Bears Prepare to Face #25 Ole Miss Saturday Evening
California’s men’s basketball team showed a lot of heart in their double-overtime loss to Butler last week, rallying from a double-digit deficit to force two overtime periods before ultimately coming up on the wrong end of a 97-90 loss in Indianapolis.
The Bears will need more of that type of grit, much more, Saturday when they travel to face undefeated Ole Miss as part of the Hall of Fame Series in San Antonio. Ole Miss made its debut in the USA Today Coaches poll this week at No. 25.
The 9-0 Rebels feature a bevy of scoring options on offense, with Allen Flanigan (18.0), Matthew Murrell (15.6) and Jaylen Murray (14.7) all averaging in double figures. They also are one of the top defensive teams in the country, anchored by 7-foot-5 forward Jamarion Sharp. The Ole Miss big man has a team-high 20 blocks, something the Rebels as a whole excel at. They’ve nabbed 60 blocks in their first nine games.
The Rebels have been fairly strong defensively overall, holding opposing teams to 66.7 points a game on 39.5 percent shooting.
Cal has some size with forwards Fardaws Aimaq (6-11) and Gus Larson (6-10), but Larson comes off the bench and is only playing about 11 minutes a game. Aimaq is the Bears’ second-leading scorer and top rebounder and is averaging a double double with 17.3 points and 10.7 boards a game.
Cal is 3-6 this season, with three of the losses coming at a neutral site. The game with Ole Miss will be played at the Frost Bank Center, home of the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs.
The Bears aren’t as bad as their record indicates, however. That was evident in the game against Butler when Cal took an early 16-4 lead and also erased an 11-point deficit in the second half to force overtime.
That was the fifth game this season that the Bears have lost by either by three points or fewer, or in overtime.
Likewise, five of the Rebels’ nine wins have come by three points or fewer, including a 70-68 win over UCF last Sunday.
It will be the first time the two teams have played one another since Cal beat Ole Miss in the 2011 NIT.
The Bears got off to a little shaky start this season under new coach Mark Madsen but have been playing better as of late as more and more of their roster has become available. The game against Ole Miss is Cal’s next-to-last tune-up before opening Pac-12 play with a home game against Arizona on Dec. 29 following their last non-conference game vs. UCSD on December 20. The Wildcats are the No. 1 ranked team in the nation, according to AP’s Top 25 rankings.