When: 6:30 PM PT
Where: Haas Pavilion (Berkeley, CA)
TV: Pac-12 Bay Area (regional action), Roxy Bernstein (play by play) and Ernie Kent (analyst)
Line: Bears are 22 points favorite
The Bears are now 5-0 in season openers under Coach Mike Montgomery. With a game in the books, we actually have some numbers to compare the two teams. It should go without saying that this is an extremely small sample size. But just for fun, here are some comparison between Cal and Pepperdine in graphs (hooray graphs)!
The strong guard plays lead by Justin Cobbs and Brandon Smith lead to quite an efficient offensive display in the opener. It would be interesting to see if that will continue against another undersized opponent.
Here is the nice graphical boxscore for the Bears' triumph over Bakersfield from Sunday:
On the injury front, senior guard Brandon Smith started the game on Sunday despite suffering a left shoulder injury in the exhibition game. Junior guard Allen Crabbe hurt his ankle right before halftime on Sunday, but returned to action in the second half.
UPDATE: According to Jeff Faraudo on Twitter:
Sophomore G and Missouri transfer Ricky Kreklow may make Cal basketball debut Tues night.
Moving up the list: Crabbe's four three-pointers give him 149 for his career, which ranks No. 9 on Cal's all-time list. Next up is Randy Duck (1994-97), who made 153 from beyond the arc.
A Quick look at Pepperdine: This is how the Pepperdine Waves did in their opening loss:
The Waves used only 8 players in their opening game, a 81-75 road loss to Cal State Northridge. The Waves blew a 54-41 lead with 13 minutes to go. Sophomore guard Jordan Baker lead all scores with 21 points while senior guard Lorne Jackson contributed 16 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists despite battling leg cramps. Pepperdine was partially doomed by shooting merely 8 for 17 from the charity stripe.
In the coaches' preseason poll, Pepperdine was picked to finished 9th (last place) in the West Coast Conference. The SBNation WCC preview was slightly kinder by picking the Waves to finished 8th.
Cal - Pepperdine History: The Bears and the Waves have only met once back in the 2004-05 season, in a rather memorable game. Richard Midgley hit a game winner 3 pointer at the buzzer to give the Bears a 61-58 win in Berkeley.
This game has all the making for another tune up game where we may not learn all that much about the Bears. I would keep an eye out on the minute distribution again since this is the middle game of a 3 game week (Bears' next game is Friday night at Denver).
GO BEARS!