San Francisco @ California preview
Haas Pavilion
Last Meeting ( Dec 4, 2019 ) California 64, San Francisco 76
San Francisco hopes to continue its recent basketball mastery of cross-bay rival California when the teams meet in a nonconference game Sunday in Berkeley.
The Dons (5-2) and Golden Bears (2-4) haven't met since 2008 before rekindling what had been a one-sided series in Cal's favor two years ago.
USF, beaten in nine of its previous 11 meetings with Cal, flipped the script in the last two meetings, winning 79-60 at Cal in 2018 and 76-64 at home last season.
The Dons enter Sunday's meeting also seeking a fourth straight win since a loss to Rhode Island. That defeat came a day after San Francisco shocked Virginia, ranked fourth in the nation at the time. Following the loss, San Francisco rebounded brilliantly, blowing out Nevada, Cal Poly and Long Beach State by an average of 32.7 points.
San Francisco has used 3-point shooting as its primary offensive force in recent wins. Khalil Shabazz nailed four 3-pointers in the win at Nevada, Dzmitry Ryuny had five at Cal Poly, and Jamaree Bouyea and Damari Milstead sank four apiece against Long Beach State.
Overall, the Dons made 43 3-pointers in those three wins, and went into the weekend ranked sixth in the nation in total threes with 67 in their six games against Division I opponents.
San Francisco coach Todd Golden has not been surprised with the impressive start.
"If we can execute what we want to do," he said, "we can play with anybody in the country."
Cal, meanwhile, has made a total of 43 3-pointers all season, which were 58th-most nationally entering play Saturday.
The game matches two of the top scorers among the five San Francisco Bay Area Division I schools.
San Francisco is led by Bouyea, who has scored in double figures in all seven games en route to a 17.6 average. For the season, he's made 14 of 31 (45.2 percent) attempts from 3-point range.
He will be matched up with Cal's Matt Bradley, who will take a 19.5 scoring average into the game. He's made just 8 of 33 (24.2 percent) attempts from behind the arc.
Cal coach Mark Fox pointed to poor 3-point defense in his team's 74-62 loss at Pepperdine on Wednesday.
"Again, we're playing uphill," he said of a 14-point halftime deficit that was primarily the result of 10 threes by the Waves. "We have to find a way to build a defense that will give us a chance."
--Field Level Media