A split series in Washington leads Cal back to Haas Pavilion one last time as a member of the Pac-12 where it will host Oregon State and Oregon.
A Jalen Celestine 3-point dagger in the Emerald City broke the hearts of the Huskies and snapped a two-game losing skid to bring the Bears back to their den one last time this season.
Cal will host Oregon State for the first of a two-game homestand, then will welcome Oregon for its Senior Day.
Since becoming the Pac-12 in 2011, the Haas Pavilion has played host to 223 games. In those games, the Bears have successfully defended their home court 136 times and will have two final opportunities against their rivals from the north to add to that total.
Cal at 11-15 (7-8 Pac-12) enters its Thursday night matchup against 11-15 (3-12) Oregon State winning five of its last eight games, while the Beavers have dropped six straight contests, winning just two of the last eight.
In that stretch, Cal has managed to score 73.8 points per game while Oregon State has averaged nearly 10 fewer points at 64.5 points per game.
On the season, the Beavers have been much more defensively sound, ranking third in the Pac-12 in opponent points per game (71.9) in comparison to the Bears who rank 11th (76.3).
Though not the defensive anchor Oregon State is, Cal is a team that can score bunches in a hurry, scoring 80-plus points six times in Pac-12 play — the most since its 2010-11 campaign — and has a knack for keeping games close with a nation leading 19 of its 26 games (8-11 record) being decided by single digits.
Noteworthy enough, the Beavers have yet to win a road game and the Bears play their best brand of basketball at home with an 8-6 record.
Leading the pack is none other than the standout transfer guard from Texas Tech, Jaylon Tyson.
Tyson currently ranks 24th in the nation in points per game (20.3) and second to Washington’s Keion Brooks Jr. (21.2) in the Pac-12.
The 6-foot-7 guard is also the Pac-12’s fifth-highest rebounder (7.1) and is the lone guard in the top 10.
Running the floor beside Tyson is fellow Texas Tech transfer Fardaws Aimaq who pairs his conference-leading 11.2 rebounds per game with 14.7 points per game (15th in Pac-12) to make Cal the only team in the conference to have two players in the top 15 in both points and rebounds.
“I’m just incredibly proud of our guys,” said Cal head coach Mark Madsen after Saturday’s thriller in Seattle.
The second in the Bears’ final homestand comes against the 17-8 (9-5) Oregon Ducks. The Ducks who started 13-3 have since gone 4-5 as they head to Stanford before crossing the Bay to Berkeley.
The last 10 meetings between these two teams have been in massive favor of the Ducks, holding a 9-1 record over the Bears.
Oregon excels at forcing opponent turnovers (12.6 per game) and limits its own (10.6 per game). It plays its best in transition and has five players averaging double-digit points; Cal only has three.
But, the edge that the blue and gold hold is the rebounding margins, and its conference-high 25.3 3-pointer attempts per game gives it the ability to match any run.
Outside of Tyson and Aimaq, Cal must look towards its unsung hero, Celestine to continue shooting a career-high 46.1% from three and Keonte Kennedy to bring his unmatched defensive energy to stop a Senior Day spoiler by the Ducks and to avoid a season sweep.
The Bears, after a rocky start to the season, have found their stride and enter the back-end of their season playing their best basketball, building momentum as they inch closer to the Pac-12 tournament.
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