Cal Men's Basketball Preview: Bears finish the regular season against #2 Arizona

A tough road game to end the season

Cal Basketball @CalMBBall

Baseline jumper by Jalen ✅

Date: Saturday March 5th, 2022 (2PM Pac-12 Networks)

Opponent: Arizona Wildcats

Record: 27-3 (Conference: 17-2)

Standings: 1st in Pac-12

KenPom Ranking: #4

Opponent Team Stats: 84.5PPG/42.0RPG/20.2APG/6.7SPG/13.3TPG

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Key Players: 

• Bennedict Mathurin

  • Guard (6-foot-6/210lbs)

  • Freshman

  • 17.4PPG/5.7RPG/2.5APG/1.6TPG

  • 47.1%-FG/37.9%-3PT/76.6%-FT

• Azuolas Tubelis

  • Forward (6-foot-11/245lbs)

  • Freshman

  • 14.9PPG/6.4RPG/2.4APG/2.1TPG

  • 54.8%-FG/24.2%-3PT/67.7%-FT

• Christian Koloko

  • Center (7-foot-1/230lbs)

  • Sophomore

  • 11.9PPG/7.2RPG/1.2APG/2.9BPG/1.4TPG

  • 61.2%-FG/72.5%-FT

• Kerr Kriisa

  • Guard (6-foot-3/180lbs)

  • Freshman

  • 10.3PPG/2.6RPG/5.0APG/2.3TPG

  • 36.7%-FG/35.4%-3PT/72.5%-FT

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Expected Starting 5

• Guard Kerr Kriisa

• Forward Bennedict Mathurin

• Forward Dalen Terry

• Forward Azuolas Tubelis

• Center Christian Koloko

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Here we are. The final game of the regular season. The Bears take on regular-season champions Arizona in Tucson, on the Wildcats’ senior night. The Bears lost by 25 when they took on Arizona in Berkeley back in January. As if a difficult game did not need to be more difficult, the Bears will have to compete against the high emotions of a very successful and Final Four expecting team and crowd. The Wildcats have the same big four they have had all year. Bennedict Mathurin is a Pac-12 POTY candidate and leads the Wildcats in scoring. Kerr Kriisa is their facilitator and perimeter shooting threat. Azuolas Tubelis does everything as their versatile interior presence. Christian Koloko is the modern 7-foot big who rolls hard to the basket with hard screens and finishes over 60% of his 2PT attempts. Dalen Terry can’t be ignored as well, the 6-7 forward can guard 1 through 4 and does a little bit of everything for the team from facilitating to scoring. A tough tough final game of the season for the Bears.

And if you missed there Bears’ last game against Arizona State make sure to check out the recap.

Cal can't score in Tempe

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Cal’s Win Probability and Score according to KenPom: 3% (60-80 Loss)