BERKELEY – The California men's basketball team will open its two-game swing through Los Angeles against USC on Thursday night at the Galen Center. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. PST and the contest will be televised on FS1.
 
Both squads enter their second head-to-head meeting of the season coming off of losses last week; Cal (3-22, 2-12 Pac-12) suffered a sweep at home by Arizona and Arizona State while the Trojans (17-8, 9-5) came up empty-handed on the road at Oregon and Oregon State. USC won the first meeting against Cal 66-51 on Nov. 30 when the two teams clashed in their Pac-12 opener.
 
Alex Faust and Casey Jacobsen have the call for FS1.
 
GAME INFORMATION

• Date & Time: Thursday, February 16 | 7 p.m. PST
• Location: Berkeley, California | Haas Pavilion
• Watch: FS1 | Alex Faust (PxP) & Casey Jacobsen (Analyst)
• Listen: 810 AM & The Varsity App | Rich Cellini (PxP)
• Live Stats: USCTrojans.com

 
NOTEWORTHY

• The Golden Bears have held three of their last four foes – Colorado, Utah and Arizona State – to a combined field-goal percentage of 35.7%. Cal's 3-point field-goal defense was particularly stout in those contests, as the three opponents shot just 28% (21 of 75) from behind the arc.
• Grant Newell and Monty Bowser scored a team-high 14 points apiece in Cal's overtime loss to Arizona State on Feb. 11. It was a career high for Bowser while Newell registered his fifth game with double-figure points this season.
• Newell is the first Cal freshman with multiple double-doubles (2) in the same season since Ivan Rabb (12) and Jaylen Brown (4) did so in 2015-16.
• Sam Alajiki scored in double figures against both Arizona (12 points) and Arizona State (11) last week, marking the first time he's scored 10-plus in back-to-back games. He knocked down three 3-pointers in each contest and is averaging 8.5 points per game in his past nine contests.
• Joel Brown has continued to do the heavy lifting at the point guard position, playing a team-leading 32.2 minutes per game. He dished out 12 assists to just four turnovers in Cal's past two games and has averaged 7.3 PPG since Dec. 7 (4.3 PPG in the previous nine games to start the season).
• Lars Thiemann has scored in double figures 15 times in 25 games this season after doing so just five times in the first 92 games of his career.
• The Bears' 72.0% clip at the free-throw line ranks fifth in the Pac-12. Kuany Kuany leads the team individually at 84.3% (75 of 89).
• Cal is seeking to snap a nine-game losing streak to USC that dates back to Jan. 4, 2018. The Bears' most recent victory against USC was a 74-73 road win on Jan. 8, 2017 in Los Angeles when the Trojans were ranked 25th nationally.
• Devin Askew will miss the remainder of the season after undergoing successful surgery on a sports hernia on Feb. 1. Askew played in 13 games (all starts) in his first season with the Bears and averaged 15.5 PPG, 3.4 RPG and 3.0 APG, but had missed eight of 12 games leading up to the surgery.

 
UP NEXT
Cal will clash with No. 4 UCLA in Los Angeles on Saturday. Tipoff from Pauley Pavilion is at 7:30 p.m. PST on the Pac-12 Network.
 
STAY POSTED
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