Cal played Wednesday's game without head coach Mark Madsen, but the Bears survived without him largely because of the Bears' three-point shooting.
Cal got ready for its first major test of the season by beating Radford 84-70 on Wednesday night at Haas Pavilion. The Bears struggled a bit more than expected as they held just a one-point lead with 12:37 remaining, but they pulled away down the stretch. The Bears ended up taking 11 more three-point shots than two-pointers.
Madsen was absent because of a family emergency, and assistant coach Adam Mazarei handled the Bears' head coaching duties in Madsen's absence. Mazarei found out he would be in charge just a few hours before the game. He expects Madsen to be back for Sunday's game against 10th-ranked Houston in Lake Tahoe, Nevada.
"Absolutely," Mazarei said. "I expect him to be back tomorrow."
Nojus Indrusaitis made six three-pointers while scoring a career-high 30 points to help the Bears improve to 2-0.
"My teammates were finding me and I was just getting them up," Indrusaitis said. "I feel like that's what I've been doing all fall and summer. So it felt good."
Indrusaitis said he scored 42 points as a high school sophomore, but never reached the 30-point mark in two previous college seasons — his freshman year at Iowa State in 2024-25 and last year at Pitt.
He was 6-for-10 from long range, but he was not the only Cal player hitting from deep. Cal attempted 35 three-point shot, making 17 (48.6%). The Bears attempted 24 two-point shots,making 12. The Bears hope they can continue their hot shooting on Sunday.
Cal faces No. 10 Houston on Sunday at the Tahoe Blue Event Center in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. The game will start at 5:30 p.m. Pacific time and will be televised on The CW network.
."That's one of the hardest-playing teams in the country," said Indrusaitis. "Great coach [Kelvin Sampson]. Great system. So I'm super excited for the opportunity."
Center Lee Dort, the only returning starter from last season's Cal squad, sat out his second straight game with a sprained ankle. Mazarei is hoping Dort will be available for Sunday' game, but his status remains uncertain.
Cal increased an eight-point halftime lead to 11 points on an Indrusaitis three-pointer 1:10 into the second half, but the Highlanders quickly got the deficit down to six at the 16:05 mark.
Radford cut the Cal lead to one point at 52-51 on Tristan Gross' follow shot with 12:37 left in the second half before Jake Wilkins put the Bears back ahead by three with a dunk on an alley-oop pass from Michael Cooper.
Cal's Jordan Ross increased the Bears' lead to six points with a three-point play with 11:05 left, and when Indrusaitis made a three-point shot with 8:38 left the Cal lead was back to nine points at 65-56. When Cooper hit another three with 7:16 to go the Bears had a 13-point margin.
Cal made nine three-pointers in the first half, which ended with the Bears holding a 45-37 lead.Indrusaitis led the Bears in scoring in the first half with 12 points on 3-for-4 shooting, including 2-for-3 from long range. Wilkins added 11 first-half points, and he was 4-for-5 from the field and 3-for-4 on three-pointer.
Cal led through most of the first half, and Mantas Kocanas increased a one-point Cal lead to four points with a three-point shot at the 10:57 mark of the first half, putting Cal ahead 24-20.
Cal led by as many as nine points late in the first half before settling for the eight-point advantage at the break.
Cal made 48.2% of its shots in the first 20 minutes and was 9-for-17 from beyond the three-point line. Radford shot 47.1% in the first half, but was just 4-for-13 from long range.
The Bears made eight free throws in the first half, and the Highlander converted just one.
Notes
—Cal's starting lineup on Wednesday was Jordan Ross, Nojus Indrusaitis, Jake Wilkins, Sammie Yeanay and Mantas Kocanas.
—Cal's next game is against No. 10 Houston in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. The Cougars beat La Salle 94-55 in their first game this season.
Houston went 30-7 last season, when it reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament. The Cougars played in the national championship game in 2025, losing to Florida 65-63 in the title game.
—Cal was a 16.5-point favorite against Radford, according to FanDuel.
—Radford is located in Radford, Virginia, and the Highlanders lost their season-opening game to San Francisco 76-62 on Monday.
—Radford was picked to finish sixth in the nine-team Big South conference in the preseason poll after finishing with a 16-16 record last season, when Radford went 9-7 in the Big South.
—Radford's next game is against eighth-ranked Tennessee on Monday. Dai Dai Ames, who was Cal's leading scorer last season, was in Tennessee's starting lineup for the Vols' season-opening, 90-59 win over Wofford.
- Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/cal as Cal Prepares for No. 10 Houston With a Win Without Mark Madsen.