No. 6 Duke pays 1st-ever visit to Cal
Cal gets an opportunity to host the most attractive home game of the Mark Madsen era when No. 6 Duke makes its first-ever visit to Berkeley, Calif., on Wednesday night.
The Blue Devils (15-1, 4-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) will bring a four-game winning streak into the matchup, while the Golden Bears (13-4, 1-3) are carrying a two-game skid into the schools' second meeting as league rivals.
A season ago, Duke rode 27 points from All-American freshman and later NBA No. 1 draft pick Cooper Flagg to a 78-57 win over Cal last February in Durham, N.C.
Golden Bears fans have awaited a visit from arguably the nation's premier program ever since their team moved from the Pacific-12 Conference to the ACC after the 2024 season.
Cal won a national title in 1959, but many Golden Bears fans would point to an 82-77 victory over Duke, the two-time defending national champion, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Rosemont, Ill., in March of 1993 as the most memorable win in their lifetime.
That game featured future NBA stars Jason Kidd of Cal and Grant Hill of Duke.
The programs have headed in opposite directions pretty much ever since that historic encounter, with Duke winning three more championships in 2001, 2010 and 2015, while Cal has since totaled just seven NCAA Tournament wins, none in the last 12 years.
Cal fans won't get a chance to see Flagg, now with the Dallas Mavericks, but Duke has opened up a new can of likely NBA lottery picks, led by freshman Cameron Boozer, who brings a 22.9 scoring average and 9.5 rebounding figure to town.
The Blue Devils are coming off consecutive wins over fellow nationally ranked teams, having disposed of No. 20 Louisville 84-73 on the road and then-No. 24 SMU 82-75 in their most recent outing Saturday at home. Boozer contributed a total of 45 points and 15 rebounds to the wins, while Isaiah Evans went over 20 points (23 and 21) in both games.
Duke coach Jon Scheyer believes his club has some growing to do as it embarks on a two-game California swing that includes a visit to Stanford on Saturday.
"We have to be better; that is the bottom line," he insisted to reporters after the narrow escape against SMU. "It starts with me. We have to be steadier. We are on a roller-coaster ride.
"To be 4-0 in our league is great, but my thing is about growth and learning. We will get back to the film, get back to practice and continue to do that."
When last seen at home, Cal was recording its signature win of the season with a 72-71 nail-biter over Notre Dame on Jan. 2. The Golden Bears had been thumped 90-70 at home by Louisville three nights earlier.
Cal spent last week in Virginia, losing 84-60 to then-No. 23 Virginia, then 78-75 at Virginia Tech.
Madsen had a tough time swallowing the latter defeat Saturday, with Cal having had an unforced turnover down by just two points with 4.5 seconds remaining before Justin Pippen misfired on a potential game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer.
"We were really bad in terms of taking care of the ball," Madsen noted to the media after watching his team commit 13 turnovers. "We did a lot of good things. We did not play well (against Virginia); we played better tonight. We have to scramble even more."