On Saturday at 7:00 PM PST on ESPNU and KGO 810 AM, Cal men’s basketball will welcome the Colorado Buffaloes to Haas Pavilion. Cal comes in at 7-15 overall and 2-13 in the Pac-12 while Colorado comes in at 16-5 overall and 10-4 in the Pac-12.
MBB Notebook: Thoughts on Stanford Losses, Homestand Upcoming
Last time out: Cal lost to Utah on Thursday by a final score of 76-75. Matt Bradley was the top performer for Cal with 20 points and 5 rebounds while Timmy Allen’s 18 points and 4 rebounds led Utah. It was truly a wild game.
RECAP: Cal MBB fights hard in one-point loss to Utah
Previous meeting with Colorado: When Cal faced the Buffs in Boulder earlier this season, they got smacked 89-60.
RECAP: Cal MBB gets boat raced in Boulder
On Colorado: The Buffs are third in the Pac-12 right now and are eager to complete a Bay Area sweep after defeating Stanford 69-51 on Thursday. Senior point guard McKinley Wright IV continues to be the engine of this Buffs team, averaging 14.5 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 5.8 assists per game. He’s in the mix for Pac-12 Player of the Year honors and in my opinion is the top point guard in the league. Senior forward Jeriah Horne is averaging 11.2 points and 5.2 rebounds per game while junior forward Evan Battey is averaging 10.7 points and 5.0 rebounds.
The Buffs have won 9 of their last 11 games and are one of the hottest teams in the league. Their two losses in this current stretch was to Utah at home and at Washington. They’re really confident right now and after blowing out Cal in Boulder, they’re looking to make quick work of the Bears once more.
As a team, the Buffs average 75.5 points per game on 46.5% shooting from the field, 38.1% shooting from 3-point range, and 83.0% shooting from the foul line. They’re also averaging a +4.0 rebound margin, 14.6 assists, 5.3 steals, 3.1 blocks, and 11.0 turnovers per game. Their opponents are averaging 63.2 points per game on 42.0% shooting from the field, 33.2% shooting from 3-point range, and 73.7% shooting from the foul line.
Keys to the game: For Cal, the first thing they have to do in this game is play a complete first half. Cal has shown the ability to hang with a lot of good teams for about the first 15 minutes of the game before the wheels start to fall off in the final five minutes of the opening half. Cal has to not only get off to a good start, but sustain consistent play throughout the entire first half. If they can do that and find themselves tied with Colorado or even down by 6 points or fewer, they’ll give themselves a chance to win. If they’re down by double digits at the half once again, it’ll be lights out.
Secondly, Cal needs to get to the foul line. While the foul line is where Cal lost the game on Thursday quite literally, they actually excelled in this area as a whole, shooting 11-13 at the line for the game and 8-9 in the second half. If Cal can get to the line with more regularity and knock down their free throws at a similar clip, that will help them stay in this game. Of course, the Buffs are the best foul shooting team in the country. So part of this is also going to be about keeping Colorado away from the foul line as well.
Finally, Cal needs to make some shots from beyond the arc. What kept Cal in the game against Utah was the fact that they shot 8-22 from 3-point range. Cal has some good shooters in Ryan Betley, Makale Foreman, Grant Anticevich, and Matt Bradley. They just need to make sure they’re taking good shots and that those shots are falling. If Cal can get some threes to drop at a healthy clip and have good shot selection that will really help them stay in this game.
Prediction: The Utah game on Thursday felt like a game Cal might win. Utah has been very up and down this year and after the way they collapsed on their home floor in Salt Lake City, there were good odds of them doing the same in Berkeley. And they nearly did.
As for this game, it’s really hard seeing Cal come out with a win. They got spanked in Boulder earlier this season and quite honestly, the close game against Utah was as much about Utah being Utah as it was about Cal playing better.
So, I got Colorado winning this game by a final score of 75-62. Cal will play better at home than they did in Boulder, but the end result will still be a loss.
