CJ Elleby, Washington State visit California in Pac-12 road opener

Washington State (10-5, 1-1 Pac-12) vs. Cal (6-8, 0-1)

Haas Pavilion, Berkeley, California; Thursday, 7:30 p.m. (Pac-12 Networks, 920-AM)

Bottom line: Two sophomore guards will be on display as CJ Elleby and Washington State will take on Matt Bradley and Cal. Elleby has scored 26% of the team’s points this season and is averaging 16.8 points over his last five games. Bradley is averaging 17.4 points over the last five games.

Squad leadership: Cal’s Bradley has averaged 17.1 points and 4.8 rebounds while Kareem South has averaged 11 points. For the Cougars, Elleby has averaged 19 points and 6.8 rebounds while Isaac Bonton has averaged 12.7 points and four rebounds.

Creating offense: Bonton has been directly responsible for 41% of all WSU field goals over the last three games. The junior guard has 19 field goals and 10 assists in those games.

Accounting for assists: The Cougars have recently used assists to create buckets more often than the Golden Bears. Cal has an assist on 19 of 61 field goals (31.1%) across its previous three outings while WSU has assists on 33 of 71 field goals (46.5%) during its past three games.

Did you know? The WSU offense has recorded a turnover on only 14.8% of its possessions, the fifth-best rate in the nation. The Cal defense has forced opposing teams to turn the ball over on just 17.5% of all possessions (ranked 311th among Division I teams).