Two teams enjoying historic nonconference runs hope to write another happy chapter at the other’s expense when Columbia and Cal duel on Sunday afternoon in Berkeley, Calif.
Columbia (9-2) saw an eight-game winning streak come to an end Tuesday night when the Lions were beaten 77-73 in overtime at Stony Brook. Columbia’s only other loss this season came at then-No. 3 UConn 89-52 on Nov. 10.
The Lions are in their first season under coach Kevin Hovde, who was last seen winning a national championship at Florida as an assistant coach last season. He has previous experience at Columbia as a director of basketball operations in 2011 and then as an assistant through the 2015-16 season.
Even with the loss to Stony Brook, Hovde has become the first Columbia coach to win at least nine of his first 11 games since Lou Rossini led the Lions to a 20-0 start in 1950-51.
Led by Kenny Noland’s 17.7 points per game and Zinou Eddine Bedri’s 7.4 rebounds per contest, Hovde has been impressed with the roster’s transition to a new coach after eight straight losing seasons, including 12-15 last year.
“These guys have done a great job of embracing the process of getting good,” Hovde recently said to reporters. “That’s what we’ve talked about: That process of doing the same things every single day and keeping it consistent, keeping it simple. They’ve done a great job focusing on those things, then going out and executing.”
Cal (11-1) will take its own eight-game winning streak into its final nonconference matchup before tipping off Atlantic Coast Conference play on Dec. 30 at home against 11th-ranked Louisville.
The winning streak is the Golden Bears’ longest in 17 years, while the 11-1 record represents the program’s best start since a Pete Newell-coached team opened 28-1 en route to the Final Four in 1960.
Chris Bell, who played high school ball at nearby De La Salle High and then in Utah before beginning his college career at Syracuse, is proud to be playing a part in his new school’s unusual success.
“I’m from here, so it’s a big thing for me just to see Cal basketball doing good again, and obviously being on the team that’s doing it,” he told the media gathering following a 28-point effort in the Golden Bears’ most-recent success, a 97-50 home shellacking of Morgan State on Friday. “We’re super-excited about it, but … we want to keep pushing and worry about the next game.”
Dai Dai Ames leads Cal with a 17.4 scoring average, followed by John Camden (15.5), Justin Pippen (15.3) and Bell (14.6). Lee Dort is the top rebounder at 7.1 per game.
