BERKELEY – The California men's basketball team will play its third of four consecutive home games to open the season against CSU Bakersfield on Monday night in Haas Pavilion. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. PST with the Pac-12 Network televising the nonconference contest.
 
After opening the Mark Madsen era with a 71-66 victory over St. Thomas (Minn.) last Monday, Cal (1-1) was tripped up by Pacific in an 87-79 loss on Friday. Jaylon Tyson impressed with a 20-point, 11-rebound double-double in his Cal debut in the loss on Friday, one day after his waiver for immediate eligibility was approved by the NCAA. He was one of three Golden Bears – along with Jalen Cone (22 points) and Fardaws Aimaq (18) – to scored 18-plus in the contest.
 
GAME INFORMATION

• Date & Time: Monday, Nov. 13 | 7 p.m. PST

• Location: Berkeley, California | Haas Pavilion
• Watch: Pac-12 Network (Bay Area) | Roxy Bernstein (PxP) & Don Maclean (Analyst)
• Listen: 810 AM & The Varsity Network App | Justin Allegri (PxP) & Theo Robertson (Analyst)
• Live Stats: StatBroadcast

 
INSIDE THE MATCHUP
Monday marks the fifth all-time meeting between Cal and CSU Bakersfield (1-1). The Roadrunners have won the past two head-to-head contests, most recently in the first round of the 2017 NIT in Berkeley. CSU Bakersfield opened the 2023-24 season with a 73-72 win against Southern Utah before losing on the road at No. 21 USC, 85-59, last Thursday.
 
Head coaches Mark Madsen and Rod Barnes have clashed twice, splitting two meetings in the 2019-20 season while Madsen was in his first year at Utah Valley and the Roadrunners were in their final year as a member of the Western Athletic Conference.
 
NOTEWORTHY

• Cal's season-opening win against St. Thomas on Nov. 6 featured 15 lead changes and seven ties. The Tommies led 60-56 with 6:45 remaining before the Bears closed the game on a 15-6 run to give Mark Madsen his first victory as Cal's head coach.
• Cal's overhauled roster features seven new scholarship players, highlighted by a four-man transfer class of Fardaws Aimaq, Jalen Cone, Keonte Kennedy and Jaylon Tyson. The three graduate transfers of the group – Aimaq, Cone and Kennedy – have played a combined 300 collegiate games, including 114 by Cone, who has scored 1,607 career points, including a team-high 22 last Friday.
• Aimaq's 16-point, 11-rebound double-double in the season opener was the 45th of his stat-stuffed collegiate career. He arrived at Cal with the seventh most double-doubles among all active players nationally. Aimaq, the first transfer signee to join the Bears this past offseason, was named to the Preseason All-Pac-12 Second Team. He was the 2021 Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year and a two-time WAC Defensive Player of the Year under Madsen at Utah Valley.
• Cal retained key players from last year's roster, including senior guard Devin Askew, sophomore forward Grant Newell, and redshirt junior Jalen Celestine among others. Askew scored nine points – including the go-ahead bucket with 41 seconds to play vs. St. Thomas – in each of Cal's first two games and grabbed a career-high eight rebounds against Pacific. Celestine made a triumphant return to the court in the season debut, scoring a career-high 21 points in his first game in 607 days after missing the entire 2022-23 season with a knee injury.
• Cal's physicality has led to 53 free-throw attempts through two games, including 31 Friday. Cal is third in the Pac-12 with 18.5 makes per game.

 
UP NEXT
The Bears' four-game homestand concludes Thursday against Montana State. The contest will be televised on the Pac-12 Network at 8 p.m. PST.
 
STAY POSTED
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