season. The Wildcats have won 12 of the past 13 meetings, with Cal's only win in that span being a 74-73 victory in Berkeley during the 2015-16 season. Arizona has won the last six games against Cal that were played in Tucson, and the Bears' most recent win at McKale Center was eight years ago, a 77-69 Cal win in the 2012-13 season.

CAL STORYLINES: .Cal is coming off a 72-68 loss at Arizona State on Thursday that dropped the Bears into last place in the Pac-12. Arizona State, Washington and Washington State also have just two conference wins, but all three have fewer Pac-12 losses than Cal, which is the only Pac-12 team that has not had a conference game postponed yet. . . . The Bears have lost three straight games, and Thursday's defeat dropped the Bears' road record this season to 1-7 . . . Matt Bradley was Cal's top scorer against the Sun Devils with 26 points on 8-for-20 shooting from the field. That was one point shy of his season and career high and his biggest offensive output since returning from his five-game absence that resulted from an ankle injury, He is averaging 17.9 points for the season, which ranks fourth in the Pac-12 . . . The Bears have attempted (374) and made (128) the most three-point shots in the conference, and their 34.2 percent shooting from long range ranks sixth in the conference . . . Cal's Makale Foreman (2.2) and Ryan Betley (2.1) rank fourth and sixth, respectively, in the Pac-12 in three-pointers made per game. . . . Andre Kelly had his first double-double of the season in the loss to Arizona State, collecting 16 points and 13 rebounds. He is averaging 10.2 points and 6.2 rebounds for the season. . . Grant Anticevich had been productive offensive in the three games before Thursday, averaging 16.7 points while hitting 8-of-11 three-point shots. But against Arizona State, he scored just five points on 1-for-7 shooting, including 1-for-5 from long range. . . . Cal has been one of the worst offensive rebounding teams in the country this season, but the Bears had 15 offensive boards against Arizona State, which had just five offensive rebounds.

ARIZONA STORYLINES: The Wildcats had their three-game winning streak halted on Thursday by Stanford, which was missing three starters but beat Arizona 73-64 in Tucson. . . The Wildcats will not play in the NCAA tournament this year no matter what its record is because Arizona self-imposed a postseason ban as a result of the NCAA investigation stemming from the 2017 federal investigation into corruption in college basketball and college basketball recruiting. ESPN and The Athletic reported in October that Arizona had been hit with nine NCAA violations . . . Arizona leads the Pac-12 in scoring, averaging 79.3 points per game, and it is third in field-goal percentage at 45.6 percent . . . Arizona is 8-3 in home games this season . . . The Wildcats were picked to finish fifth in the preseason Pac-12 poll . . . Arizona has not had a single case of COVID-19 in its basketball program this season but has had eight games canceled or postponed because of its opponents' issues . . . Guard James Akinjo is Arizona's leading scorer (14.5 points per game) and top assist man (5.6 per game), although he is shooting just 36.4 percent from the field. . . Arizona's two freshmen -- Azuolas Tubelis (10.8 points, 6.3 rebounds) and Bennedict Mathurin (11.7 points, 4.9 rebounds) -- have been improving since the start of the season, although Tubelis had a rare off game against Stanford, collecting just four points on 1-for-9 shooting and four rebounds. Mathurin suffered an ankle injury in the game prior to the Stanford contest and was limited to 10 points and four rebounds against Stanford. . . . Saturday's game may be the last one Arizona plays without guard Kerr Kriisa, who is expected to eligible next week.

CAL GAME NOTES: Click here

ARIZONA STATISTICS: Click here

Cover photo of James Akinjo by Patrick Breen via Imagn Content Services, LLC

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