BERKELEY – California will open the new year by renewing its rivalry with Stanford at 6 p.m. PST on Friday in Haas Pavilion.
 
Winners in two of their past three games since Dec. 21, the Golden Bears (2-13, 1-3 Pac-12) are looking to build off of an 80-76 victory against Colorado on New Year's Eve in which they shot 58 percent from the floor and were led by a career-high 21 points from Joel Brown. Stanford (5-9, 0-4) enters the rivalry clash as the lone Pac-12 team without a conference win and has lost five of seven since the start of December.
 
The contest will be televised on ESPNU with Eric Rothman and Ben Braun on the call.
 
GAME INFORMATION

• Date & Time: Friday, January 6 | 6 p.m. PST
• Location: Berkeley, California | Haas Pavilion
• Watch: ESPNU | Eric Rothman (PxP) & Ben Braun (Analyst)
• Listen: 810 AM & The Varsity App | Rich Cellini (PxP)
• Live Stats: StatBroadcast

 
NOTEWORTHY

• Cal is 4-4 against Stanford under head coach Mark Fox, including a 2-1 record at home. The Bears suffocated Stanford 53-39 in their last meeting on Feb. 26, 2022, with Stanford's 39 points being the fewest allowed by Cal in a conference game since Feb. 2, 1985.
• The Bears' 58% field-goal percentage against Colorado on Dec. 31 was their best mark in a Pac-12 game since shooting 60% at Washington on Feb. 1, 2015. All five starters scored in double figures and Cal's top four scorers – Joel Brown (21 points), Grant Newell (13), Lars Thiemann (12) and Kuany Kuany (11) shot a combined 63.6% (21-of-33) from the floor in the win.
• Outside of a 4.5-minute, game-ending stretch that saw Colorado make 12 of its last 16 field goal attempts, Cal has clamped down defensively in its last three games. The Bears held UT Arlington (.320) and Utah (.396) under 40% shooting and limited Colorado to 36% (19-of-50) for nearly the first 36 minutes of the New Year's Eve contest.
• Joel Brown has recently paced Cal offensively, averaging 13.8 points per game in Cal's past four contests. Brown, who scored 13+ points just once in the first 100 games of his career, has done so in three of the past four, including his career-high 21 against Colorado on Dec. 31.
• Cal has deployed a deeper rotation since graduate guard DeJuan Clayton made his Golden Bear debut on Dec. 29 vs. Utah. Ten different Bears saw minutes in the win over Colorado and eight played 16 or more, including 33 by Clayton, who scored 10 points.
• Leading scorer Devin Askew (16.1 PPG) has missed three of Cal's past six games with illness or injury, including both wins vs. UT Arlington and Colorado. Askew is second nationally in the largest improvement in points per game (+14.0) from the 2021-22 season (2.1 PPG at Texas) to the 2022-23 season (16.1 PPG at Cal).
• Grant Newell posted his first career double-double (13 points, 12 rebounds) in the Colorado win. The 12 rebounds were the most by a Bear in a single game his season and the freshman is averaging 9.4 PPG and 4.6 RPG in the past five games.
• Kuany Kuany is averaging 13.0 PPG (52.6 FG%), 6.3 RPG and 1.6 BPG in the past three games (Cal 2-1 in that span).
• Cal is third among Pac-12 teams in free throw percentage (74.4%), averaging 13.4 makes in 18.0 attempts.

 
UP NEXT
Cal will open its road trip to the Pacific Northwest against Washington State on Wednesday, Jan. 11. Tipoff from Beasley Coliseum in Pullman, Washington is slated for 8 p.m. PST on ESPN2 or ESPNU.
 
STAY POSTED
For further coverage of Cal men's basketball, follow the Bears on Twitter (@CalMBBall), Instagram (@CalMBBball) and Facebook (/CalMBBall/).