# 2023–24 California Golden Bears men's basketball team

The 2023–24 California Golden Bears men's basketball team represented the University of California, Berkeley, in the 2023–24 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. This was Mark Madsen's first year as head coach at California. The Golden Bears played their home games at Haas Pavilion as last season members of the Pac-12 Conference after 45 years before they will join the Atlantic Coast Conference in the 2024–25 season.

## Previous season

The Golden Bears started the year losing their first 12 games, the worst for any Power Five team. They won three of their next four games, including two in conference play against Colorado and Stanford. The Golden Beas finished the year losing the last 15 in conference play and the first-round game in the conference tournament.
At the end of the year, Mark Fox was fired on March 9, 2023, one day after losing their first-round game of the conference tournament.

## Off-season
### Departures

Departures :
| Name | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Reason for departure |
| Marsalis Roberson | G | 6'6" | 200 | Sophomore | Oakland, CA | Transferred to UC Davis |
| Joel Brown | G | 6'3" | 192 | Senior | Brampton, Ontario | Transferred to Iona |
| Jarred Hyder | G | 6'3" | 185 | Senior | San Bernardino, CA | Transferred to Cal Poly |
| Kuany Kuany | F | 6'9" | 200 | Senior | Melbourne, Australia | Transferred to VCU |
| Lars Thiemann | C | 7'1" | 260 | Senior | Krefeld, Germany | Transferred to Loyola Marymount |
| Obinna Anyanwu | F | 6'7" | 225 | Sophomore | San Diego, CA | Entered the Transfer Portal |
| Sam Alajiki | F | 6'7" | 230 | Sophomore | Dundalk, Ireland | Transferred to Rice |
| Dejuan Clayton | G | 6'2" | 190 | Graduate Student | Bowie, MD | Entered the Transfer Portal |

### Incoming Transfers

Incoming Transfers :
| Name | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Previous school |
| Jaylon Tyson | F | 6'7" | 210 | Junior | Plano, TX | Transferred from Texas Tech |
| Keonte Kennedy | G | 6'5" | 180 | Graduate Student | Austin, TX | Transferred from Memphis |
| Fardaws Aimaq | F | 6'11" | 245 | Graduate Student | Vancouver, British Columbia | Transferred from Texas Tech |
| Jalen Cone | G | 5'11" | 175 | Graduate Student | Walkertown, NC | Transferred from Northern Arizona |
| Mike Meadows | G | 6'2" | 175 | Graduate Student | Hollywood, CA | Transferred from Portland |

