BERKELEY – The California men's basketball team's season-opening homestand continues Friday night against Pacific, with the nonconference tilt set to tipoff at 8 p.m. PST inside Haas Pavilion. The Pac-12 Network will televise the contest.
 
Cal (1-0) opened the Mark Madsen era with a 71-66 victory over St. Thomas (Minn.) on Monday. Jalen Celestine scored a career-high 21 points on 7-for-10 shooting from the floor in his first game action in 607 days while Fardaws Aimaq recorded a double-double in his Cal debut with 16 points and 11 rebounds.
 
Friday's contest is expected to be Jaylon Tyson's Golden Bear debut, after the junior transfer's waiver for immediate eligibility was approved by the NCAA on Thursday. Tyson, who averaged 11.7 points and 7.1 rebounds per game last season for Texas Tech, is one of 20 watch-list members for the 2024 Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award.
 
GAME INFORMATION

• Date & Time: Friday, Nov. 10 | 8 p.m. PST

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

 
INSIDE THE MATCHUP
The Bears have won 11 straight matchups against Pacific dating back to 1955 and lead the all-time series, 27-2. The Northern California programs have met just four times in the current century, most recently including a 73-53 Cal victory in Berkeley on Dec. 22, 2021. Celestine – then a sophomore – is the only current Bear to play in that contest; he scored 12 points and pulled down seven boards. Pacific (0-1) lost its season opener to Sam Houston State, 64-57, on Monday in Stockton.
 
NOTEWORTHY

• Cal's season-opening win against St. Thomas 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 298 collegiate games, including 113 by Cone, who has scored 1,585 career points Cone scored 10 points – all in the second half – in his Cal debut on Monday.
• Aimaq's 16-point, 11-rebound double-double on Monday 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 Celestine among others. Askew tallied nine points – including the go-ahead bucket with 41 seconds to play – five rebounds and two assists on Monday while Newell scored eight points on 3-of-3 shooting despite missing the second half with an injury.
• Four Bears – Aimaq, Cone, Vladimir Pavlovic and Rodney Brown Jr. – made their Cal debuts on Monday.

 
UP NEXT
Cal will face a quick turnaround and host CSU Bakersfield on Monday in Berkeley. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. PST on the Pac-12 Network.
 
STAY POSTED
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