Cal earned a hard-fought overtime victory against UC Irvine with a very shorthanded roster, and again face a tough challenge against in-state foe San Diego State Monday night in Sacramento’s Golden 1 Center. Both squads have dealt with injury problems thus far as Malik Pope — a projected starter for SDSU — has yet to play in any of their three games so far this season.
The Aztecs are coming off of a 2015-16 season (28-10, 16-2) which was one of the most dominant in Mountain West history as they won the conference by three games in the regular season over Fresno State, but slipped up in the conference championship game to the aforementioned Bulldogs which snapped their streak of six consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances.