BERKELEY – The California men's basketball team will host Oregon State on Thursday night on the front end of its final 2023-24 regular-season homestand. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. PST inside Haas Pavilion, and the contest will be televised on the Pac-12 Network.
 
GAME INFORMATION

• Date & Time: Thursday, Feb. 22 | 7 p.m. PST
• Location: Berkeley, California | Haas Pavilion
• Watch: Pac-12 Network | J.B. Long (PxP) & Don MacLean (Analyst)
• Listen: 810 AM & The Varsity Network App | Justin Allegri (PxP) & Theo Robertson (Analyst)
• Live Stats: Statbroadcast

INSIDE THE MATCHUP

• Cal and Oregon State will meet for the first and only time during the 2023-24 regular season on Thursday. Cal does not visit Corvallis this season.
• The Golden Bears (11-15, 7-8 Pac-12) lead the all-time series 91-69, but Oregon State has won two in a row and seven of 10.
• Cal has won 10 of its last 12 home games against Oregon State (11-15, 3-12) dating back to the 2009-10 season.
• A Cal win would set up an opportunity for Cal to earn its first home sweep of the Oregon schools since the 2015-16 season.

BLACK CULTURE APPRECIATION NIGHT

• Cal Athletics will continue to celebrate Black History Month with Black Culture Appreciation Night at Thursday's game.
• For more on Cal Athletics' efforts to honor and lift the voices of those making an impact in the Cal community, visit calbears.com/deibj.
• Black History Month towels will be given to the first 2,000 fans in attendance Thursday.

LAST TIME

• Jalen Celestine sank a game-winning 3-pointer with five seconds left to help Cal rally for an 82-80 victory at Washington last Saturday.
• Cal trailed 75-70 with 4:23 left to play before staging the comeback. Grant Newell scored back-to-back baskets to get Cal within a point, Celestine answered two free throws by Sahvir Wheeler with two of his own and then buried a 3-pointer after a bucket by the Huskies' Keion Brooks Jr. to knot the score at 79 with 1:40 to play.
• Jaylon Tyson scored 21 of his game-high 28 points in the first half and made 11 of 20 shots along with six assists.
• Celestine scored Cal's final eight points after going 0-of-5 shooting to start the game.
• The Bears snapped a six-game skid against Washington with the victory.

NOTEWORTHY

• Cal enters its final homestand with an 8-6 record inside Haas Pavilion. The Bears' previous three home games featured attendance figures of 8,710 vs. Stanford, 11,801 vs. USC – their first sellout and largest attendance since Jan. 29, 2017 – and 9,280 vs. UCLA.
• Jaylon Tyson's 28-point effort at Washington was his 15th game with 20-plus points this season. Tyson – one of 10 shortlisted candidates for the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award – is the only major-conference player and one of just four players nationally to average at least 20.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game this season.
• Fardaws Aimaq is one of two major-conference players averaging at least 14.7 points and 11.2 rebounds per game this season, joining Purdue's Zach Edey, the reigning consensus National Player of the Year. Aimaq's 11.2 RPG lead the Pac-12 and rank sixth nationally.
• Aimaq tallied his 17th double-double of the season at Washington, tying him with Ivan Rabb (2016-17) for the most by a Bear in the Pac-12 era. Aimaq needs four more double-doubles to break the Cal single-season record of 20, held by Mark McNamara (1981-82) and Ansley Truitt (1971-72).
• 19 of Cal's 26 games have been decided by single-digits, tied for the most nationally with UCLA and UAB. Cal is 8-11 in such games but has won four of its last five after winning only four of its first 14.
• Cal is 7-3 when holding opponents to fewer than 75 points. The Bears have allowed 69.9 PPG in 11 wins versus 81.1 PPG in 15 losses.
• Cal is the only Pac-12 team with two players that rank in the top 15 in the conference in both points and rebounds per game: Tyson (second in PPG, 20.3; fifth in RPG, 7.1) and Aimaq (15th in PPG, 14.7); first in RPG, 11.2).
• Jalen Celestine leads all qualified Pac-12 players in 3-point field-goal percentage (46.1%). He's made at least a pair from beyond the arc in 12 games this season on the way to making 35 of 76 overall.
• Jalen Cone has averaged 17.6 PPG on 58.6% (17 of 29) shooting in Cal's last three wins.
• Keonte Kennedy is sixth in the Pac-12 with 1.6 steals per game. He's swiped the rock at least once in 12 of the last 13 games, including a three-game span from Jan. 26-Feb. 3 in which he tallied 10 total steals.

UP NEXT
Cal hosts Oregon in its regular-season home finale at 4 p.m. PST Saturday in Haas Pavilion. Seven Golden Bears will be recognized during a Senior Day ceremony prior to tipoff at approximately 3:40 p.m. PST. The contest will be televised on the Pac-12 Network.
 
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