California @ Colorado preview
CU Events Center
Last Meeting ( Mar 13, 2019 ) California 51, Colorado 56
Halfway through the conference season, there’s a serious logjam atop the Pac-12 standings with eight teams within a game of each other in the loss column. No. 24 Colorado and California are both in the thick of that mix, and they’ll meet Thursday night when the Buffaloes welcome the Golden Bears to Boulder.
At 6-3 in Pac-12 play, Colorado is tied for second place with USC, just a half-game back of front-running Oregon. Stanford and Arizona are next at 5-3, followed by UCLA (5-4), Arizona State (4-4) and Cal (4-4). The Buffs and Bears, though, both have played more home conference games than road contests, and that means the inverse will be the case over the second half of the Pac-12 season. After the Buffs’ two-game homestand against Cal and Stanford this week, they’ll play five of their final seven on the road while the Bears play six of their final 10 away from home, starting with Thursday night’s contest.
TIME: 8 p.m. ET. TV: Pac-12 Network
ABOUT CALIFORNIA (10-11, 4-4 Pac-12): The Bears, under first-year coach Mark Fox, have won two of their last three, losing only to the first-place Ducks (77-72 on Jan. 30), to climb back to .500 in the conference. Averaging 17.9 points per game, guard Matt Bradley is the only Cal player averaging double figures, and the sophomore has been especially hot of late, tallying 48 points over his last two outings while connecting on 15-of-27 shots from the field, including 6-of-13 from 3-point range. Fellow guard Kareem South is averaging 9.7 points while forward Grant Anticevich is contributing 8.2 points and a team-most 5.8 rebounds for the Bears, who are averaging a Pac-12-worst 59.4 points while shooting 39.2 percent in conference action.
ABOUT COLORADO (17-5, 6-3): The Buffs followed a disappointing loss at UCLA (72-68) last Thursday by dominating host USC (78-57) on Saturday night as forward Tyler Bey (16 points, seven rebounds) and guard McKinley Wright (12 points, eight assists) led four CU players in double figures. After getting outworked on the glass (39-29) by the Bruins, the Buffs regained the upper hand against USC (33-27) and rank second in the conference in rebounding margin at 6.1. Wright (13.4 points), Bey (13.3) and guard D’Shawn Schwartz (10.6) are all averaging double digits for Colorado, which ranks only behind Stanford in the Pac-12 with 62.0 points allowed per game.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Colorado has won four straight in the series against Cal, including a 56-51 victory in the opening round of last season’s Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas. Wright had a game-high 18 points to go along with seven rebounds and three assists in that contest.
2. The Bears need only one more Pac-12 win to match their conference win total (five) from the last two seasons combined.
3. Bey (8.9), Evan Battey (6.4) and Wright (5.3) are the leading rebounders for the Buffs while Wright ranks third in the Pac-12 with average of 5.3 assists.
PREDICTION: Colorado 76, California 61