When: 7:30 PT
TV: None
Radio: KNEW 910
Streams: Cal Bears All-Access, check comments for free streams
Gametracker
Here’s your quickie preview: Last year the McNeese State Cowboys rode five seniors all the way to a Southland Conference regular season title and tournament championship appearance, where they lost to UT San Antonio. Even then they weren’t great last year – losing by 54 to Washington, 15 to Southern Miss and 18 to Boston College.
They did bring in a couple of transfers this year to replace the veteran departures, but so far it has resulted in two losses to mediocre teams that weren’t particularly close, along with a win over Sacramento State. Patrick Richard and Jeremie Mitchell have been doing the scoring, though neither have been shooting particularly well. Rudy Turner, one of the transfers from New Mexico, has been a monster on the boards in limited minutes and at 6'9'' he is the one player that makes me just a bit nervous.
This game is almost guaranteed to be win, likely by a huge margin. With that in mind, I’ll be looking for two things that we didn’t see against Missouri and have seen only intermittently this year:
1) Don’t allow frequent open looks. Cal just isn’t a team that will force a ton of turnovers. Monty doesn’t run a defense that does that. So if the opponent will be getting off a shot on ~80% of their possessions, Cal must make those shots as difficult as possible. It didn’t happen against Missouri and at times it seems Cal’s opponents have helped out by missing open shots. Let’s not give them the opportunity tonight
2) Ball control. By the same token, Monty’s teams usually take amazing care of the ball. Maybe the Missouri game was an anomaly but I’d be comforted if the Bears could hold the turnovers under 10 for the night. It’s a high bar, but this team should be aiming high anyway.
After the jump: Our computer overlords offer their perspective, plus GAMETHREAD!
Kenpom says: Cal 84, McNeese St. 60, 97% confidence.
Absurdly premature tempo free chart (Concept borrowed from MGoBlog).
| Category | Cal Rank | McN Rank | Advantage |
| Cal eFG% v. McN Def eFG% | 66 | 221 | CC |
| Cal Def eFG% v. McN eFG% | 123 | 306 | CC |
| Cal TO% v. McN Def TO% | 217 | 229 | C |
| Cal Def TO% v. McN TO% | 224 | 110 | MM |
| Cal OReb% v. McN DReb% | 46 | 142 | C |
| Cal DReb% v. McN OReb% | 10 | 337 | CCC |
| Cal FTR v. McN Opp FTR | 146 | 115 | M |
| Cal Opp FTR v. McN FTR | 6 | 307 | CCC |
| Cal AdjO v. McN AdjD | 23 | 296 | CC |
| Cal AdjD v. McN AdjO | 41 | 242 | CC |
That’s a whole bunch of Cs for Cal. McNeese St. doesn’t turn the ball over much, and they don’t foul a ton. In every other way Cal is a vastly superior team. We already knew that, but it least now you know the specifics. Goal for the game: Allow zero McNeese St. offensive rebounds!