Cal will aim to stay perfect at home Tuesday when it welcomes Utah to Berkeley, Calif.
The Golden Bears (6-1) have won three straight games and are coming off an impressive 80-72 come-from-behind victory against then-No. 18 UCLA last Tuesday in San Francisco. In the Empire Classic championship game, Chris Bell posted 22 points and went 5-for-7 from beyond the arc for Cal, who trailed 41-36 at the half.
“We got off to a slow start, but the ball found Chris, and he did what he does,” Cal coach Mark Madsen said. “Knocked down shots, got in the paint, made people better, defensive plays.”
Dai Dai Ames scored 14 points, all in the second half, and nine of those points were posted in the last five minutes. Justin Pippen posted 13 points and Rytis Petraitis added 12 points and a team-leading seven rebounds.
It was Cal’s first win against a ranked team since 2020.
“We have a locker room full of great players,” Madsen said. “I’m proud of these guys. Grateful for a great game against UCLA — UCLA is a great team. I give them a lot of credit.”
The Utes (6-2) will wrap up a three-game road trip Tuesday. They are coming off a pre-Thanksgiving back-to-back that included a 68-58 loss to Grand Canyon last Tuesday and a 75-74 win over Ole Miss last Wednesday in a consolation game of the Acrisure Classic.
Don McHenry posted a game-leading 27 points against the Rebels, including a 3-pointer with 1:12 to go when Ole Miss had a 72-70 advantage. Terrence Brown had 14 points, including two crucial free throws with Utah trailing 74-73 with 4.4 seconds left to secure the victory.
“I’m happy for our guys. It always feels a lot better after losing the game last night to come back,” Utah coach Alex Jensen said in an interview on ESPN 700 AM. “I’ll give them credit, because that’s not easy to do well.”
The Utes have won six straight against Cal dating back to the 2020-21 season.
