Cal played Wednesday’s game without head coach Mark Madsen, but the Bears survived without him.

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.

Madsen was absent because of a family emergency, and assistant coach Adam Mazarei handled the Bears’ head coaching duties in Madsen’s absence.

Nojus Indrusaitis made six three-pointers while scoring a game-high 30 points to help the Bears improve to 2-0, but their next game will be a significant challenge.

Cal faces 10th-ranked 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.

Center Lee Dort, the only returning starter from last season’s Cal squad, sat out his second straight game with a sprained ankle.

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 Bear holding a 45-37 lead.  Nojus 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.  Jake 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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