Game 19 Preview: Oregon State vs. Cal

Oregon State at Cal / 11:00 AM, Haas Pavilion / TV on CBS

The Beavers will get an early wake-up call today as they're set to play the Cal Bears on national television.

If the trends of this season are any indication of what will happen today, the Beavers will bounce back from their bad loss on Thursday night in Palo Alto and beat the Bears. Really, you ask? After losing to Texas A&M Corpus Christi, Sacramento State, Illinois-Chicago, and Seattle, the Beavers have bounced back with a win.

The Bears have been among the best in the Pac-10 this season in terms of consistency, and they come into today's game with a record of 4-2 in conference play. They were upset by UCLA during the first week of play and lost by 15 to Washington last week, but other than that, the Bears have taken care of business. Most recently, they beat Oregon 32.

This is definitely an offensive-minded Cal team, and one that can shoot the ball well. Jerome Randle and Jamal Boykin are among the best shooters the Beavers have played against all year, and they'll look to get out and push the tempo. Cal is playing at a much faster pace, on average, than the Beavers-- they've been getting eight more possessions per game.

Not only do the Bears like to push the ball, they like to score the ball, as you can imagine. The trio of Randle, Patrick Christopher, and Theo Robertson is averaging right around 50 points per game, and Cal is scoring 80 per game as a team. The Beavers' season average is 61 points per game.

So the question is, can the Beavers slow the game down, create turnovers, and not get dominated on the glass?

--Jake | (jake.buildingthedam@gmail.com)