### 2023 recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Rodney Brown G | Temecula, CA | Rancho Christian School | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | 170 lb (77 kg) | Nov 7, 2022 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: ESPN grade: 82 ||||||
| Devin Curtis C | Northridge, CA | Heritage Christian School | 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) | 210 lb (95 kg) | Nov 9, 2022 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: ESPN grade: 79 ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2023 California Commits". Rivals.com. "2023 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. ||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | High points | High rebounds | High assists | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-conference regular season |||||||||
| November 6, 2023* 6:00 p.m., P12N | | St. Thomas (MN) | W 71–66 | 1–0 | 21 – Celestine | 11 – Aimaq | 2 – Askew | Haas Pavilion (3,066) Berkeley, CA |
| November 10, 2023* 8:00 p.m., P12N | | Pacific | L 79–87 | 1–1 | 22 – Cone | 11 – Tyson | 3 – Tied | Haas Pavilion (3,195) Berkeley, CA |
| November 13, 2023* 7:00 p.m., P12N | | Cal State Bakersfield SoCal Challenge campus site game | W 83–63 | 2–1 | 23 – Cone | 12 – Tyson | 7 – Tyson | Haas Pavilion (2,628) Berkeley, CA |
| November 16, 2023* 8:00 p.m., P12N | | Montana State | L 60–63 | 2–2 | 27 – Tyson | 12 – Aimaq | 2 – Tied | Haas Pavilion (2,638) Berkeley, CA |
| November 20, 2023* 10:00 p.m., CBSSN | | vs. UTEP SoCal Challenge Surf Division semifinals | L 72–75 | 2–3 | 18 – Aimaq | 11 – Aimaq | 2 – Tied | The Pavilion at JSerra (529) San Juan Capistrano, CA |
| November 22, 2023* 9:30 p.m., CBSSN | | vs. Tulane SoCal Challenge Surf Division 3rd place game | L 81–84 | 2–4 | 24 – Tyson | 14 – Aimaq | 5 – Tyson | The Pavilion at JSerra (312) San Juan Capistrano, CA |
| November 25, 2023* 4:00 p.m., MWN | | vs. San Diego State SoCal Showcase | L 67–76 $^{OT}$ | 2–5 | 23 – Tyson | 18 – Aimaq | 5 – Cone | The Pavilion at JSerra (2,293) San Juan Capistrano, CA |
| December 2, 2023* 4:00 p.m., P12N | | Santa Clara | W 84–69 | 3–5 | 26 – Cone | 11 – Tyson | 4 – Kennedy | Haas Pavilion (3,356) Berkeley, CA |
| December 9, 2023* 9:00 a.m., FS1 | | at Butler | L 90–97 $^{2OT}$ | 3–6 | 24 – Aimaq | 16 – Aimaq | 7 – Tyson | Hinkle Fieldhouse (8,034) Indianapolis, IN |
| December 16, 2023* 4:30 p.m., SECN | | vs. Ole Miss Hall of Fame Series San Antonio | L 78–88 | 3–7 | 22 – Tyson | 12 – Aimaq | 6 – Kennedy | Frost Bank Center (2,279) San Antonio, TX |
| December 20, 2023* 2:00 p.m., P12N | | UC San Diego | W 71–67 | 4–7 | 19 – Aimaq | 10 – Aimaq | 5 – Tied | Haas Pavilion (2,516) Berkeley, CA |
| Pac-12 regular season |||||||||
| December 29, 2023 7:30 p.m., P12N | | No. 4 Arizona | L 81–100 | 4–8 (0–1) | 22 – Tyson | 10 – Tyson | 5 – Askew | Haas Pavilion (5,947) Berkeley, CA |
| December 31, 2023 5:00 p.m., P12N | | Arizona State | L 69–71 | 4–9 (0–2) | 20 – Tyson | 14 – Aimaq | 5 – Tyson | Haas Pavilion (2,429) Berkeley, CA |
| January 3, 2024 7:00 p.m., P12N | | at USC | L 74–82 | 4–10 (0–3) | 23 – Tyson | 8 – Aimaq | 8 – Aimaq | Galen Center (4,603) Los Angeles, CA |
| January 6, 2024 7:00 p.m., P12N | | at UCLA | W 66–57 | 5–10 (1–3) | 22 – Tyson | 14 – Aimaq | 3 – Tied | Pauley Pavilion (7,342) Los Angeles, CA |
| January 11, 2024 8:00 p.m., ESPN2 | | Colorado | W 82–78 | 6–10 (2–3) | 30 – Tyson | 10 – Aimaq | 3 – Cone | Haas Pavilion (2,258) Berkeley, CA |
| January 13, 2024 5:00 p.m., P12N | | at Oregon | L 73–80 | 6–11 (2–4) | 20 – Tyson | 10 – Tyson | 3 – Cone | Matthew Knight Arena (6,748) Eugene, OR |
| January 18, 2024 6:00 p.m., P12N | | Washington | L 75–77 | 6–12 (2–5) | 18 – Aimaq | 10 – Aimaq | 5 – Aimaq | Haas Pavilion (2,913) Berkeley, CA |
| January 20, 2024 2:00 p.m., P12N | | Washington State | W 81–75 $^{OT}$ | 7–12 (3–5) | 30 – Tyson | 14 – Aimaq | 5 – Tyson | Haas Pavilion (3,201) Berkeley, CA |
| January 26, 2024 7:00 p.m., FS1 | | Stanford Rivalry | W 73–71 | 8–12 (4–5) | 14 – Tyson | 12 – Aimaq | 4 – Tyson | Haas Pavilion (8,710) Berkeley, CA |
| February 1, 2024 5:30 p.m., P12N | | at No. 11 Arizona | L 65–91 | 8–13 (4–6) | 13 – Celestine | 10 – Tyson | 4 – Tyson | McKale Center (14,688) Tucson, AZ |
| February 3, 2024 12:00 p.m., P12N | | at Arizona State | W 81–66 | 9–13 (5–6) | 20 – Aimaq | 14 – Aimaq | 5 – Tied | Desert Financial Arena (7,901) Tempe, AZ |
| February 7, 2024 8:00 p.m., P12N | | USC | W 83–77 $^{OT}$ | 10–13 (6–6) | 27 – Tyson | 20 – Aimaq | 5 – Aimaq | Haas Pavilion (11,801) Berkeley, CA |
| February 10, 2024 2:30 p.m., FOX | | UCLA | L 60–61 | 10–14 (6–7) | 16 – Tyson | 12 – Aimaq | 3 – Tyson | Haas Pavilion (9,280) Berkeley, CA |
| February 15, 2024 7:00 p.m., P12N | | at Washington State | L 65–84 | 10–15 (6–8) | 18 – Tyson | 11 – Aimaq | 4 – Brown | Beasley Coliseum (2,744) Pullman, WA |
| February 17, 2024 5:00 p.m., P12N | | at Washington | W 82–80 | 11–15 (7–8) | 28 – Tyson | 15 – Aimaq | 6 – Tyson | Alaska Airlines Arena (8,916) Seattle, WA |
| February 22, 2024 7:00 p.m., P12N | | Oregon State | W 81–73 | 12–15 (8–8) | 20 – Aimaq | 11 – Aimaq | 5 – Tied | Haas Pavilion (3,012) Berkeley, CA |
| February 24, 2024 6:00 p.m., P12N | | Oregon Senior Night | W 69–64 | 13–15 (9–8) | 27 – Tyson | 14 – Aimaq | 3 – Tied | Haas Pavilion (6,105) Berkeley, CA |
| February 28, 2024 5:00 p.m., P12N | | at Colorado | L 78–88 | 13–16 (9–9) | 25 – Tyson | 11 – Aimaq | 4 – Tyson | CU Events Center (6,926) Boulder, CO |
| March 2, 2024 6:00 p.m., P12N | | at Utah | L 59–88 | 13–17 (9–10) | 19 – Cone | 5 – Aimaq | 3 – Tied | Jon M. Huntsman Center (8,841) Salt Lake City, UT |
| March 7, 2024 8:00 p.m., ESPN2 | | at Stanford Rivalry | L 58–80 | 13–18 (9–11) | 18 – Aimaq | 9 – Aimaq | 3 – Tyson | Maples Pavilion (4,967) Stanford, CA |
| Pac-12 tournament |||||||||
| March 13, 2024 6:00 p.m., P12N | (7) | vs. (10) Stanford First round/Rivalry | L 76–87 $^{OT}$ | 13–19 | 19 – Cone | 9 – Aimaq | 8 – Tyson | T-Mobile Arena Paradise, NV |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Pacific Time. |||||||||