Game 11
Opponent: Cal Golden Bears (10-1)
Date: Friday, December 19, 2025
Site: Haas Pavilion, Berkeley, Calif.
Game Time: 10 p.m. ET
Series Record: Cal leads 1-0
Live Stream: ACCNX / ESPN+
Live Stats: www.calbears.com
Coaches: MSU - Kevin Broadus (84-102, 7th yr) • Cal - Mark Madsen (37-39, 2nd yr)
Websites: www.morganstatebears.com | www.calbears.com

SETTING THE STAGE
• The Morgan State Bears (2–8) return to action on Friday, Dec. 19, when they face the University of California Bears (10–1) in a non-conference matchup at Haas Pavilion. Tip-off is scheduled for 10 p.m. (ET). Morgan State snapped a seven-game losing skid and enters the contest off an 81–73 home victory over Niagara on Saturday night. Cal is riding a seven-game winning streak, most recently earning a 79–70 home win against Northwestern State on Saturday, Dec. 13.

• Senior guard Alfred Worrell Jr. played in 32 games and averaged 6.5 points and 1.6 rebounds as a junior at Southern Mississippi last season. He enters Friday's matchup leading the Bears by averaging 14.8 points on 35 percent shooting from the field.

• Graduate guard Elijah Davis transferred from Bowie State, where he started in every game (30) and averaged 10 points, 3.3 rebounds, 5 assists, 1.9 steals, and 31.8 minutes. He also played for Mississippi Valley State (2021-22), Walter State C.C. (2022-23), and Incarnate Word (2023-24). He's averaging 13.3 points, 4.7 assists, and 3.1 rebounds and is shooting 46 percent from the floor.

• Rob Lawson has emerged as a major spark off the bench to open the 2025–26 season. The senior guard led the Bears with a game-high 20 points, adding five rebounds and four assists in 29 minutes at Georgetown on Nov. 11. He followed that effort with another 20-point outing against Central Penn at Hill Field House. He's currently averaging 13.5 points on 38 percent shooting from the field and 29 percent from beyond the arc.

• Graduate guard Walter Peggs Jr. was a BOXTOROW DII HBCU All-America First Team selection as a standout at Spring Hill College. He became the program's leading scorer in the Division-II era, with 1,137 career points. He also broke the team's two-year career points per game record, averaging 21.3 points per game over two seasons.

• Graduate center Dallas James spent four seasons at South Carolina State before joining the Indiana Hoosiers in 2024-25.

SCOUTING CAL
• Mark Madsen, a two-time NBA champion with East Bay roots and a proven track record as both a college and professional coach, was named the 19th head coach in California men's basketball history on March 29, 2023. After reinvigorating the Cal program and its fan base with a 10-win improvement in his first year at the helm in 2023-24, Madsen led the Golden Bears into their inaugural season as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2024-25.

• Madsen's first year in Bear Territory was marked by Cal's best finish in the Pac-12 Conference standings since 2016-17 with a tie for sixth place (13-19, 9-11). The Bears' nine conference wins – each against a different opponent, including marquee victories against UCLA and NCAA Tournament teams Washington State, Oregon, and Colorado – were the fourth-most by a first-year head coach in program history.

• Head coach Mark Madsen has a haul of new talent on board for his third season at the helm of the Cal program. Of the 13 newcomers to the roster, nine are transfers, and four are true freshmen.

• Of Cal's nine transfer additions, six are post players who stretch the Bears' size in the frontcourt. Spanning from 6-foot-7 Chris Bell to 7-footer Dhiaukuei Manyeil Dut, the group checks in at an average of 6-foot-9.

• Cal returns three Bears who saw time in the starting lineup last season — F Rytis Petraitis (29 starts), G DeJuan Campbell (16), and F Lee Dort (1).

LAST TIME OUT FOR THE GOLDEN BEARS
• Dec. 13, 2025 -- Cal collected its 10th win of the season and stayed perfect at Haas Pavilion with a 79-70 victory over visiting Northwestern State.

• For the third time this season, Cal had two 20-point scorers, led by John Camden's season-high 25 points and 20 from Dai Dai Ames. In his first career start, TT Carr set his new career high with 14 points and seven assists. Lee Dort also weighed in with a career-high, hauling in 13 rebounds for the Bears. 

THE SERIES
• Cal leads the series 1-0.

• The first meeting between Morgan State and Cal was on Nov. 25, 1991 -- Cal pulled away for a 97–50 victory at Harmon Gym.

GOLDEN STATE HOMECOMING 
Morgan State has several players on its roster who will be returning to their home state of California. Graduate center Dallas James is a native of Artesia and attended Inglewood High School. Senior forward Marland Harris is from Inglewood and attended Westchester Enriched Sciences & Magnets. Junior forward Christian Oliver hails from Pasadena and attended Maranatha High School.

UP NEXT
The Bears will continue their West Coast swing with a matchup at San Francisco on Sunday (Dec. 22), before wrapping the trip at Loyola Marymount on Tuesday (Dec. 23).

