The Empire Classic finale will take place at Chase Center in San Francisco on Tuesday (Nov. 25), featuring California (5-1) against No. 19/20 UCLA (5-1) at 7 p.m. in a game that will be televised on ESPN. Both teams have won their first two games on their respective home courts in the Classic, having beaten Presbyterian and Sacramento State.
FOLLOW ALONG
Cal’s clash with UCLA will air on ESPN with Ben Braun and Chris Sylvester on the call. Fans can also catch Justin Allegri and Theo Robertson on the Cal Bears Sports Network radio broadcast on 810 AM and The Varsity App.
LAST ACTION
Cal hauled in its fifth win at Haas Pavilion behind another 90-point outing as the Golden Bears topped visiting Sacramento State 91-67 on November 211. Led by Chris Bell’s 21 points, Cal had four Bears in double digits for the fourth time this season in improving to 5-1 overall.
Cal crafted a 22-2 rally to work out ahead of the Hornets in the first half and stay the course to a 47-33 halftime advantage. The Bears were shooting 48.6 percent from the floor to lead Sacramento State’s 35.5 percent, and Cal had landed nine 3-pointers in those first 20 minutes to help craft that lead. The rebounding margin was tighter, with the Hornets ahead 19-18. The Bears bumped up their efforts in the second half to finish out at 50.8 percent overall while they went and landed a season-high 15 threes on the night. The Hornets still held the edge on the boards 43-42, but shot just 26.9 percent overall from the floor.
Chris Bell’s game-high 21 points went along with 16 apiece from Dai Dai Ames and Justin Pippen and 14 from John Camden, who hit four 3-pointers for the Bears. Milos Ilic led on the boards with a season-high nine rebounds for Cal. Cal senior Rytis Petraitis also made his mark in scoring his 1,000th career point tonight. Sacramento State was led by Brandon Gardner’s 19 points, while Mark Lavrenov scored 14 and Prophet Johnson added 12 points to go along with 11 rebounds for a Hornet double-double.
- On his first basket of the game, Rytis Petraitis scored his 1,000th career point.
- With a game-high 21 points, Chris Bell scored in double digits for the fifth straight game and registered his second 20-point game as a Bear.
- Bell, Justin Pippen (16 points), Dai Dai Ames (16) and John Camden (14) hit double digits for the fifth time this season.
- Pippen’s 16 points tonight set his new career high.
- Milos Ilic pulled in a season-high nine rebounds.
- TT Carr set new career highs with seven points scored and two 3-pointers made.
- Cal’s 15 threes made matched its season high and was one off of the program record last hit in 2022-23.
- Cal matched its season high of nine Bears scoring in a game.
- Cal’s 50.8 percent shooting effort was its fourth 50+ game of the season.
- This was the third time this season that Cal has scored 90+ points in a game (93 vs. Cal State Fullerton, 96 at Kansas State and 91 tonight vs. Sacramento State).
LIGHTING UP THE LITTLE APPLE
Cal carved down a 25-point deficit with help from a hot 3-point outing in the second half but came up just short of host Kansas State in a 99-96 loss to the Wildcats in Manhattan, Kansas, on November 13. Chris Bell drained seven of Cal’s 15 threes on the night — including five in the last five minutes of play — and Dai Dai Ames added five of his own in a wild one to mark the Golden Bears’ first road test of the season.
K-State finished out the three-point win shooting 64.4 percent overall with nine 3-pointers landed. Cal finished up at 56.5 percent overall with 15 threes hit and outrebounding its host 26-25. Both teams also had 17 assists apiece, while K-State was 14-of-21 from the free-throw line and Cal was 11-of-14 from the stripe.
Chris Bell led all scorers with 27 points for the Bears and was joined in double digits once again by Dai Dai Ames (25 points) along with Justin Pippen (14) and Lee Dort (10).
K-State was paced by PJ Haggerty’s 23 points along with 21 from Khamari McGriff, 20 from Nate Johnson and 16 from David Castillo.
- TT Carr scored his first points as a Bear when he went 2-for-2 from the free-throw line in the first half and finished with six total points.
- Carr also set career highs with six rebounds and five assists.
- Nolan Dorsey hit his first 3-pointer as a Bear with his strike in the first half.
- Dhiaukuei Manyiel Dut recorded a career-high three blocks.
- Chris Bell made a season-high seven 3-pointers — one short of his career high.
- Dai Dai Ames scored a season-high 25 points and tied his career high of seven assists.
- Ames also recorded a career-high five steals.
- For the second straight game, Ames missed only a single 3-pointer (6-of-7 vs. CSF, 5-of-6 at K-State).
- For the third straight game, Ames did not miss a free throw
- John Camden had a season-high three assists.
- Ames (25) and Pippen (14) have both now scored in double digits in all four games this season.
- Manyiel Dut scored his first points as a Bear with his basket in the second half, and recorded his first career steal.
- Cal recorded a season-high 21 assists
- Cal had four players score in double digits for the fourth straight game.
- With 93 points scored vs. Cal State Fullerton and 96 at K-State, Cal has recorded back-to-back games with 90+ points scored for the first time since 2014.
