Less than 48 hours after a demoralizing home loss, Arizona State will have to turn around and take on another team looking to exact revenge after falling victim to a Sun Devil rally in their house.
The California Golden Bears, unlike their Bay-area counterpart Stanford Cardinal, haven’t been able to stabilize their negative momentum since going down 71-69 to ASU on New Year’s Eve. While they did pick up upset victories over Colorado and Washington State in Berkeley, the Golden Bears enter Saturday well under .500 at an 8-13 overall record, while their 4-6 mark in conference play places them in a tie for ninth in the league. It’s safe to say the program’s first year under head coach Mark Madsen has been uninspiring, with the school departing for a highly prestigious basketball league in the ACC after this season. However, there are still “golden” spots with the Bears that ASU will have to be wary of if it wants to snap its three-game losing streak.
When discussing the 2023-2024 California basketball team, analysis begins and ends with junior Jaylon Tyson. A six-foot-seven guard, Tyson is one of 31 players in Division 1 and is one of just eight among the Power Six conferences to average 20 points per game. Transferring to Berkeley from Texas Tech over the offseason, Tyson has doubled his scoring output out west with efficient shooting numbers from the floor (48 percent FG, 36 percent three-point) despite taking an overwhelming amount of shots for a Cal offense that revolves around him. Tyson’s length and ability to put the ball on the floor creates a mismatch with almost any perimeter defender he faces, opening up driving lanes for the Texas native to get to the basket or dish out to the perimeter in a career-high season for assists with 3.2. With a swift shooting motion, Tyson’s scoring abilities only increase by causing defensive hesitations and making him arguably the most well-rounded offensive weapon in the Pac-12.
Arizona State was able to limit a Tyson takeover in Berkeley back on New Year’s Eve, as a familiar defensive effort held Tyson to just 6/15 from the floor. Even so, he still found a way to total 20 points, one of 13 20-point scoring outbursts Tyson has racked up through 21 games this season. Stopping Tyson isn’t easy, but if you’re able to do it, Cal doesn’t have many reinforcements to pick up the slack.
In rare occurrences where Tyson doesn’t reach the 20-point benchmark, the Golden Bears are a measly 3-4 and sport just two double-digit scorers elsewhere on the floor. However, one of them does damage in multiple facets, as Fardaws Aimaq is averaging a 15 and 10 double-double this season in points and rebounds. With Shawn Phillips playing limited minutes and Bryant Selebangue yet to break out in the first meeting, Aimaq went to work on the glass for a game-high 14 rebounds while contributing 17 points of his own in defeat. The senior from Vancouver was kept quiet against the big bodies of Arizona in Tucson on Thursday. Still, he’s put together double-double performances against forecasted NCAA Tournament contenders in San Diego State, Ole Miss, and Butler already this season and is a force to be reckoned with in the paint.
Jalen Cone is the last but not least of Cal’s main scorers. Playing well above his five-foot-eleven size at point guard, Cone has played 87 percent of the team’s total game time this season, averaging 13.7 points per game as a threat off the dribble. While his shooting percentages are nothing eye-opening, Cone makes his height advantage in being quick off his defenders and absorbing contact to finish at the rim. Expect to see Frankie Collins get the assignment to keep him in check, putting more pressure on Tyson and Aimaq to carry the scoring load for a team that doesn’t pop out in any one statistical category.
Among the team’s role players, Jalen Celestine is an astounding 48 percent three-point shooter who provides a major perimeter threat. Keonte Kennedy fills an impactful role on the wing with his physicality keeping him in contention for inside scores and rebounds. Devin Askew had been impactful in the backcourt at the start of the year, but a foot injury has kept him on the sidelines since ASU’s first meeting with Cal, and all signs point to him being lost for the year.
With a limited tally of impact players outside of Tyson, AImaq, and Cone, California uses its “big three” to near-exhaustion on a nightly basis, something ASU can relate to as their thin bench production became a factor late in its loss to Stanford. Keeping the best of the Golden Bears in check would force serious pressure on the rest of the team to fill the void, and if previous ASU defensive performances that virtually isolated star corers such as Tristan Da Silva of Colorado and Brendan Carlson of Utah in successive home wins after defeating Cal, the Sun Devils could force a scenario where one or two players would have to beat them to win, not a common recipe for success in this day and age of college basketball.
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