Cal has an opportunity to rekindle memories of its most recent glory days when it seeks a seventh consecutive win Saturday afternoon at the expense of Northwestern State of Louisiana in a nonconference men’s basketball matchup in Berkeley, Calif.
The Golden Bears (9-1) struggled in the first 20 minutes before exploding for 65 second-half points in a 93-71 home victory over Division II Dominican of California on Tuesday night.
The win was Cal’s sixth straight, moving it to within one of matching the seven-game run posted by the Golden Bears’ 2016 edition, which featured Jaylen Brown and Nick Kerr, son of Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr.
That Cal team finished 23-11 and earned the school’s most recent berth in the NCAA Tournament.
The Golden Bears looked like anything but a postseason-level squad in its win over Dominican, missing 15 straight shots at one point while falling behind 21-11.
Responding to coach Mark Madsen’s demand to wake up, Justin Pippen contributed 17 second half points to a 65-40 dominance in the final 20 minutes that improved Cal to 8-0 at home this season.
“Halftime was not pretty,” Madsen assured reporters after the win. “We needed more energy and effort on defense.”
Pippin, a Michigan transfer, finished with a game-high 24 points. Dai Dai Ames added 14 and the Virginia transfer leads Cal with 18.1 points per outing.
The Golden Bears will see a Northwestern State team coming off its most impressive outing of the year, a 76-68 road win at Southeastern Louisiana last Sunday when the Demons tipped off the road portion of Southland Conference play.
Northwestern State (2-7, 1-1) entered that contest with just one win — over Ecclesia College of Arkansas — and was coming off a 92-54 shellacking at McNeese State two days earlier in its conference opener.
The win over Southeastern Louisiana, coupled with a competitive 84-66 loss at Cal last December, gives Demons coach Rick Cabrera confidence the 2,000-mile trek west could be fruitful.
“We’re excited to head back out west,” Cabrera noted to reporters, referencing an 0-2 November 2024 trip to California (San Francisco) and Arizona (Grand Canyon). “We can win the game. You’ve just got to take care of the ball and be disciplined.”
Micah Thomas, a starter the last time the Demons visited Cal, paced the win over Southeastern Louisiana with 18 points off the bench. He is flourishing at the start of his fifth collegiate season with a career high scoring average of 16.4 points per game.
