UP NEXT: ACC ACTION
California wraps up an eight-game home stand by hosting its first ACC competition of the 2025-26 season next.
- On December 30, the Golden Bears (12-1) have No. 16/14 Louisville (10-2) coming to Haas Pavilion for a 6 p.m. meeting.
-   Cal's first test of the new year will see the Bears host Notre Dame (9-4) at 8 p.m. on January 2.
-   Now 12-1 overall, Cal is enjoying its best season start since 1959-60, when the Bears went 28-1 before falling in the national championship game.
-   The Bears carry a nine-game win streak — matching the longest since 2008-09 — into its first conference action of the season at Haas Pavilion, where Cal is currently undefeated at 11-0.

FOLLOW ALONG
-   Cal-Louisville will be broadcast on ACC Network with Ben Braun and Chris Sylvester on the call.
-   The Bears and Fighting Irish will be broadcast on ESPN2, with Roxy Bernstein and Austin Croshere calling that game.
-   Fans can also catch Justin Allegri and Theo Robertson on the Cal Bears Sports Network radio broadcast on 810 AM and The Varsity App for all Cal men's basketball games.

LAST ACTION
Cal secured its ninth straight win and stayed perfect at Haas Pavilion with a 74-56 win over visiting Columbia. The Bears never trailed and overcame a sluggish start to lock up their 12th win of the year as Cal continues its best start to a season since 1959-60.
    It was slow going on both ends of the floor offensively for both teams in the first half. Cal led things 28-16 at halftime — a low for the Bears and for any opponent this season in the opening half — but Columbia led on the boards 25-19. Cal was shooting 25 percent overall, and the Lions were at 25.9 percent through the first 20 minutes of play, while Dai Dai Ames was the only player in double figures with 12 at the break. The pace picked back up in the second half, with Cal shooting 64 percent in the half to end the game at 42.1 percent overall. Columbia also heated up, and finished out at 41.8 percent. The teams were even on the rebounding front 34-34.
NOTABLE:
-   Dai Dai Ames (21 points) and John Camden (15) both scored in double figures for the 11th time this season.
-   Ames has now recorded six 20-point games this season.
-   Lee Dort had a career-high four blocks and career-high 14 rebounds.
-   With 12 points, Chris Bell scored in double digits for the 10th time this season.
-   Now with nine straight wins, Cal has matched its longest win streak since recording nine consecutive in 2008-09
-   Cal's 12-1 overall record continues its best start since the 1959-60 season, when the Bears went 28-1 before falling in the 1960 national championship game.
-   Cal is now 12-0 when holding teams to 72 or fewer points.

BEATING THE BRUINS
Cal stepped onto a big stage and scored a big win, beating No. 18 UCLA 80-72 at Chase Center in the finale of the Empire Classic on November 25.
It was the Bears' first win over a ranked opponent since 2020.
   The lead changed hands six times in the first half as the teams were largely in stride on the scoring front, with Cal shooting 41.9 percent overall to UCLA's 41.2 percent. Thanks to a 25-15 rebounding advantage, the Bruins had punched up nine second-chance points while also going 9-of-13 from the free-throw line to help lead things 41-36 at halftime.
   UCLA took a six-point lead early in the second half before the Bears unleashed a 13-2 rally that took them into the lead to stay. The Bruins got within four in the final five minutes, only to see Cal's Dai Dai Ames tally nine clutch points in that last stretch to help anchor the Bears' win. Cal finished out the game shooting 44.8 percent, thanks in part to a 6-of-11 effort from 3-point range in the second half. UCLA finished at 40.6 percent overall and was ahead on the boards 41-35, although Cal outrebounded the Bruins 20-16 in those final 20 minutes.
   The Bears were led in scoring by Chris Bell's 22 points on 5-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc. Ames added 14 points -- all in the second half -- while Justin Pippen scored 13 and Rytis Petraitis tallied 12 along with a team-high seven rebounds. UCLA received 19 points from Trent Perry and 17 from Eric Dailey Jr.
-   With a game-high 22 points, Chris Bell scored in double digits for the sixth straight game and registered his third 20-point game as a Bear.
-   Bell also crossed the 1,000-point margin in his collegiate career with his effort, now with 1,007 career points.
-   DeJuan Campbell returned from injury for his first appearance of the season and scored four points.
-   With four rebounds, Milos Ilic recorded his 500th career rebound.
-   With 12 points, Rytis Petraitis tallied his first double-digit game of the season.
-   All nine Bears who played in the game scored.
-   This was Cal's first win over an AP ranked opponent since a 76-62 victory over No. 21 Colorado on Feb. 27, 2020 at Haas Pavilion.

HOT START
-   Cal's 12-1 overall record marks its best start since the 1959-60 season, when the Bears went 28-1 before falling in the 1960 national championship game.
-   The Bears recorded 90+ points in back-to-back games —­ the first time Cal has done so since 2014 — vs. Cal State Fullerton and Kansas State.
-   Cal scored a season-high 97 points vs. Morgan State on a season-best 59.3% shooting along with 55.0% from 3-point range and a 95.7% effort from the free-throw line.
-   Cal has shot over 50 percent in five games this season, going 4-1 in those games.
-   After its 97-point effort vs. Morgan State, Cal has five 90+ games this season — the most since six were recorded in 2009-10.

GETTING DEFENSIVE
Cal is 12-0 when holding opponents to 72 points or less and 7-0 when holding opponents to under 40 percent shooting.

