Bears Host CSU Bakersfield In Season Opener

BERKELEY – The California men's basketball team opens the 2024-25 season at home Monday night against CSU Bakersfield. Tipoff is slated for 8:30 p.m. PT – or approximately 40 minutes following the conclusion of the Cal women's basketball season opener against Saint Mary's at 6 p.m. – on ACC Network Extra (ACCNX). Fans with men's basketball tickets can claim a free ticket to the women's game.
 
GAME INFORMATION

Date & Time: Monday, Nov. 4 | 8:30 p.m. PT

Location: Berkeley, California | Haas Pavilion

Watch: ACCNX | Greg Mescall (PxP) & Ben Braun (Analyst)

Listen: 810 AM & The Varsity Network App | Justin Allegri (PxP)

Live Stats: Statbroadcast

INSIDE THE MATCHUP – CAL VS. CSU BAKERSFIELD

Series record: Cal leads, 3-2

Cal cruised to an 83-63 victory at home against the Roadrunners last season on Nov. 11, 2023.

The Bears had lost twice in a row to CSU Bakersfield prior to the 20-point win last season, including a 73-66 defeat in the first round of the 2017 NIT in Berkeley.

Mark Madsen owns a 2-1 head-to-head record against CSU Bakersfield head coach Rod Barnes. They split two meetings in the 2019-20 season while Madsen was in his first year at Utah Valley and the Roadrunners were in their final year as a member of the Western Athletic Conference.

STARTING FIVE
1. New Conference, New Bears
Cal enters its inaugural ACC season with a retooled roster, featuring 11 scholarship newcomers and 15 total student-athletes wearing Blue and Gold for the first time. Ten of the 11 scholarship newcomers arrived in Berkeley through the transfer portal and collectively ranked as the nation's 12th-best transfer class (On3).
 
2. Madsen Era, Year 2
It's year two in Berkeley for head coach Mark Madsen, who reinvigorated the Cal program and its fan base with a 10-win improvement in 2023-24. The Bears placed sixth in the Pac-12 last season, marking their best conference finish since 2016-17, and earned marquee wins at UCLA and against NCAA Tournament squads Washington State, Oregon and Colorado. Mad Dog – who was awarded a two-year contract extension in March 2024 that'll keep him at Cal until 2030 – now leads the Bears into a new era in the ACC.
 
3. Been There Before
Two of Cal's transfers – graduate center Mady Sissoko and graduate guard Jovan Blacksher Jr. – both reached the NCAA Tournament Round of 32 last March with Michigan State and Grand Canyon, respectively.
 
Sissoko played in 121 career games across four NCAA Tournament squads at Michigan State and averaged 5.5 rebounds per game while shooting nearly 60% from the floor in the past two seasons. Blacksher, a former All-WAC first-team selection and the 2022-23 WAC Preseason Player of the Year, was a member of three NCAA Tournament teams with the Antelopes and has fully recovered from a knee injury that sidelined him for 11 months starting in early January 2023. The Oakland native averaged 11.0 points, 3.5 assists, 3.2 rebounds and 1.4 steals in 123 career games for Grand Canyon.
 
4. Switching Sides
Sophomore guard Andrej Stojakovic will play for the Golden Bears this season after starting his collegiate career in the South Bay with rival Stanford. Stojakovic, a former McDonald's All-American and five-star recruit out of Jesuit High School in Carmichael, averaged 7.8 points and 3.4 rebounds per game across 32 contests for the Cardinal last year. The smooth-shooting, 6-foot-7 guard is the son of 13-year NBA veteran Peja Stojakovic.
 
5. Experienced Group
Though Cal's 2024-25 roster is a nearly brand-new cast from a season ago, the locker room is filled with experienced collegiate players. Cal ranks sixth among ACC teams in career Division I minutes played (14,876) entering the season. Including Sissoko and Blacksher – who have played in a combined 244 games – the Bears added seven transfers who have at least two seasons of experience, including Joshua Ola-Joseph (junior, Minnesota), DeJuan (DJ) Campbell (junior, Western Carolina), BJ Omot (junior, North Dakota), Christian Tucker (senior, UTSA) and Rytis Petraitis (junior, Air Force).
 
HOW TO WATCH
Access to ACC Network and ACC Network Extra (ACCNX) is determined by your pay TV provider (cable, satellite, telco or streaming service). Viewers can still access games via a subscription to ESPN+, even without access to ACC Network. Viewers with access to ACCNX can view the streaming channel on the same device (smart TV's, smartphones, tablets, connected streaming devices or espn.com/watch) where they view ACC Network. ESPN+ is a subscription-based streaming channel that can also be viewed on any streaming device.
 
SUPPORT THE BEARS
Tickets for the 2024-25 campaign can be purchased by visiting CalBears.com/Tickets, calling 800-GO-BEARS (462-3277) or emailing goldstandard@berkeley.edu. Fans can support the Golden Bears through the Cal Men's Basketball Excellence Initiative or the California Legends Collective.