Utah Basketball Hoping To End 4-Game Homestand Against California With Winning Streak

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Utah basketball will close out a four-game homestand on Saturday against California, hoping to be on a two-game winning streak.

Utah basketball snapped a four-game losing streak on Thursday with a win over Stanford, while a win over California would make it back-to-back wins.

The Runnin’ Utes put together a near 40-minute all around performance but definitely put in a full game of great defense. They held Stanford to 35 percent shooting from the field, including 28 percent in the first half. The Utes outrebounded the Cardinal 37-26.

Utah has gone through a tough stretch over the last two weeks. After getting swept by UCLA and USC in Southern California, the Utes had their game against Oregon State postponed due to COVID-19 concerns with the Beavers. They moved their game with Oregon from Sunday to Saturday, then added Colorado on Monday. Utah pushed the Stanford game back from Wednesday to Thursday. So, Utah will play their fourth game in a week when they take on the Golden Bears.

Game 📸 vs Stanford. #GoUtes🏀🔴 pic.twitter.com/f57nf6iAb8

— Utah Basketball🏀 (w/ 😷) (@UtahMBB) January 15, 2021

About California Golden Bears

The Golden Bears enter the game on Saturday with a 6-8 overall record and 1-6 mark in Pac-12 play. They have wins over Northwest, Nicholls State, San Francisco, CSUN, Seattle and Washington. Their losses came against Oregon State twice, Arizona State, UCLA, Pepperdine, Oregon, Washington State and Colorado.

They are coming off of an 89-60 loss to Colorado in Boulder on Thursday. Guard Matt Bradley is their best player, averaging 17.8 points, along with 4.7 rebounds per game while shooting 45 percent from the field and 31 percent from the three-point line.

Three other players average 10 points per game for the Bears, including Ryan Betley (10.8), Makale Foreman (10.5) and Andre Kelly (10.4).

The Utes and Bears split their two meetings last season, with Utah picking up a 60-45 win on February 8 in Salt Lake City. Cal returned the favor at home with a 86-79 overtime win on February 29.

Since joining the Pac-12 in 2011, Utah is 9-8 against Cal, including a 6-2 record at home and has won the last five games against the Bears at the Huntsman Center.

Next up » Utah

Saturday night hoops in Salt Lake City as we take on the Utes. Catch the action on ESPNU. pic.twitter.com/yWNblE7I84

— Cal Basketball (@CalMBBall) January 15, 2021

Utah Rising In NET, KenPom Rankings

Two of the main sites and analytics that help the NCAA Selection Committee decide which teams should make the tournament is KenPom and NET. The NET rankings were released at the beginning of the month and Utah came in at No. 120 in the country. They then moved up to No. 112 and shot up the rankings after their win over Stanford to No. 79.

The Runnin’ Utes are 0-5 in Quad 1 games, 1-0 in Quad 2 and 4-0 in Quad 4. They are the seventh-highest ranked team in the Pac-12 in both the NET rankings and KenPom.

.@UtahMBB shot up the NET rankings after their win over Stanford. Was originally No. 120, moved up to 112 before appearing at No. 79.#GoUtes #Pac12Hoops @kslsports pic.twitter.com/plcElG3Hxo

— Trevor Allen (@TrevorASports) January 15, 2021

In the KenPom rankings, Utah is No. 63 team in the country. Cal is the 10th ranked Pac-12 team in the NET at No. 215. They are 0-3 in Quad 1 games, 1-5 in Quad 3 and 4-0 in Quad 4. From KenPom, Cal is 12th in the conference at No. 157 in the nation.

Tip-off between the Utes and Golden Bears will be on Saturday, January 16 at 8 p.m. MST on ESPNU.

Trevor Allen is a Utah Utes Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Crimson Corner podcast. Follow him on Twitter: @TrevorASports. You can download and listen to the podcast, here.