Game info

Matchup: California (8-22, 2-15) at No. 19 Arizona (23-7, 13-4) 

Where: McKale Center

When: 4:30 p.m.

Watch: Pac-12 Arizona

Listen: 1290-AM, 107.5-FM

Follow: @TheWildcaster on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram

Probable starters: Arizona

Probable starters: Cal

How they match up

The last time 

Arizona turned the ball over four times in the first five minutes, and 21 times for the entire game, but still had more than enough for a 79-58 win over California on Jan. 17 at Haas Pavilion. Deandre Ayton had 20 points and 11 rebounds while forward Rawle Alkins sat out with renewed soreness in his previously broken right foot.

The last time at McKale

Allonzo Trier (0-5) and Lauri Markkanen (1-5) struggled from the field but Cal standout Ivan Rabb had just four points and four rebounds while UA pulled out a 62-57 win on Feb. 11, 2017, at McKale Center.

Overall series

Arizona has beaten Cal in eight of the past nine matchups and leads the all-time series 63-31.

What’s new with the Bears

Cal has only pride left to play for, after having locked itself into last place and the Pac-12 Tournament’s No. 12 seed by losing 15 of its past 16 games, all except a four-point home win over Oregon State. The Bears have the conference’s least efficient offense, averaging 62.7 points a game and shooting just 38.4 percent in Pac-12 games. They make only 25.8 percent of 3-point shots in conference games, too. But defensively Cal is aggressive in a mix of defenses. The Bears average 7.1 steals per game in Pac-12 play, second most in the league, stealing the ball on 10.3 percent of an opponents’ possessions. Cal often starts 6-11 center Marcus Lee, along with mobile power forward Justice Sueing, but also plays 7-foot veteran shot-blocker Kingsley Okoroh heavily.

Key player: Justice Sueing

Cal coach Wyking Jones has had plenty of minutes and opportunity to offer this season, and nobody’s taken more advantage than the Hawaiian freshman. A mismatch for many opponents at power forward because of his quickness and size, Sueing had 19 points and nine rebounds against the Wildcats in January and is the 10th-leading scorer in Pac-12 games at 15.7.

Key player: Keanu Pinder

Except for the occasionally spirited block or dunk, the Australian forward’s best contributions aren’t often in the box score. But they could be Saturday: It’ll be Senior Day for Pinder, too, and the Wildcats just might look for him to get the ball a little more often.

Senior Day normalcy

Dusan Ristic said he thought what it might be like going through Senior Day ceremonies without Sean Miller, while UA officials decided whether or not to keep the coach this week.

“I was sad,” Ristic said. “I mean, I didn’t know what to expect. Coach Miller is somebody who was my coach for the past four years. I’ve been through a lot of positive and negative things with him. I grew as a player on the court and off the court. And if he wasn’t on the sidelines (Thursday) or Saturday I think it would affect me a lot. It’s a highly emotional thing.”

Ristic will be honored Saturday along with three other UA seniors: Parker Jackson-Cartwright, Keanu Pinder and Talbott Denny.

Of course, it will also likely be the final home game at least for Deandre Ayton, Allonzo Trier and Rawle Alkins.

This should work

Even as Miller’s UA teams won their first seven Senior Day games, making for giddy salutes that were always held after the game, he said last year he always wondered “man, what happens if you lose?”

The Wildcats found out last season, losing 77-72 to UCLA in their home finale. Not only that, but senior Kadeem Allen was nearly forced into throwing up a potentially game-tying 3-pointer with eight seconds left – all while dealing with a dislocated pinkiepinky on his right (shooting) hand.

Allen wasn’t available for comment afterward but the loss made for a slightly less buoyant atmosphere.

“Obviously, he’s a warrior,” Miller said after the game. “But I think that’s probably as disappointing as anything, that he wasn’t able to be at full speed.”

Despite all that, Miller said Thursday that UA will hold Senior Day ceremonies after Saturday’s game … and it should help the Wildcats that their opponent has won only two Pac-12 games all season.

‘Easy’ week at the office

In basketball terms, it was a short week for Miller. After holding a film review session last Friday night in Eugene, he pretty much disappeared from the Wildcats until Thursday’s game against Stanford.

Miller said he had no role in game-planning for Thursday’s game against Stanford, while associate head coach Lorenzo Romar ran practices in his place.

“It’s actually a pretty good job if you only have to show up for the game, you know,” Miller said, smiling. “But we run the same system. Those guys (assistants) kept me abreast. We met for about an hour and half, two hours and it’s almost like preparing for a quick turnaround (between games).”

Of his staff’s effort to keep coaching the Wildcats, Miller also said: “They’re in really good hands and those are people I really trust. They were locked in and ready to go.”

Long way to go

Among the strangeness that was the Wildcats’ trip to Oregon last week was the fact that Allonzo Trier left between games to fly to Salt Lake City for the sole purpose of urinating.

The side trip paid off when Trier tested negative for Ostarine in a Utah lab, though Miller said the negative test didn’t affect his confidence level about the appeal Trier still had to face on Thursday.

“I’m not really in that realm,” Miller said. “We had our fingers crossed and were hoping it would go that way. And I think we’re all really elated for him and us that it did.”

Trier won the appeal and is cleared for the rest of the season, barring a new positive test.

Numbers game

3

3-pointers Cal’s Darius McNeill needs to make Saturday or in the Pac-12 Tournament to break Alan Crabbe’s Cal freshman record of 62 made 3-pointers.

5

Arizona wins Parker Jackson-Cartwright needs to play in to also surpass the previous winningest Wildcat players, Kaleb Tarczewski and Matt Muehlebach, after Dusan Ristic did so on Thursday by playing in his 111th UA win.

194

Shots that Kingsley Okoroh has blocked in his Cal career, 10th most in Pac-12 history.