Who: Cal (13-17, 6-13 ACC; last game: 85-68 loss to Louisville) at Notre Dame (13-17, 7-12; last game: 56-54 win over Stanford)

When: 1:00 p.m. PT

Where: South Bend, Indiana | Purcell Pavilion

TV/streaming: ACC Network | Matt Schumacker (PxP) & David Padgett (Analyst)

Radio: 810 AM | Justin Allegri (PxP)

All-time series: Tied 1-1

Odds: Notre Dame (-4.5), O/U (143.5) – via BetMGM

It’s easy to say Cal needs an off-ball shooter since you could say that about every single basketball team to ever exist. It’s never a bad thing to have a spare sharpshooter running through screens or spacing the floor in the corner.

But the Bears desperately need a traditional catch-and-shoot deadeye from beyond the 3-point line next year because much of their halfcourt woes this season can be attributed to the lack of an off-ball threat. That could have been (and can still be) BJ Omot, who started the year on fire from beyond the arc but unfortunately was ruled out for the season with an injury.

It was just painfully apparent throughout Wednesday’s loss to No. 14 Louisville that this Bears offense is limited in how it can attack its opponents.

When the Cardinals made their monster run toward the end of the first half, it was because they had Cal’s offense, for lack of a better term, solved.

The basis of Mark Madsen and his coaching staff’s offense is dribble penetration; it relies on the strength of its most talented offensive players, Jeremiah Wilkinson, Andrej Stojakovic and Jovan Blacksher Jr., using their abilities off the bounce and their high-IQ decision making to beat the help with playmaking when it arrives on the drive.