California Golden Bears Athletics

California, ranked 14th nationally in both the Associated Press and USA Today preseason polls, opens the 2015-16 season Friday at home against Rice. Tipoff from Haas Pavilion is slated for 8:30 p.m. and the game will be televised on Pac-12 Bay Area and available for viewing on the Pac-12 Now app and Pac-12.com.

The Golden Bears enter the campaign with a lineup that features three returning starters and a recruiting class that has been rated among the five best in the country. The blend of veterans and newcomers has Cal picked to finish second in the Pac-12 this year.

Senior Tyrone Wallace, a first-team All-Pac-12 selection last season, leads Cal onto the court. Averaging 17.1 ppg, 7.1 rpg and 4.0 apg a year ago, he was the only player in the Pac-12 to rate among the top 5 in each category. Juniors Jordan Mathews (13.6 ppg) and Jabari Bird (10.5 ppg) also contributed double-figure points in 2014-15.

Head coach Cuonzo Martin, in his second campaign in Berkeley, welcomes three talented freshman to the roster in forwards Ivan Rabb, Jaylen Brown and Roman Davis. Rabb and Brown are considered two of the top 10 freshmen recruits in the nation. Junior Stephen Domingo will also be making his debut after transferring before last season from Georgetown.

Full Court Friday on Pac-12 Network
With nine home openers in the conference Friday, the Pac-12 Network is televising all of them on its Full Court Friday. The national network will move from game to game, providing viewers with portions of live coverage from all nine contests. Mike Yam, Kevin O'Neill and Lamar Hurd will lead the coverage from Pac-12 Studios in San Francisco. The entire Cal-Rice game will air on Pac-12 Bay Area starting 8:30 p.m., as the regional networks will be home to full game telecasts of the teams in their respective regions. When each regional network does not have a full live game on, it will switch to the game-to-game coverage.

Bears Cruise in Exhibition Win
Five Bears scored in double figures, led by 17 points from freshman Jaylen Brown, as Cal ran past Carroll College of Montana, 93-58, in an exhibition game Monday night. After spotting Carroll a 7-3 lead, the Bears ran off 20 consecutive points and were never threatened. In addition to Brown, senior Tyrone Wallace added 15 points, junior Jordan Mathews had 14, junior Stephen Domingo 13 and freshman Ivan Rabb 11 points and 11 rebounds. Cal shot 53.1% from the floor (34-64) and made 13-of-29 shots from three-point range (44.8%).

New Look to Haas Pavilion
Thanks to a generous $10 million gift from the Evelyn and Walter A. Haas Jr. Fund, Haas Pavilion received much needed improvements before the start of the 2015-16 season. The upgrades include a new center-hung scoreboard with additional LED boards around the arena, an enhanced sound system, an enlarged and modernized video control room, and improved lighting for the court.

Preseason Top 25
Cal is ranked among the nation's top 25 in both the AP and USA Today preseason polls for the first time since the 2009-10 season when the Bears were 12th in the USA Today and 13th in the Associated Press rankings. The Bears come in at No. 14 in both polls at the start of this year. In addition, Sports Illustrated pegs Cal at 13th in its preseason rankings and ESPN has the Bears at No. 12 in its preseason power rankings.

The Ones to Watch
Four Golden Bears are on preseason positional player of the year watch lists as announced by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. They are:

• Tyrone Wallace - Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award
• Jordan Mathews - Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award
• Jaylen Brown - Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award
• Ivan Rabb - Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award

We're No. 1
Generally considered the top-ranked public school in the world, Cal has held the No. 1 spot among the U.S. News & World Report rankings of public national universities for 17 consecutive years. In it's Best Global Universities ratings, U.S. News places Cal third overall behind only Harvard and MIT.

Wallace Top 5 in 3 Categories
One of the best all-around players in the country, Tyrone Wallace completed his junior season in 2014-15 as the only player in the Pac-12 to rank among the top five in the conference in scoring (5th, 17.1 ppg), rebounding (4th, 7.1 rpg) and assists (4.0 rpg). All three categories were career highs for the 6-5 guard. He tallied a high of 29 points in a win at Nevada on Dec. 7, 2014, and set a personal best with 15 rebounds vs. Montana four days earlier.

Wallace Movin' Up Scoring List
Tyrone Wallace enters his senior season with 1,196 points, which ranks 25th on Cal's all-time scoring list. He needs 20 points to pass Doug True (1997-80) for the 24th spot.

21. Brian Wethers (2000-03). 1,239
22. Ryan Anderson (2007-08) 1,236
23. Jorge Gutierrez (2009-12). 1,232
24. Doug True (1977-80) 1,215
25. Tyrone Wallace (2013-present) 1,196

Rooks Return to Active Roster
Kameron Rooks is healthy and ready for action after missing all of last year rehabbing a tear of his left ACL, an injury that occurred prior to the start of the season. The 7-0 sophomore center returned to play in all four games during Cal's summer tour of Australia, contributing 4.3 ppg and 3.0 rpg.

