California @ Oregon preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 30, 2020 ) Oregon 77, California 72

Oregon resumes its bid for the school’s third Pac-12 title in five years on Thursday when the 13th-ranked Ducks face visiting California. Oregon can move into a tie with UCLA for first place in the conference standings with a victory over the improving Golden Bears, who sit alone in eighth place after winning three of their past four games.

The Ducks boast the likely Pac-12 player of the year in senior point guard Payton Pritchard, who scored 23 points in last Thursday’s 69-54 win over Oregon State and is the only player in the nation averaging at least 20 points, four rebounds and five assists. Pritchard recorded 21 points and eight assists while shooting 7-of-13 from the field in last month’s 77-72 win at Cal, which won a total of five conference games over the previous two seasons but has exceeded expectations after being picked to finish last in the Pac-12 preseason poll. “We’re not anywhere near where we want to be,” first-year coach Mark Fox told reporters. “But I think the perceptions and the feelings about our team and this program are drastically different than what I heard all summer.” The Bears can finish the regular season at .500 in Pac-12 play with two wins this week but face an uphill battle against Oregon, which is 15-0 at home this season.

TV: 11 p.m. ET. TV: ESPN2

ABOUT CAL (13-16, 7-9 Pac-12): Sophomore guard Matt Bradley was named Pac-12 player of the week for the second time this season after averaging 23.5 points and 5.5 rebounds while shooting 48.4 percent from the field in wins over Colorado and Utah. Sophomore forward Andre Kelly recorded 15 points, nine rebounds and a career-high five blocks in last Saturday’s 86-79 overtime win over Utah while point guard Paris Austin added 15 points and has scored in double figures in eight of his last 11 games. Fox has also been pleased by the play of 6-8 forward Grant Anticevich, who had 17 points and eight rebounds against the Utes.

ABOUT OREGON (22-7, 11-5): The Ducks’ frontcourt received a spark in the win over Oregon State with the return of 6-11 N'faly Dante, who played five minutes after missing the previous nine games with knee tendinitis. Junior guard Chris Duarte, the team’s second leading scorer and rebounder, is out indefinitely due to a broken finger and has been replaced in the starting lineup by senior Anthony Mathis (averaging 12 points in his last two games). The Ducks’ stellar backcourt includes sophomore Will Richardson, who is shooting 47.4 percent from 3-point range and has scored in double figures in seven of his last nine games.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Cal owns an 84-63 lead in the all-time series, but Oregon has won the last six meetings.

2. Oregon’s current 20-game home winning streak is tied for the fourth-longest in program history.

3. Cal is 4-0 in Pac-12 play when committing fewer than 10 turnovers.

PREDICTION: Oregon 77, Cal 64