Previewing Louisville at Cal – Yahoo Sports

Louisville Cardinals (10-2, 0-0) at California Golden Bears (12-1, 0-0)

Game Time: 9 p.m.

Location: Haas Pavilion: Berkeley, Calif.

Television: ACC Network

Announcers: Chris Sylvester (play-by-play) and Ben Braun (analysis)

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Favorite: Louisville by 8.5

Series: Tied, 1-1

Last Meeting: Louisville won, 85-68, on March 5, 2025 in Louisville

Series History:

Louisville

G Mikel Brown Jr. (6-5, 190, Fr.)

G Isaac McKneely (6-4, 195, Sr.)

G Ryan Conwell (6-4, 215, Sr.)

F J’Vonne Hadley (6-7, 210, Sr.)

C Sananda Fru (6-11, 245, Jr.)

Cal

G Justin Pippen (6-3, 190, So.)

G Dai Dai Ames (6-2, 190, Jr.)

F Chris Bell (6-7, 195, Sr.)

F John Camden (6-8, 220, Gr.)

F Lee Dort (6-10, 235, Sr.)

Injury Reports:

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Statistics:

Relevant Videos:

Cal’s Season to Date:

About California:

Louisville opens ACC play on Tuesday night against one of the most interesting teams in the conference headed into the New Year.

Mark Madsen’s Cal Bears are 12-1. They have a signature win over UCLA on a neutral court. Their only loss is a 99-96 shootout in a true road game against a god enough Kansas State team. They have a star in guard Dai Dai Ames. And yet, the computer rankings do not trust them at all.

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As league play begins, Cal currently sits at No. 47 in the NET Rankings. They are 61st on KenPom and 66th over at Bart Torvik. The predictive metrics are waiting for the Bears to beat a team like, say, Louisville before they start to truly believe. This is the situation the Cards are walking into Tuesday night.

While Cal doesn’t play as fast as U of L or take quite as many threes, they resemble the Cards in that they’ll put shooters all over the floor, and each one of them can shoot the hell out of the ball. The Bears are currently hitting the triple at a 39.6 percent clip, good for the 14th best team mark in Division-I. They also shoot the ball very well inside the arc (54.2%) and at the free-throw line (77.2%).

Leading the charge is Ames, who spent last season at Virginia after playing for…

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Publish date : 2025-12-30 18:46:00

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