Cal Men's Basketball Preview: Utes come to town

Bears take on first year HC Craig Smith in Berkeley

Cal Athletics @CalAthletics

G😀ME RE🐻DY #GoBears

Date: Saturday February 19th, 2022 (3PM Pac-12 Networks)

Opponent: Utah Utes

Record: 10-16 (Conference: 3-13)

Standings: 11th in Pac-12

KenPom Ranking: #118

Opponent Team Stats: 70.1PPG/37.2RPG/13.9APG/4.3SPG/12.3TPG

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Key Players: 

• Branden Carlson

  • Center (7-foot-0/216lbs)

  • Junior

  • 13.8PPG/6.3RPG/1.1APG/1.7TPG/1.8BPG

  • 52.3%-FG/34.5%-3PT/83.9%-FT

• Both Gach

  • Guard (6-foot-6/189lbs)

  • Senior

  • 9.4PPG/2.9RPG/2.4APG/2.1TPG

  • 42.3%-FG/31.8%-3PT/79.7%-FT

• Marco Anthony

  • Guard (6-foot-5/223lbs)

  • Senior

  • 8.8PPG/7.9RPG/2.0APG/1.6TPG

  • 40.3%-FG/31.8%-3PT/65.2%-FT

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Expected Starting 5

• Guard Rollie Worster

• Guard David Jenkins

• Forward Lazar Stefanovic

• Forward Marco Anthony

• Center Branden Carlson

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After Thursday night’s deflating loss against a good Colorado team, the Bears have a little over 36 hours to prep for Utah. The Utes upset Stanford in Palo Alto on Thursday night and will look to build off that win and get the road sweep in the Bay Area. Lars Thiemann is going to have to play his best defensive game against Branden Carlson, as he draws 4.3 fouls per 40 minutes, all the while balancing his 32.5% from beyond the arc. The Bears will have to try a zone or specific man matchups against him to try and throw him off his rhythm. A rotation of Grant and Kuany outside of Lars might be what we look at to get the size, speed, and length to try and disrupt his offensive game. This is a must-win game for HC Mark Fox and the Bears, who sit at 10th in the conference.

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

Colorado dominates in 2nd half

Cal’s Win Probability and Score according to KenPom: 57% (67-66 Win)