Write For California

Cal entered tonight’s game against the NC State Wolfpack needing a win both for the sake of their record and also to help with the team psyche for the rest of the season. At 11-11 overall and 4-7 in the ACC, the team is running out of time to move up in the standings and have at least one favorable game in the ACC Tournament. Cal will most likely be underdogs in 6 of their remaining 8 games. Meanwhile. NC State has lost 5 in a row, including a 65-62 home loss to the Cal Bears on January 18th. This game would be a good opportunity to gain some momentum heading into the next challenging stretch of games.

Photo courtesy Rob Hwang

Andrej Stojakovic returned to action, but did not start. He came into the game at the 16:27 point. His presence made an immediate difference. When Stojakovic is on the floor, the defense has to be hyperaware of his presence. While NC State did not double-team, the secondary defenders were constantly hedging and paying attention to Andrej’s presence. The first sequence resulted in an open 3-point basket for Jeremiah Wilkinson.

Cal started 0-7 from 2-point range, but 2-of-2 from long, both from Jeremiah Wilkinson. NC State also struggled early on, hitting only 1 of their first 7 shots. Jeremiah Wilkinson scored the first 8 points of the game for Cal, before Jovan Blacksher Jr. added two free throws and a corner 3-pointer. At the 12-minute timeout, Cal held a narrow 13-10 lead.

Both teams were playing primarily zone defense. Neither team was pushing the tempo or looking for a shot early in the shot clock. The offenses were happy to execute in the half court. The shots started falling for Cal, who shot 41% for the half after their sluggish start. Cal led at the break, 34-30. Jovan Blacksher Jr. scored 8 points in the last 2 minutes of the half, including a dazzling juke and 3-point basket as the halftime buzzer sounded. He had 15 points at the break to lead all scorers. Andrej Stojakovic played 12 minutes in the first half in his return, making one basket on four attempts. NC State Guard Marcus Hill led the Wolfpack with 8 points.

NC State tied it up early on at 36-36 behind two easy layups from Hill. Cal’s defense was lacking as the Wolfpack were getting easy looks. The teams traded baskets until the Wolfpack took a 46-44 lead with 14 minutes left in the game, as Cal was allowing the Wolfpack to get to the rim and take point high percentage shots.

After a Cal timeout, Rytis Petraitis and Joshua Ola-Joseph hit back-to-back 3 pointers as Cal reclaimed the lead 50-46. The Wolfpack’s Marcus Hill continued to penetrate and get easy shots. At the 8-minute timeout, Cal led 58-54.

Every time Cal pushed the lead to 6 to 8 points, NC State would respond with a timely basket to keep the game close. At the 4-minute mark Cal held on to a 64-57 lead. Cal was finally able to extend the lead, as Jovan Blacksher Jr. and Joshua Ola-Joseph hit consecutive 3-pointers to push the lead up to 13 with just under two minutes left, 70-57.

NC State chose to not foul. Cal slowed the game down and closed out the 74-62 win.

Jovan Blacksher Jr. led Cal with 18 points on a highly efficient shooting night. He made 4-of-7 from 3-point range, 5-of-10 overall. Jeremiah Wilkinson added 14 points, and Joshua Ola-Joseph added 13. NC State was led by Marcus Hill’s 20 points and 8 rebounds.

GAME NOTES

• Andrej Stojakovic had a quiet night on the stats sheet, scoring 6 points to go with 4 rebounds and 2 assists in 24 minutes. His presence was felt elsewhere. His multi-level offensive game warps the spacing of the defense, giving small windows to other players. Cal’s 16 assists to only 8 turnovers is a testament to this.

• This is the version of Jovan Blacksher Jr. that I appreciate the most. He played off-ball just as much as being the primary ball handler. When he plays off-ball, he is a huge threat in catch-and-shoot situations, and can use that to also choose his spots to drive to the rim. His drives led to him leading the team in free throw attempts(4).

• Cal leads the ACC in offensive rebounding, averaging 13.5/game. Tonight, they secured 12 offensive rebounds which contributed to 14 second chance points.

• In his postgame comments, Joshua Ola-Joseph talked briefly about the team meeting following the Syracuse loss. He said everyone looked into the mirror and identified what they needed to do to help the team perform better.

• Coach Madsen had high praise for JOJ, who was a perfect 5-for-5 shooting for the game and is becoming more of a vocal leader off the court.

• In looking back at the Syracuse loss, Coach Madsen said the team played “Outside of ourselves… and were trigger happy, the bigs hardly touched the ball.” Madsen made a point to the guards to look inside more often. Against the Orangemen, Mady Sissoko and Lee Dort had 1 combined field goal attempt and 7 combined rebounds. Tonight, the duo had 8 shot attempts and 20 rebounds.

• At 5-7 in the ACC, Cal is in a logjam for 9th place. In the ACC tournament, teams seeded 5 through 9 get a first round bye, and then get a favorable second round matchup before facing the top 4 seeds.

Cal returns to Haas Pavilion this Saturday at 2pm to face the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. The Bears will look to continue their surge leading into next week’s tough road trip to face Duke and Georgia Tech.