Cal Basketball: Bears to Face Kansas State, Butler at Haas Pavilion This Season
Cal basketball will welcome opponents from two high-profile conferences to Haas Pavilion this season when Kansas State visits on Friday, Nov. 11 and Butler comes to Berkeley on Saturday, Dec. 10.
Cal has signed home-and-home agreements with both schools, with both games this season set for Haas.
The return games will see Cal playing at Butler’s famed Hinkle Fieldhouse at Indianapolis on Dec. 9, 2023 and the Bears visiting K-State in Manhattan, Kansas, on a date to be determined during the 2024-25 season.
Cal is 1-6 all-time vs. Kansas State and is playing Butler for the first time. The Bears are familiar with new Bulldogs coach Thad Matta, whose Ohio State teams beat Cal during the 2007-08 and 2009-10 seasons.
Both visitors will feature new coaches this season. Kansas State fired Bruce Weber after 10 seasons, including three straight losing campaigns. The Wildcats were 14-17 overall, 6-12 in the Big 12 last season and are just 13-41 in conference play over three seasons.
New coach Jerome Tang comes to K-State after a two-decade run as an assistant coach at Baylor, which he helped guide to an NCAA title in 2021.
Tang could not keep top returnee Nigel Pack (17.4 points, 44-percent 3-point), who transferred to Miami.
The Wildcats, picked to finish last in the Big 12, will be led by 5-foot-8 senior point guard Markquis Nowell (12.4 points, 5.0 assists), a Big 12 All-Defensive Team pick last season, and 6-9 forward Ismal Massoud (6.8 points), who came to Kansas State last season after two years at Wake Forest.
Butler moved on from coach LaVall Jordan after going 14-19, 6-14 in the Big East last season. That prompted the return of Matta, who began his head-coaching career at Butler in 2000-01, spending one season at the school before being hired at Xavier.
Matta coached Xavier for three seasons then was brought in at Ohio State, where he was 337-123 in 13 seasons through 2016-17.
The Bulldogs return junior guard Chuck Harris, the team’s top scorer the past two years and a former Big East All-Freshman pick. Matta has bolstered his roster through the transfer portal, adding 6-11 center Manny Bates (147 career blocked shots) from North Carolina State, defensive specialist Eric Hunter Jr. from Purdue and forward Ali Ali, who averaged 13.9 points last season at Akron.
The website heatcheckcbb.com picked Butler in the second division of the Big East but listed the Bulldogs as a sleeper team.
Cal has yet to release its entire non-conference schedule for this season, although the Bears will play Nov. 25-26 at the Emerald Coast Classic in Niceville, Florida. Cal opens the event against TCU, then will play either Clemson or Iowa.
Cover photo of Butler coach Thad Matta courtesy of Butler Athletics
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo
