Cal Basketball: Bears Hoping To Halt Six-Game Skid as Utah Visits
CAL (7-14, 2-12 Pac-12) vs. UTAH (8-7, 5-6 Pac-12)
WHERE: Haas Pavilion, Berkeley
WHEN: Thursday, 3 p.m.
TV/RADIO: Pac-12 Network/810-AM
CAL-STANFORD HISTORY: Cal leads 18-17 and is 9-4 at home vs. the Utes. The Bears beat Utah 72-63 in Salt Lake City on Jan. 16, and have won the past two meetings. The Bears have not swept Utah in a season series since the 2012-13 season.
VIDEO ABOVE: Coach Mark Fox talks about sophomore point guard Joel Brown’s shooting. Brown has improved his 3-point accuracy from 31 percent last year to 46 percent this season, but he continues to struggle at the free throw line, where he made 40 percent as a freshman and has improved to just 49 percent so far this season.
CAL STORYLINES: Losers of six straight after dropping a home-and-home vs. Stanford last week, the Bears take on the team against whom they scored their most recent victory. Matt Bradley, who leads the Bears in scoring (18.4 points), did not play (ankle) when the teams met in SLC but four players scored double digits, led by Grant Anticevich with 14 points. . . . During their six-game skid, the Bears are averaging just 59.6 points, shooting 39 percent from the field and are at minus-5.0 on the boards, but coach Mark Fox says the team's biggest season-long issue is defense. . . Sophomore guard Jared Hyder, a transfer from Fresno State, scored his Cal career-high 13 points Sunday against Stanford . . . Brown is averaging 8.6 points over the past five games, including three double-digit outings . . . In five games since returning to the lineup, Bradley is averaging 19.4 points and shooting 47 percent on 3’s . . . Senior transfer Makale Foreman converted 38 percent on 3-pointers and averaged 10.5 points the first 14 games this season, but his minutes have dropped the past seven games, while scoring just 4.6 points on 20 percent from deep, including 1-for-12 the past four outings.
UTAH STORYLINES: The Utes are 3-1 since losing at home to Cal, with road wins over Washington State and Colorado and a home victory vs. Arizona . . . The Utes are led by junior forward Timmy Allen, who averages 16.9 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists. He is among six players nationally, including Oklahoma State super-freshman Cade Cunningham, who were posting at least 16.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists through play on Sunday . . . Allen’s 1,145 career points rank him ninth among active Pac-12 players, eight points behind Cal’s Bradley. Their point totals are highest among Pac-12 juniors . . . Senior guard Alfonso Plummer (13.5 points) came off the bench to score 23 second-half points as the Utes rallied from 19 points down to win 77-74 at Colorado on Jan. 30 . . . After five consecutive 20-win seasons, which led to two NCAA tournament bids and three NIT berths, the Utes are 41-31 the past three seasons, including this year . . .
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UTES GAME NOTES: Click here
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Cover photo of Joel Brown by Patrick Breen, Arizona Republic
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo
