Cal Begins Men's Basketball Season Against Arizona State and UCLA
All Cal games will be televised
Haas Pavilion in Berkeley, Calif. (Photo Courtesy: Cal Athletics)
It’s official: The California Golden Bears start the men’s basketball 2020-2021 season at home against the Arizona State Sun Devils on Dec. 3 and a weekend trip to Pauley Pavilion to face off against the UCLA Bruins on Dec. 6.
The Golden Bears will then continue league play the week of Dec. 30 against the Oregon Ducks and Oregon State Beavers.
California ends its regular season against the Stanford Cardinal at Maples Pavilion on March 6 or 7.
The Golden Bears’ full schedule (home games in bold) as announced by the Pac-12 Conference Thursday is as follows:
Dec. 3: Arizona State at California
Dec. 6: California at UCLA
Week of Dec. 30 to Jan. 3: California at Oregon and Oregon State
Week of Jan. 6 to 10: Washington and Washington State at California
Week of Jan. 13 to 17: California at Colorado and Utah
Week of Jan. 20 to 24: UCLA and USC at California
Week of Jan. 27 to 31: California at Arizona and Arizona State
Week of Feb. 3 to 7: Stanford at California
Week of Feb. 10 to 14: Colorado and Utah at California
Week of Feb. 17 to 21: California at Washington and Washington State
Week of Feb. 24 to 28: Oregon and Oregon State at California
March 6 or 7: California at Stanford
The post-season 2021 Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Tournament will be held in Las Vegas at the T-Mobile Arena from March 10 to 13.
No fans will be in attendance at Haas Pavilion or Pauley Pavilion in December. The Pac-12 Conference, when it announced it was no longer postponing basketball and other winter sports’ seasons, said it would consider public attendance no earlier than January 2021.
The league, earlier this month, clarified parents of players can attend but only if local or state public health rules allow. Currently, the state of California has only allowed limited attendance of sporting events, permitting professional sports attendance and only in counties with “controlled” or low Covid-19 infection rates.
The Pac-12 Conference announced its full schedule Thursday, focusing on confirming home and away game assignments.
The conference has not yet announced the exact dates and tip-off times as it is still finalizing the programming with its television broadcast partners. All 120 conference games will be televised by the Pac-12 Network, ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN U, FOX, FOX Sports 1 or CBS.
The 2020-2021 season is head coach Mark Fox’s second year leading the Golden Bears. Preseason “power” rankings by media outlets in the off-season believe California will finish in the bottom half of the conference at 10th (CBS Sports and Sports Illustrated) or second to last (Fansided).
Earlier this week, the Golden Bears faced a setback in beginning the upcoming season. Cal Athletics announced a basketball player tested positive following a regularly scheduled Covid-19 test, which paused team workouts for up to two weeks as a safety precaution.
“The health and well-being of student-athletes, coaches and staff continues to be Cal Athletics’ top priority. The department is following recommendations from University Health Services Infection Control and Berkeley Public Health on contact tracing, quarantining, symptom monitoring and treatment,” the university said in a prepared statement Tuesday.
The Golden Bear who tested positive is asymptomatic.
Such a shame they didn't get to play more in the Tourney, but I was really pleased with their progress. Sure miss basketball. Go Bears!
Thanks Rick! Still hopeful for .500 as we continue our crawl to Mark Fox-ian Mediocrity from the farthest depths of the Wyking Abyss, but it could be tough with this schedule...10-10 maybe seems like the absolute ceiling? It'll be interesting to see the effect, if any, attendance (of any kind) has on ALL games...a trip to Eugene perhaps doesn't seem AS daunting in an empty Knight Arena in the end of Dec...dunno - fully empty gyms, or at least nearly, seem like a wild card.
Question for you Rick, and others more dialed in with the Hoops program...any news on whether Jared Hyder has pursued a waiver to be eligible immediately following his transfer from Fresno St? Not surprisingly, the corrupt NCAA waived the sit year for UK's impact 7'-er from WFU, much like they did with Justin Fields at Ohio St...they just love their blue-bloods. But it was rumored that transfer waivers in the COVID-era would be more lenient and common, so I was wondering if Hyder was going to pursue one. Be nice to see him in the PG mix...
Go Bears.