Colorado @ California preview
Haas Pavilion
Last Meeting ( Feb 6, 2020 ) California 65, Colorado 71
In a three-way tie for second, No. 21 Colorado is part of the tightest conference race in the nation with only one game separating the Pac-12’s top five teams. The Buffaloes will try to keep pace Thursday night when they tip off a two-game Bay Area road swing with a game at slumping California.
Colorado would’ve been in sole possession of the Pac-12 lead if not for a late-game collapse last Saturday as visiting UCLA outscored the Buffs 29-13 over the contest’s final 12:30 for a 70-63 road win. Now, CU enters the week tied for second with No. 16 Oregon and the Bruins at 10-5, a half-game behind surging Arizona State (10-4) and a half-game ahead of No. 24 Arizona (9-5). With their final three games on the road, the Buffs at least want to secure a top-four finish – and a corresponding first-round bye in next month’s Pac-12 Tournament – as they chase the program’s first regular-season conference title since 1969. “We’re competing for a conference championship, and we know we have to win games,” CU junior point guard McKinley Wright IV told the media after practice Tuesday. “So we’re ready to bounce back after an ‘L,’ especially one we shouldn’t have lost.”
TIME: 9 p.m. ET. TV: Pac-12 Network
ABOUT COLORADO (21-7, 10-5 Pac-12): The Buffs and Washington State are the only two conference teams who finish with three straight road games, and that presents a challenge for CU, which is 4-4 in true road contests so far. Wright (13.9 points per game), forward Tyler Bey (13.5) and guard D’Shawn Schwartz (10.6) are averaging double figures for the Buffs, who rank third in the Pac-12 with 71.3 points per conference game but haven’t scored more than 70 during their current 2-2 stretch. Behind Bey (9.2 rebounds) and forward Evan Battey (6.2), Colorado owns the Pac-12’s best rebounding margin (plus-6.0) on the season, and the Buffs also rank No. 2 in the conference in scoring defense (64.4 points allowed per conference contest).
ABOUT CALIFORNIA (11-16, 5-9): The Golden Bears have dropped five of their last six, including an 87-52 drubbing Saturday at last-place Washington, and enter the week all alone in ninth place in the Pac-12 standings. Guard Matt Bradley (17.4 points) is the only player averaging more than 8.8 points per game for Cal, which is last in the Pac-12 in scoring, averaging 62.4 per contest, including 59.3 in conference play. Forward Grant Anticevich is averaging a team-best 5.5 rebounds while guard Paris Austin is pacing the squad with 2.3 assists, but Cal owns one of the nation’s worst team assist-to-turnover ratios at 0.69, averaging four more giveaways than assists per contest.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Colorado has won the last five meetings, including a 71-65 win in Boulder on Feb. 6.
2. Cal shot 55.6 percent in the first game – its best mark in Pac-12 play – but Colorado had four players score in double figures, including a combined 38 points from Bey and Wright.
3. Ten of the Bears’ 11 wins have come at home, where they are 10-5 on the season, including 4-3 in Pac-12 play.
PREDICTION: Colorado 71, California 66