BERKELEY – The California men's basketball team is back on the road this week and will face Washington State on Thursday night in Pullman. The Golden Bears (10-14, 6-7 Pac-12) will go for their first regular-season sweep of the Cougars since 2019-20 when they clash at 7 p.m. PST in Beasley Coliseum.
 
GAME INFORMATION

• Date & Time: Thursday, Feb. 15 | 7 p.m. PST
• Location: Pullman, Washington | Beasley Coliseum
• Watch: Pac-12 Network | Greg Heister (PxP) & Matt Muehlebach (Analyst)
• Listen: 810 AM & The Varsity Network App | Justin Allegri (PxP)
• Live Stats: Statbroadcast

INSIDE THE MATCHUP

• The last time Cal defeated Washington State (18-6, 9-4) in Pullman was on Feb. 19, 2020.
• Cal snapped an eight-game skid to the Cougars earlier this season with an 81-75 overtime win in Berkeley on Jan. 20. Jaylon Tyson tied a career high with 30 points on 10-of-24 shooting and added nine rebounds and five assists.
• The Bears are 32-34 in Pullman.
• Washington State has won five in a row since the overtime loss in Berkeley, defeating Utah, Colorado, Washington, Oregon State and Oregon.
• The Cougars' Myles Rice was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week for the third straight week and sixth time this season on Monday.

LAST TIME

• Cal erased a 14-point second-half deficit and took a brief lead late but could not finish off UCLA in a 61-60 loss in Berkeley last Saturday.
• A crowd of 9,280 was on hand at Haas Pavilion for the last scheduled regular-season meeting between the longtime foes.
• Jaylon Tyson scored a game-high 16 points and Jalen Celestine added 13 with a career-high four 3-pointers.
• Fardaws Aimaq tallied 12 points and 12 rebounds for his third straight double-double and 16th of the season.
• The Bears entered the locker room at halftime trailing 35-24 after committing eight turnovers that led to 13 UCLA points.
• UCLA maintained a double-digit lead for the first six minutes of the second half before Cal got back into contention. Aimaq's putback off a Tyson miss gave Cal its last lead at 57-56 with 36 seconds remaining, but Dylan Andrews' jumper 12 seconds later gave UCLA the lead for good.

NOTEWORTHY

• Jaylon Tyson is the only power-conference player averaging at least 20.1 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game this season. He's scored 20-plus points 14 times – including a stretch of six straight games to open Pac-12 play – and has totaled eight double-doubles.
• Tyson is one of 10 shortlisted candidates for the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award.
• Fardaws Aimaq (15.1 PPG, 11.1 RPG) is one of just two power-conference players averaging at least 15.0 points and 11.0 rebounds per game this season, joining Purdue's Zach Edey (23.3 PPG, 11.7 RPG), the reigning National Player of the Year.
• Aimaq has posted 16 double-doubles this season, the most in the Pac-12, the fourth most nationally and the most by a Bear since Ivan Rabb had 17 in 2016-17. Eight of those 16 double-doubles have come in 13 Pac-12 games, including each of the past three contests.
• Aimaq is averaging 15.6 PPG and 15.3 RPG in three games since Feb. 3.
• Cal has won two of its past four road games (at UCLA, Jan. 6; at Arizona State, Feb. 3) after losing the previous 16 in a row dating back to February 2022.
• The Bears defeated USC 83-77 in overtime last week (Feb. 7) in front of their first sold-out crowd (11,801) since Jan. 29, 2017.
• 18 of Cal's 24 games have been decided by single digits, the most in the country. The Bears have won three of their past four single-digit games, including the 81-75 overtime win against Washington State on Jan. 20.
• Cal averages 75.0 PPG this season, a 10.7-point increase from its 64.3 PPG average over the past six seasons (2017-23). It's also a 16.7-point jump from last season's 58.3 PPG.
• Cal has scored 80-plus points five times in Pac-12 play, its most since the 2010-11 season (seven times).
• Cal is 7-3 this season when holding its opponent to fewer than 75 points. The Bears are allowing 68.9 PPG in 10 wins, versus 80.9 PPG in 14 losses.
• Jalen Cone averaged 19.5 PPG on 66.7% shooting – 12 of 18 overall and 8 of 12 from 3 – in Cal's most recent pair of wins at Arizona State (Feb. 3) and vs. USC (Feb. 7). His 6-of-9 shooting effort against USC was the first time in 34 career 20-point games that he's done so on fewer than 10 field-goal attempts.
• Jalen Celestine is first among qualified Pac-12 players in 3-point field-goal percentage (47.8%, 32 of 67). That 47.8% clip would rank Celestine fourth on Cal's single-season list.

UP NEXT
Cal meets Washington at 5 p.m. PST on Saturday in Seattle. The Pac-12 Network will televise the contest from Alaska Airlines Arena.
 
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