The 2025–26 California Golden Bears men's basketball team represented the University of California, Berkeley, in the 2025–26 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Golden Bears were led by Mark Madsen in his third season as head coach, and played their home games at Haas Pavilion as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The Golden Bears started the season with three straight wins before the streak was broken at Kansas State in a 96–99 loss. The team defeated Presbyterian and Sacramento State in the Empire Classic campus games. They traveled to the Chase Center to complete the Empire Classic with a win over eighteenth-ranked UCLA. They did not participate in the ACC–SEC Challenge, and won the remainder of their non-conference games. They faced only one other Power-4 team over their final six non-conference games, Utah, whom they defeated 79–72. Cal faced a significatnly harder schedule to being their ACC slate, facing three ranked teams in their first five games. The Golden Bears went 1–4 over this stretchm, and lost to sixth-ranked Duke, sixteenth-ranked Louisville, and twenty-third ranked Virginia. Their lone victory was a one-point defeat of Notre Dame. The team flipped the script and went 4–1 over their next five games, with victories over fourteenth-ranked North Carolina, and a rivalry victory over Stanford. Their only loss was a two-point defeat at Florida State. The Golden Bears went 3–2 in their next five games, losing to twentieth-ranked Clemson and Syracuse in double overtime. They defeated Stanford in a rivalry rematch over this stretch. They finished the season on a 1–2 streak, losing to Pittsburgh and Wake Forest but defeating Georgia Tech.

The Golden Bears finished the season 22–12 and 9–9 in ACC play to finish in a tie for ninth place. As the ninth seed in the 2026 ACC tournament, they lost to Florida State 89–95 in the First Round. They were exempt qualifiers in the NIT and were the second-seed in the Albuquerque Regional. They defeated UIC in the first Rrund before being upset by unseeded Saint Joseph's in the second round to end their season.

Previous season

The Golden Bears finished the season 14–19 and 6–14 in ACC play to finish in fifteenth place. As the fifteenth seed in the 2025 ACC tournament, they defeated Virginia Tech in double-overtime in the First Round. In the Second Round, they faced rival Stanford for a third time during the season. They lost 78–73, to lose to their rivals three total times during the season. They were not invited to the NCAA tournament or the NIT.

Off-season Departures Departures 0 G 6'1" 175 Powder Springs, Georgia Transferred to Georgia 1 G 6'7" 215 Brooklyn Park, Minnesota Transferred to Loyola-Chicago 2 G 6'7" 205 Carmichael, California Transferred to Illinois 7 F 6'9" 230 New York, New York Transferred to Temple 10 G 5'11" 165 Los Angeles, California Graduated 12 C 6'9" 250 Bafoulabé, Mali Graduated, signed with Pallacanestro Trieste 13 F 6'11" 210 Northridge, California Transferred to Southern Indiana 14 G 6'4" 180 Santa Ana, California — 15 G 6'6" 210 Minneapolis, Minnesota — 17 F 6'6" 175 Anaheim, California Transferred to San Jose State 20 F 6'8" 185 Mankato, Minnesota Transferred to Minnesota 22 G 6'3" 178 Chandler, Arizona Entered transfer portal 23 G 6'1" 180 Oakland, California Graduated 32 G 6'2" 170 Woodland Hills, California — 33 G 6'3" 190 Herceg Novi, Montenegro Transferred to Mercyhurst

Incoming transfers Incoming transfers 2 F 6'8" 220 Downingtown, Pennsylvania Delaware 7 G 6'2" 180 Chicago, Illinois Virginia 8 C 6'10" 240 Gornji Milanovac, Serbia Loyola (MD) 10 G 6'3" 190 Los Angeles, California Michigan 12 F 7'0" 210 Rumbek, South Sudan Georgia State 17 C 6'11" 240 Karčiupis, Lithuania Florida Atlantic 21 G 6'5" 210 Knightdale, North Carolina Campbell 22 F 6'7" 195 Concord, California Syracuse 23 F 6'8" 240 Gainesville, Florida Grand Canyon

2025 recruiting class

Roster

Schedule and results On December 2, 2025, a 79–72 victory against Utah resulted in the school's first 7–1 start since the 2016–17 Bears team. The December 13 victory over Northwestern State gave Cal its first 10–1 start since the 2014–15 team. The December 21 victory over Columbia gave Cal its first 12–1 start since the 1959–60 team that entered the 1960 NCAA University Division basketball tournament with one loss and were national runner-up. Although the team had been ranked 16th of 18 in the preseason polls, after the 12-1 start, the team was expected to win over 20 games before the 2026 ACC men's basketball tournament. The team won 20 games for the first time since the 2016–17 Bears went 21–13, and it won 20 regular season games for the first time since the 2015–16 Bears went 23–11.

Source:

!colspan=9 style=""| Non-conference regular season

!colspan=9 style=""| ACC regular season

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References