Scouting report: No. 4 Arizona Wildcats vs. Cal Golden Bears

Probable starters

ARIZONA G Kerr Kriisa (6-3 junior)

G Courtney Ramey (6-3 senior)

F Pelle Larsson (6-5 junior)

F Azuolas Tubelis (6-11 junior)

C Oumar Ballo (7-0 junior)

CALIFORNIA G Joel Brown (6-3 senior)

G Devin Askew (6-3 junior)

F Kuany Kuany (6-9 senior)

F Grant Newell (6-8 freshman)

C Lars Thiemann (7-1 senior)

How they match up

The series: Arizona has beaten California 11 straight times and hasn’t lost to the Bears at McKale Center in 10 seasons. Cal last beat UA at McKale Center on Feb. 10, 2013, and last beat the Wildcats 74-73 in Berkeley on Jan. 23, 2016. Arizona had no trouble with the Bears last season, winning 96-71 at Berkeley and 89-61 at McKale Center.

California overview: Coming off five straight losing seasons, the Golden Bears have already all but locked themselves into another, thanks in part to a rash of injuries. Cal lost at home to Kansas State and three low-major opponents, while also losing to TCU and Clemson in a Florida event. They also dropped their Pac-12 opener to USC on Thursday, 66-51.

The losses weren’t a complete surprise, either: Cal lost its best player to the transfer portal for the second straight season (Matt Bradley went to San Diego State in 2021 and Andre Kelly left for UC Santa Barbara last spring) and is still without its leading returning scorer, Jalen Celestine, who is recovering from knee surgery he underwent last spring. Another key rotation player, forward Sam Alajiki, has been out due to concussion protocol while guard Jarred Hyder ran into health issues for the third straight season, and will now hae surgery that will end his season. Graduate transfer DeJuan Clayton, expected to help add experience and scoring after missing all but two games last season with a shoulder injury, has also been out all season so far with an unspecified injury.

All that has put a lot on the shoulders of guard Devin Askew, who transferred from Kentucky to Texas and then from Texas to Cal. Askew is the Bears’ leading scorer (17.5) but hasn’t been efficient: He is shooting 38% overall and 29.8% from 3-point range while committing 28 turnovers to his 25 assists.

Veteran big man Lars Theimann has been the Bears’ most consistent producer, averaging 12.3 points and 6.6 rebounds while shooting 54.7%. Big wing Kuany Kuany is the Bears’ top 3-point threat (7 of 22) but none of the Bears are shooting better than 33.3% from 3.

Overall, the Golden Bears rank 321st nationally in both 2-point shooting percentage (43.6) and 3-point percentage (28.8%), though their defense is slightly more efficient. The Bears hold opponents to just 46.8% from two-point range and block shots on 12.2% of opponents’ possessions, the 60th best defensive block percentage in Division I.

He said it: “They’re struggling a little bit but they’ve been in every game other than USC. All those (close) games could have been even closer than that, so they are a dangerous team.

They keep games close “on both ends of the floor. On the offensive end, they have some of the longer possessions so they’re not just coming down and firing it up quickly. They’re moving the ball around and being poised in getting to their play and their action but they’re not in a big, big hurry. They have pushed the ball up the floor quickly and then in the halfcourt they kind of settle on moving the ball, and moving the defense, and then getting a shot or making a play.

Askew “is the most highly decorated kid that they have so they expect him to play at that level. Being at Kentucky, being at Texas, he’s one that certainly has some experience, some high major games. I’m sure they want to be able to ride his back that way.

Theimann “is much improved and even last season, he got better as the season went on, got more experience, more confidence and they believe in him. They trust him and he’s been more productive for them based on that.”

Defensively “they are playing man and playing zone and they’re very active in it. They try to make it difficult for you to score.” — UA assistant coach Steve Robinson, who scouted Cal

KEY PLAYERS

California — Devin Askew

Once a top UA recruiting target in the class of 2021 out of Mater Dei High School, Askew reclassified and committed to Kentucky then started 20 games as a freshman in 2020-21. He then transferred to Texas but played nearly half as many minutes (14.9) as he did in Kentucky. But this season finally has found a big role at California, scoring 23 points against USC on Thursday, but hasn’t been able to win a game yet in a Bears uniform.

