BERKELEY – California will look to end the 2022 calendar year on a high note when it welcomes Colorado to Haas Pavilion for a Pac-12 men's basketball contest at 3 p.m. PST on Saturday. Guy Haberman and Ben Braun will have the call for the Pac-12 Network.
 
The Golden Bears (1-13, 0-3 Pac-12) are going for their first conference victory after coming up short in a defensive battle with Utah on Thursday night. Despite holding the visiting Utes to 16 points less than their season average and a 39.6-percent shooting clip, Cal shot just 34.1 percent itself and lost, 58-43. Colorado (9-5, 1-2) arrives in Berkeley fresh off of a 73-70 victory at Stanford on Thursday, its fifth straight win since Dec. 8.
 
Cal's clash with Colorado is the front end of a New Year's Eve basketball doubleheader in Haas Pavilion, as the Cal women host Arizona at 7 p.m. PST. With the purchase of one ticket to the Cal-Colorado men's game, fans will receive one additional free ticket and two complimentary tickets to the Cal-Arizona women's game. Fans can unlock this offer by visiting www.calbears.com/code and enter the code: BOG3.
 
GAME INFORMATION

• Date & Time: Saturday, December 31 | 3 p.m. PST
• Location: Berkeley, California | Haas Pavilion
• Watch: Pac-12 Network | Guy Haberman­ (PxP) & Ben Braun (Analyst)
• Listen: 810 AM & The Varsity App | Rich Cellini (PxP)
• Live Stats: StatBroadcast

 
NOTEWORTHY

• Cal enters Saturday's game with a 14-3 home record against Colorado. The Bears are 2-1 at home against the Buffaloes under head coach Mark Fox with a win in both the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons. Colorado has won two straight games in the series, including last season's lone meeting in Berkeley.
• The Bears limited Utah to a 39.6-percent field-goal percentage on Thursday, marking the sixth time they've held an opponent under 40 percent shooting this season. The Utes ranked atop the Pac-12 in 3-point field goal percentage (37.5%) before Cal kept them to just 3-of-19 (15.8 percent) from deep.
• Cal deployed a deeper rotation against Utah, as graduate guard DeJuan Clayton made his Cal debut and leading scorer Devin Askew (16.1 points per game) returned to the court after missing the UT Arlington win on Dec. 21 with a foot injury. Clayton missed the first 13 games of the season with a hamstring injury after he was expected to be a key offensive weapon for the Bears. He scored five points to go along with two rebounds in his debut.
• Senior forward Kuany Kuany had game highs in points (12) and rebounds (8) in Cal's loss to Utah. Kuany is averaging 14.0 PPG and 7.0 RPG in the past two games and set career highs in points (16), free throws made (9) and rebounds (8) during the two-game span.
• Forward Grant Newell is the reigning Pac-12 Freshman of the Week, having posted nine points, three assists, two rebounds and a steal in Cal's win against UT Arlington on Dec. 21. He's Cal's first recipient of the Pac-12's weekly freshman honor since it was introduced during the 2019-20 season.
• Without Devin Askew on the floor against UT Arlington, the senior trio of Joel Brown, Kuany Kuany and Lars Thiemann stepped up with 50 combined points on 18-of-28 shooting. Brown led Cal in scoring for the second straight game with a career-high 17 points while Thiemann matched the scoring output and Kuany added a career-high 16 points to go along with six rebounds and four assists.
• Cal shot 56.5 percent in its win against UT Arlington, marking its highest field-goal percentage since Dec. 19, 2020 (60.8 percent vs. CSUN). The Bears are 12-3 under head coach Mark Fox when shooting above 50 percent.
• Devin Askew ranks second among all Division I players for the largest improvement in points per game from 2021-22 to 2022-23 with a +14.0 PPG difference. The junior averaged just 2.1 PPG at Texas last season and is now leading the Bears with 16.1 PPG.
• Despite an uncharacteristic effort against Utah, Cal has excelled at the free throw line this season. The Bears are third in the Pac-12 in free throw percentage (.744) while Devin Askew (.857) and Kuany Kuany (.847) are the Pac-12's only teammate duo averaging 84 percent or better at the line.

 
UP NEXT
Cal will open the new year by renewing its rivalry with Stanford on Friday, Jan. 6 in Berkeley. The final contest of Cal's four-game homestand will tip off at 6 p.m. PST inside of Haas Pavilion and will be televised on ESPNU.
 
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