BALANCED BEARS
All five Cal starters are averaging in double figures through the first five games of the year.
Dai Dai Ames (18.8 ppg), Chris Bell (15.7), John Camden (14.8) and Justin Pippen (12.8) have hit double digits in five of Cal’s six games this season, while Lee Dort (10.5) has done it three times.
ALL DAY DAI DAI
Dai Dai Ames leads Cal in scoring with 18.8 points per game thanks to an 11-of-13 effort from 3-point range in a two-game span vs. Cal State Fullerton and Kansas State. He leads the team with 17 threes made to date.
BELL RINGER
Chris Bell hit five 3-pointers in four minutes of play at Kansas State to help turn a 17-point deficit into a six-point margin with 37 seconds left. The Bears came up short in a 99-96 loss, although Bell finished with a season-high 27 points on 7-of-9 shooting from 3-point range. He has now turned out three 20-point outings as a Bear.
MOVING THE BALL
Cal has dished out 20+ assists in three different games this season. Justin Pippen is the Bears’ top distributor with 5.33 assists per game, including a career-high seven served up vs. CSUB in Cal’s season opener.
FIRST TIME OUT
In Cal’s season opener, seven newcomers scored their first points as Bears: Dai Dai Ames (18 points), Chris Bell (5), John Camden (22), Nolan Dorsey (2), Milos Ilic (4), Mantas Kočanas (2) and Justin Pippen (15).
- In their second season at Cal, sophomores BJ Fisher and Stephon Marbury II both checked in for their first official court time as Bears vs. CSUB.
- Also making their Cal debuts on Nov. 3 were transfer Dhiaukuei Manyiel Dut and true freshmen Luke Butler and TT Carr.
- Cal’s season-opening win marked the 300th victory recorded by the Bears at Haas Pavilion.
HOT START
Cal’s 3-0 start to 2025-26 was its first since the 2019-20 season when the Bears opened at 4-0.
The Bears recorded 90+ points in back-to-back games — the first time Cal has done so since 2014 — vs. Cal State Fullerton and Kansas State.
Cal scored a season-high 96 points at Kansas State on a season-best 56.5% shooting along with 53.6% from 3-point range.
Cal has shot over 50 percent in four games this season, going 3-1 in those games.
After a 91-point effort vs. Sacramento State, Cal has three 90+ games this season.
CENTURY CLUB
Cal’s 93-65 win over Cal State Fullerton on November 10 marked Mark Madsen’s 100th career victory as a head coach.
ACC EXPERIENCE
As Cal enters its second season as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Bears boast a couple players who have already logged hours as members of the ACC prior to arriving in Berkeley. Dai Dai Ames comes to Cal after one season at Virginia, and Chris Bell joins the Bears after three seasons at Syracuse.
CAREER CLIMBERS
In addition to Mark Madsen’s 100th career head-coaching win and Rytis Petraitis’ 1,00-th career point collected already this season, several more Bears remain in reach of milestone marks in their collegiate careers this season. (Totals entering Nov. 25 game vs. UCLA)
SR F Chris Bell — 985 career points
GS C Milos Ilic — 496 career rebounds | 842 career points
NEW CREW
HC Mark Madsen has a haul of new talent on board for his third season at the helm of the Cal program. Of the 13 newcomers to the roster, nine are transfers and four are true freshmen.
LONG GAME
Of Cal’s nine transfer additions, six are post players who stretch the Bears’ size in the frontcourt. Spanning from 6-foot-7 Chris Bell to 7-footer Dhiaukuei Manyiel Dut, the group checks in at an average of 6-foot-9.
BACK FOR MORE
Cal returns three Bears who saw time in the starting lineup last season — F Rytis Petraitis (29 starts), G DeJuan Campbell (16) and F Lee Dort (1).
TV TIME
Cal is locked in with 19 televised tests in its second season in the Atlantic Coast Conference. All 18 of the Golden Bears’ ACC regular-season games will be televised, along with a nonconference clash against UCLA at Chase Center as part of the Empire Classic.
In all, Cal will play four times on ESPN’s family of networks – ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU – along with 15 games on the ACC Network. Cal’s 11 nonconference home games will stream on ACCNX.
CHAMPIONSHIP RINGS
Mark Madsen is one of four NCAA Division I head coaches that won an NBA title during their playing careers. Madsen is the only one of those four coaches to have won two NBA titles, both coming with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2001 and 2002.
Name (School) NBA Title(s)
Speedy Claxton (Hofstra) 2003, San Antonio
Mark Madsen (Cal) 2001, ‘02 (Los Angeles Lakers)
Darrell Walker (Little Rock) 1993, Chicago
Mo Williams (Jackson State) 2016, Cleveland
CALIFORNIA THROUGH AND THROUGH
“California Through and Through” is more than a slogan – it’s a statement of identity, pride and our trajectory as Cal Men’s Basketball. Just like our state, our program is engaging, diverse and inspiring. We have a rich history and legacy, and we have a bright future. Being California Through and Through means we celebrate our community and our place within it.
