Hey guys, on Sunday at 4:30 PM PST on Pac-12 Networks, Cal men's basketball will play their second Pac-12 game of the season against #21 Utah (Click here for the preview on CalBears.com). Both teams come in with 11-3 records. I am firing up this game hub with 5 things to look for going into this game. Note: I will be live posting on this thread during the game and also live tweeting from my twitter account @slamdunk406.
#1. Look for Utah to be hungry for a bounce back win: There is good news and bad news about Stanford upsetting Utah on Friday. The good news is that it indicates that Utah is beatable. The bad news is that Utah is going to be very motivated to bounce back and not drop both games on their Bay Area road trip. Expect Utah to be very focused in this game and play with even more passion and energy than they did against Stanford on Friday.
#2. Once again, Cal's frontcourt will have to step up: Cal did a great job winning the rebounding battle against Colorado who is a very good rebounding team. Like Cal and Colorado, Utah is accustomed to controlling the glass, averaging a rebounding margin of +9.7. Jakob Pöltl is largely responsible for Utah's dominance on the glass, averaging 9.2 rebounds per game to go along with his 17.6 points per game. In my opinion, Cal should be up to the challenge. Ivan Rabb is a beast on the boards (8.6 rebounds per game) and he gets a lot of help on the glass from Jaylen Brown, Tyrone Wallace, Jabari Bird, Kingsley Okoroh, Sam Singer, and Kameron Rooks. In short, Cal is a great rebounding team and they should be able to at the very least break even with the Utes on the glass.
#3. Ivan Rabb vs. Jakob Pöltl: If you love the NBA, or basketball in general, watching Ivan Rabb and Jakob Pöltl battle it out will be a lot of fun. Both guys are projected to be among the first big men taken in the 2016 NBA Draft and thus will have a huge impact on this game. It will be fun to see how much Jakob Pöltl challenges Ivan Rabb and also how much Ivan Rabb challenges Jakob Pöltl. If both guys live up to their hype, we should see these two guys continue their fierce battles in the Pac-12 onto the hardwood of the NBA.
#4. Cal may have a tough time scoring inside, but they should find success from beyond the arc: Utah is doing a great job defending inside thanks to Jakob Pöltl, who is blocking 2.14 shots per game. As a result of Pöltl's great defense inside, opponents are shooting just 40.6% inside the three-point line. However, from beyond the three-point line, Utah's opponents have found some success, shooting 38.5%. Also, for what it's worth, Jabari Bird had a huge game against Utah last season, scoring 21 points on 10-14 shooting from the field. Perhaps Jabari Bird will once again find his rhythm against the Utes.
#5. Hack-A-Pöltl? Ok, I'm just throwing this out there, but there is reason to think Cal adopts the "Hack-A-Pöltl" strategy. Jakob Pöltl's one weakness is that he isn't a great foul shooter, shooting just 64.8% from the foul line. While that's not bad enough to warrant a "Hack-A-DeAndre Jordan", Cal would be smart to have Kingsley Okoroh and Kameron Rooks use all 10 of their combined fouls on Jakob Pöltl when he goes inside to score.
Cal needs to be physical with him and make him earn his points at the line. They did this with Josh Scott, which somewhat backfired since he knocks down his free throws (78.5% foul shooter), but if they play Pöltl tough like they did Scott, odds are good they'll be even more successful since Pöltl isn't nearly as good of a foul shooter as Josh Scott.
Prediction: This is a really tricky game to predict. Cal is playing their best basketball of the season and Utah is a very good basketball team that is unlikely to drop two straight games to open Pac-12 play. In my opinion, Cal should have the edge in this game since they are playing at home and are playing really well at the moment. Assuming Cal continues to play at the level that they've been playing at these last few games, they should come out victorious. I predict Cal to win by a very close score of 70-68.
#1. Look for Utah to be hungry for a bounce back win: There is good news and bad news about Stanford upsetting Utah on Friday. The good news is that it indicates that Utah is beatable. The bad news is that Utah is going to be very motivated to bounce back and not drop both games on their Bay Area road trip. Expect Utah to be very focused in this game and play with even more passion and energy than they did against Stanford on Friday.
#2. Once again, Cal's frontcourt will have to step up: Cal did a great job winning the rebounding battle against Colorado who is a very good rebounding team. Like Cal and Colorado, Utah is accustomed to controlling the glass, averaging a rebounding margin of +9.7. Jakob Pöltl is largely responsible for Utah's dominance on the glass, averaging 9.2 rebounds per game to go along with his 17.6 points per game. In my opinion, Cal should be up to the challenge. Ivan Rabb is a beast on the boards (8.6 rebounds per game) and he gets a lot of help on the glass from Jaylen Brown, Tyrone Wallace, Jabari Bird, Kingsley Okoroh, Sam Singer, and Kameron Rooks. In short, Cal is a great rebounding team and they should be able to at the very least break even with the Utes on the glass.
#3. Ivan Rabb vs. Jakob Pöltl: If you love the NBA, or basketball in general, watching Ivan Rabb and Jakob Pöltl battle it out will be a lot of fun. Both guys are projected to be among the first big men taken in the 2016 NBA Draft and thus will have a huge impact on this game. It will be fun to see how much Jakob Pöltl challenges Ivan Rabb and also how much Ivan Rabb challenges Jakob Pöltl. If both guys live up to their hype, we should see these two guys continue their fierce battles in the Pac-12 onto the hardwood of the NBA.
#4. Cal may have a tough time scoring inside, but they should find success from beyond the arc: Utah is doing a great job defending inside thanks to Jakob Pöltl, who is blocking 2.14 shots per game. As a result of Pöltl's great defense inside, opponents are shooting just 40.6% inside the three-point line. However, from beyond the three-point line, Utah's opponents have found some success, shooting 38.5%. Also, for what it's worth, Jabari Bird had a huge game against Utah last season, scoring 21 points on 10-14 shooting from the field. Perhaps Jabari Bird will once again find his rhythm against the Utes.
#5. Hack-A-Pöltl? Ok, I'm just throwing this out there, but there is reason to think Cal adopts the "Hack-A-Pöltl" strategy. Jakob Pöltl's one weakness is that he isn't a great foul shooter, shooting just 64.8% from the foul line. While that's not bad enough to warrant a "Hack-A-DeAndre Jordan", Cal would be smart to have Kingsley Okoroh and Kameron Rooks use all 10 of their combined fouls on Jakob Pöltl when he goes inside to score.
Cal needs to be physical with him and make him earn his points at the line. They did this with Josh Scott, which somewhat backfired since he knocks down his free throws (78.5% foul shooter), but if they play Pöltl tough like they did Scott, odds are good they'll be even more successful since Pöltl isn't nearly as good of a foul shooter as Josh Scott.
Prediction: This is a really tricky game to predict. Cal is playing their best basketball of the season and Utah is a very good basketball team that is unlikely to drop two straight games to open Pac-12 play. In my opinion, Cal should have the edge in this game since they are playing at home and are playing really well at the moment. Assuming Cal continues to play at the level that they've been playing at these last few games, they should come out victorious. I predict Cal to win by a very close score of 70-68.