Arizona — Adama Bal

If the Wildcats rebound strongly from their first loss of the season against the winless Bears, they will have another chance to test a bench that has dropped off sharply after their top six players. Bal averaged 6.0 points while hitting 5 of 8 shots in two games against Cal last season.

SIDELINES

Pacers’ Wildcats have tough trip

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After the Indiana Pacers lost for the second time in three days Friday at Utah — during a grueling seven-game, 11-day road swing through the West former Wildcat standout Bennedict Mathurin tilted backward in his locker stall, staring ahead in typically serious fashion.

This was not a surprise.

What was a surprise was that his off day didn’t go so well, either.

Mathurin and Pacers guard T.J. McConnell, a standout during the middle of the Sean Miller era, went up the hill Thursday to watch their former team play at Utah …. and lose for the first time this season.

Mathurin made the best of it.

“It was good to go back, seeing my teammates,” Mathurin said. “Lost the game but it was good to see the whole staff.”

McConnell, now a veteran in his seventh NBA season, said those types of losses happened when he played for the Wildcats. And he played in 2013-14 and 2014-15, for teams that won Pac-12 regular-season titles and reached the Elite Eight both seasons.

This year, the Wildcats are transitioning without Mathurin, Dalen Terry and Christian Koloko, who all took off early for the NBA. But Mathurin expressed no surprise that, with the exception of Thursday’s game, they’ve done pretty well anyway.

“They’ve got some good players and some good transfers that have stepped into the team,” Mathurin said. “You just got to keep going. Bounce back the next game.”

It could be worse

So Arizona shot just 35.2% in its 81-66 loss at Utah on Thursday? Cal one-upped the Wildcats in its 66-51 loss to USC on Thursday.

The Golden Bears shot just 27.7% from the field, making 3 of 12 3-pointers, and coach Mark Fox found they weren’t always contested shots, either.

“We didn’t turn it over, we got the ball where we wanted to get it — and we just didn’t finish some shots,” Fox said after the USC game. “Man, we missed so many good looks in the first half and I think maybe at one point we missed four layups in a row. You just can’t do that against good teams. We just dug such a hole there with the dreadful start.”

So what happens Sunday, when the Golden Bears will play a nationally ranked team — and one that will be presumably angry after losing to the Utes?

“Arizona’s got a great team, a great atmosphere, and we haven’t played well yet,” Fox said. “We’ve had moments where we’ve played good but we haven’t played near a full 40 minutes. It’ll take that down there. They’ve got another great team.”

Bad news Bears

In the crowded Bay area sports market, Cal basketball doesn’t normally get a whole lot of attention. But by going 0-8 so far this season, the Bears have managed to attract the kind of publicity they probably don’t want.

Like the San Francisco Chronicle story entitled: “How did Cal men’s basketball become one of the nation’s worst programs?”

The story noted that Cal has long drawn criticism for not making sports more of a priority, that the Golden Bears don’t have elite talent and that the administration likely can’t afford to buy out Fox, who has a contract through 2024-25 that pays him $2 million annually. It also pointed out that Cal drew only 3,648 for its opener against USC and that some fans booed Fox.

Before and after the USC game, Fox fielded a number of questions about the adversity he and his team are facing.

“This team is going to have to earn their right to win and that’s going to be difficult,” Fox said. “As I told them, put the blame on the coach. I’m fine with that. Put all the blame on the coach. These are young guys trying to rebuild.”

Fox also fielded one question with a little perspective.

“The must-wins in life? That’s when you go to the doctor and he says, ‘Hey, I got bad news. You got cancer.’ That’s the must-win,” Fox said. “These kids can’t feel that kind of pressure.

“When times get hard, you have a choice: You can quit or run for the hills. I’m not wired that way.”

NUMBERS GAME

1 — Arizona’s national rank in adjusted tempo, according to Kenpom.com.

6.2 — Percentage points Arizona’s season 3-point shooting dropped (to 38.8) after it made 4 of 28 on Thursday at Utah.

359 — Cal’s national rank (out of 363 Division I teams) in adjusted tempo, according to Kenpom.

— Bruce Pascoe