BALANCED BEARS
Four Cal starters are averaging in double figures through nonconference play. Dai Dai Ames (17.7 ppg) and John Camden (15.5) have hit double digits in 11 of Cal's first 13 games this season,
Chris Bell (14.4) has recorded 10 double-digit outings, and Justin Pippen (14.6) has done it nine times to date.

ALL DAY DAI DAI
Dai Dai Ames leads Cal in scoring with 17.7 points per game thanks in part to an 11-of-13 effort from 3-point range in a two-game span vs. Cal State Fullerton and Kansas State. He leads the team with a 46.4 percent effort from beyond the arc so far and has recorded a team-best six 21-point games this season.

BELL RINGER
Chris Bell hit five 3-pointers in four minutes of play at Kansas State to help turn a 17-point deficit into a six-point margin with 37 seconds left. The Bears came up short in a 99-96 loss, although Bell finished with 27 points on 7-of-9 shooting from 3-point range.
-   After a season-high 28 vs. Morgan State, Bell has now turned out four 20-point outings as a Bear.
-   Bell drained five 3-pointers in Cal's upset of No. 18 UCLA.
-   He's shooting 47.5 percent from the floor and is a steamy 90.7 percent from the free-throw line (No. 30 in the nation).

CAMDEN CASHES IN
-   John Camden has made 18 3-pointers in the last four games.
-   He ranks No. 32 in the nation in 3-point percentage at 44.3 percent so far this season.
-   Camden scored season-high 25 points vs. Northwestern State on Dec. 13 with a season-high six 3-pointers made.
 
MOVING THE BALL
-   Cal has dished out 20+ assists in three different games this season.
-   Justin Pippen is the Bears' top distributor with his 4.3 assists per game, including a career-high seven served up vs. CSUB in Cal's season opener.
-   After serving up nine assists with just one turnover vs. Morgan State, TT Carr ranked No. 1 in the nation with his assist/turnover ratio of 6.20 in the Dec. 20 national rankings.

FIRST TIME OUT
-   In Cal's season opener, seven newcomers scored their first points as Bears: Dai Dai Ames (18 points), Chris Bell (5), John Camden (22), Nolan Dorsey (2), Milos Ilic (4), Mantas Kocanas (2) and Justin Pippen (15).
-   In their second season at Cal, sophomores BJ Fisher and Stephon Marbury II both checked in for their first official court time as Bears vs. CSUB.
-   Also making their Cal debuts on Nov. 3 were transfer Dhiaukuei Manyiel Dut and true freshmen Luke Butler and TT Carr.
-   Cal's season-opening win marked the 300th victory recorded by the Bears at Haas Pavilion.

CENTURY CLUB
Cal's 93-65 win over Cal State Fullerton on November 10 marked Mark Madsen's 100th career victory as a head coach.
 
ACC EXPERIENCE
Now in its second season as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference, Cal boasts a couple players who have already logged hours as ACC members prior to arriving in Berkeley. Dai Dai Ames comes to Cal after one season at Virginia, and Chris Bell joins the Bears after three seasons at Syracuse.

CAREER CLIMBERS
In addition to Mark Madsen's 100th career head-coaching win, several other Bears have hit career milestones this season and are looking for more.
    SR F Rytis Petraitis — 1,000th point scored Nov. 21 vs. Sacramento State
    SR F Chris Bell — 1,000th point scored Nov. 25 vs. UCLA
    GS C Milos Ilic — 500th rebound recorded Nov. 25 vs. UCLA | 851 career points (as of Dec. 22)

NEW CREW
Of the 13 newcomers to the roster, nine are transfers and four are true freshmen.

LONG GAME
Of Cal's nine transfer additions, six are post players who stretch the Bears' size in the frontcourt. Spanning from 6-foot-7 Chris Bell to 7-footer Dhiaukuei Manyiel Dut, the group checks in at an average of 6-foot-9.

BACK FOR MORE
Cal returns three Bears who saw time in the starting lineup last season — F Rytis Petraitis (29 starts), G DeJuan Campbell (16) and F Lee Dort (1).

TV TIME
Cal is locked in with 19 televised tests in its second season in the Atlantic Coast Conference. All 18 of the Golden Bears' ACC regular-season games will be televised, along with a nonconference clash against UCLA at Chase Center as part of the Empire Classic.
In all, Cal plays four times on ESPN's family of networks – ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU – along with 15 games on the ACC Network.
 
CHAMPIONSHIP RINGS
Mark Madsen is one of four NCAA Division I head coaches that won an NBA title during their playing careers. Madsen is the only one of those four coaches to have won two NBA titles, both coming with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2001 and 2002.
Name (School) — NBA Title(s)
Speedy Claxton (Hofstra) — 2003, San Antonio
Mark Madsen (Cal) — 2001 & 2002, Los Angeles
Darrell Walker (Little Rock) — 1993, Chicago
Mo Williams (Jackson State) — 2016, Cleveland

CALIFORNIA THROUGH AND THROUGH
"California Through and Through" is more than a slogan – it's a statement of identity, pride and our trajectory as Cal Men's Basketball. Just like our state, our program is engaging, diverse and inspiring. We have a rich history and legacy, and we have a bright future. Being California Through and Through means we celebrate our community and our place within it.

GET TICKETS
Season tickets for 2025-26 can be purchased by visiting CalBears.com/Tickets, calling 800-GO-BEARS (462-3277) or emailing goldstandard@berkeley.edu. 

SUPPORT THE BEARS 
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