AT THE HELM
• Kevin Broadus enters his seventh season at the helm of the program, having been named the men's head basketball coach in 2019.
• The Broadus-led Bears team has compiled several significant victories over non-conference competition, elevating the caliber of wins for a program that aims to compete at a championship level within the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC). Broadus demonstrated exemplary leadership while successfully overcoming numerous challenges at the onset of his tenure at Morgan, including navigating the rebuilding of a program under the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• During the 2024–25 season, the Bears finished with an overall record of 14–18, highlighted by a balanced 7–7 mark in MEAC play. The performance mirrored that of the previous season, when Morgan State went 11–20 overall, while also posting a .500 record in conference competition. In 2022–23, the Bears finished 15–15 overall and 7–7 in the MEAC, following a 13–15 campaign in 2021–22 that saw them place fourth in the league standings and reach the MEAC Tournament semifinals. The year prior, in 2021, Morgan advanced all the way to the MEAC Tournament championship game.
• Before Morgan, Broadus worked at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he was one of the nation's best recruiters as the top assistant on Mark Turgeon's coaching staff. Broadus was influential in the successful NCAA tournament run for the Terps.
• Consistently ranked in the top 20 nationally for recruiting, Broadus was instrumental in signing several local Baltimore talents such as DeJuan Summers, Brandon Herbert, LaFonta Johnson, and Henry Sims.

WHO'S OUT
Kameron Hobbs (Stockbridge, Ga./Dutchtown HS), Wynston Tabbs (Suitland, Md./St. Mary's Ryken School HS), Amahrie Simpkins (Brooklyn, N.Y.), and Will Thomas (Baltimore, Md./Mervo HS) wrapped up their collegiate careers and graduated last spring. 
• Hobbs, a BOXTOROW HBCU First Team All-American, passed Jimmy Fields (139) to become No. 6 on Morgan State's all-time 3-point field goals leaderboard. He completed his career with 150 3-pointers.

WHO'S BACK
The Bears return three starters from last year's team, bringing back guard Rob Lawson and forward Trent Edwards. MSU also returns Christian Oliver, who was on the squad during the 2023-24 season.

WHO'S IN 
The Bears have added several newcomers to the 2025-26 roster: G Elijah Davis (Bowie State), G Alfred Worrell Jr. (Southern Mississippi), and G Christian Meeks (Waubonsee C.C.). Newcomers also include F  Eugene Alvin (Florida Southwestern) and F Manok Lual (Frostburg State), along with C Dallas James, a transfer from Indiana.

RETURNING PRODUCTION NUMBERS 
Morgan State returns 16.6 percent of its scoring, 18.7 percent of its rebounding, and 23.8 percent of its minutes played totals from last year's team. The team leaders in field goal percentage (Rob Lawson - .350), three-point percentage (Rob Lawson, .379), free throw percentage (Rob Lawson., .747), rebounding (Rob Lawson - 2.6 rpg), assists (Rob Lawson, 2.4), steals (Rob Lawson, 0.9), blocked shots (Trent Edwards, 1.0), and minutes played (Rob Lawson, 26.7).  Rob Lawson (23) is the only returner who has started in at least five (5) games a year ago.

HOME GROWN
Morgan State has five (5) players from the DMV (D.C., Maryland & Metropolitan-D.C.) area. Senior guard Rob Lawson is from Capitol Heights and played at National Christian Academy. Veteran guard Elijah Davis hails from Severn, Md., and played at Incarnate Word. Redshirt senior forward Jayden Socka is from Silver Spring, Md., and attended Springbrook HS. Graduate student guard Alfred Worrell Jr. and freshman David Bumpass are from Washington, D.C. Worrell went to Montgomery Blair HS, and Bumpass attended Friendship Tech Prep Academy.

ALL-CONFERENCE SELECTION
Graduate student Walter Peggs Jr., a transfer from Spring Hill College, was named to the preseason All-MEAC Third Team.
• Peggs was a BOXTOROW Division II HBCU All-America First Team selection and became the first player in program history to earn two BOXTOROW HBCU All-America honors. He was also a SIAC First Team All-Conference pick and was named to the NABC Honors Court.
• At Spring Hill, Peggs became the program's Division II era career scoring leader with 1,137 points and set the two-year career scoring average record at 21.3 points per game. He started all 26 games last season, averaging a career-best 26.0 points and 35.6 minutes per game. Peggs totaled 676 points to set the program's Division II single-season scoring record, while adding 92 rebounds. He also set Division II era records with 99 made three-pointers and 151 made free throws. Peggs shot career highs of 48.2% (213-442) from the field, 42.1% (99-235) from three-point range, and 87.8% (151-172) from the free-throw line.

TABBED TO FINISH FOURTH
The Morgan State men's basketball team has been picked to finish fourth in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference's preseason poll, announced by the conference today.
• The 2025-26 Bears earned 73 total points in the voting. Norfolk State claimed 12 first-place votes and 118 points total as the defending MEAC champions. Howard (97 pts) was selected second, followed by South Carolina State (90 pts) in third place. Delaware State (70 pts), North Carolina Central (70 pts), Maryland Eastern Shore (31 pts), and Coppin State (27 pts) rounded out the league's predicted order of finish.
 

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ABOUT MORGAN
Morgan State University, founded in 1867, is a Carnegie-classified high research (R2) institution offering nearly 140 academic programs leading to degrees from the baccalaureate to the doctorate. As Maryland's Preeminent Public Urban Research University, and the only university to have its entire campus designated as a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Morgan serves a multiethnic and multiracial student body and seeks to ensure that the doors of higher education are opened as wide as possible to as many as possible. For more information about Morgan State University, visit www.morgan.edu.