Who: Cal (12-12, 5-8 ACC; last game: 76-66 loss to Wake Forest) at No. 3 Duke (20-3, 12-1; last game: 77-71 loss to Clemson)

When: 6:00 p.m. PT

Where: Cameron Indoor Stadium | Durham, North Carolina

TV/streaming: ACC Network | Wes Durham (PxP), Cory Alexander (Analyst), Jim Boeheim (Analyst)

Radio: 810 AM | Justin Allegri (PxP)

All-time series: Tied, 2-2

Odds: Duke (-23.5), O/U (143.5) – via BetMGM

Basketball is a game of runs. It's about who can put together a 5-minute stretch in which both their offense and defense are clicking on all cylinders. It's about stringing together possessions to put an opponent away or to mount a comeback. Fundamentally, basketball is a game that can be won in 10 back-to-back possessions.

And at this point in the season, Cal is not playing the game of runs, it is on the receiving end of it. If you go back into the play-by-play of the Syracuse loss or the Wake Forest loss, you’ll be able to stat watch and find these stretches in which the Bears’ offense and defense are disconnected.

I’m talking 12-4, 10-1, 13-3. Go back to the SMU loss, 16-3. Over and over again, the Bears find themselves in these stretches where they can’t throw a stone in the ocean. Most of these runs their opponents make are over long stretches. So whether it's poor shot quality or Cal’s offense getting jammed up in the halfcourt, as it currently stands, the Bears are a team with hard possessions every time they dribble the ball up the floor. Cal is a team whose offense doesn’t have multiple avenues to success.

Take Wake Forest. The Bears’ loss to the Demon Deacons was revealing because Wake Forest is a team whose offense can find different roads to victory. It is a team that can create easy possessions and solve difficult ones.