Domingo Ready for Debut
Junior Stephen Domingo is ready to make his Cal debut when he steps onto the court this season. A transfer from Georgetown, he sat out last year, his first in Berkeley. Domingo, who starred at St. Ignatius Prep in San Francisco, saw limited action over two campaigns with the Hoyas. Now a business administration major at Cal, he averaged 4.3 ppg and 3.8 rpg during Cal's four games in Australia over the summer.

Bears Enjoy Themselves Down Under
Prior to the start of the 2015-16 season, the Bears embarked on a four-game tour of Australia in August where they got a chance to bond as a team, do some sightseeing and win three of four contests over a 12-day trip.

“I thought we got everything we wanted to get out of the trip except four wins,” head coach Cuonzo Martin said. “We competed, we played hard, we played together, we defended, we worked hard, we dove on the floor, and we rebounded. Overall, I thought we played as one, and we played with energy and passion.”

Five Bears averaged in double figures, led by freshman Jaylen Brown's 17.8 ppg. Jabari Bird contributed 15.8 ppg, with Tyrone Wallace adding 14.8 ppg, Jordan Mathews 13.8 ppg and Ivan Rabb 12.8 ppg.

Freshman Class Earns Top 5 National Rating
Cal's recruiting class that features Ivan Rabb, Jaylen Brown and Roman Davis has been ranked among the best in the country. ESPN.com placed the Bears at No. 5, while Scout.com put Cal at No. 3, and Rivals.com and 247sports.com list the Bears at seventh.

Guard Trio Returns
The Bears sported a trio of guards - Tyrone Wallace, Jordan Mathews and Jabari Bird - that accounted for 57.1 percent of Cal's scoring average last season. Wallace and Mathews both played in all 33 games and led the Bears in scoring at 17.1 ppg and 13.6 ppg, respectively. Bird contributed 10.5 ppg playing in 23 contests (missed 10 games with a foot injury). The trio combined to shoot .391 from three-point range, knocking down 129 of the 330 shots they attempted from beyond the arc. All three are back for another year together this season.

'Real Talk' with the Bears
While the Bears practice, play and train during the season, meetings in Cal's locker room below the court level at Haas Pavilion tackle a different subject far from the view from their fans. One-hour “Real Talk” sessions held each weekend and moderated by director of operations Marco Harris provide opportunities to discuss just about any subject except basketball. Themes and topics can range from dealing with tough times and difficult situations, to morals and family crises. Head coach Cuonzo Martin introduced Real Talks when he was head coach at Missouri State and has carried them with him over the course of his career.

A Promise to His Grandfather
After his junior season ended last March, Tyrone Wallace explored skipping his senior year for a chance at the NBA. But after careful consultations, he elected to remain in school. One of the primary factors was a promise he made to his grandfather, who since passed away, that he would finish his studies and be the first in his family to earn a college degree. Wallace is on track to receive his bachelor's degree in social welfare this spring.

Wallace on Lute Olson Watch List
Senior Tyrone Wallace is one of the 30 student-athletes on the 2015 Lute Olson Award Preseason Watch List. The award is presented annually to the nation's top Division I player who has played at least two seasons. Last year, Wallace was a finlist for the Bob Cousy Award given to the nation's top point guard.

Mathews from 3
Junior Jordan Mathews, who paced the Pac-12 last season when he connected at a 44.3% clip from behind the arc, has established himself as one of the best three-point shooters in school history. His rate from last year ranks 10th all-time at Cal, while his 70 made three-pointers are fourth on the school's single-season list. Career-wise, Mathews is No. 3 in Cal history at 41.8% on three-pointers, trailing only Theo Robertson (44.0%, 2006-10) and Billy Dreher (43.1%, 1991-92). With 112 three-pointers over his first two years in the program, Mathews needs 27 more to reach Cal's top 10.

Tyson Jolly Signs with Bears
Tyson Jolly, a 6-4 guard out of Oklahoma City who is considered one of the top shooting guards in the country, signed a National Letter of Intent to attend the University of California, Berkeley, on Nov. 11. He starred at Putnam City West High School, where he averaged 20.2 points, 9.1 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game as a senior in 2014-15. Named The Oklahoman's Big All-City Player of the Year that season, he is enrolled this year as a post-grad student at the Elev8 Sports Institute in Delray Beach, Florida. Jolly was a consensus top-five prospect in the state of Oklahoma, ranking second by 247Sports.cm and third by ESPN's recruiting service.

Roman Davis to Redshirt
Head coach Cuonzo Martin announced on Nov. 11 that freshman Roman Davis will use the 2015-16 season as a reshirt year.

Cal Returns to Maui in 2017
Cal will make its third all-time appearance in the Maui Jim Maui Invitational when the Golden Bears travel to Hawaii for the 2017 tournament. The field of teams that will join Chaminade at the Lahaina Civic Center also features LSU, Marquette, Michigan, Notre Dame, Virginia Commonwealth and Wichita State. The championship round of the 34th edition of the tournament will be held Nov. 20-22, 2017. Cal most recently played in Maui in the fall of 2013. The Bears defeated Arkansas, in the opening round before falling to No. 7 Syracuse and Dayton. In 1996, Cal played three consecutive top-25 teams and finished third in the field, with a win over No. 25 Iowa, a loss to No. 2 Kansas and a victory against No. 15 Massachusetts.