Cal falls to Virginia Tech after late rally, 71-68

Down 22 with fifteen minutes left, Cal fights back to tie it, but comes up just short

Jan 12, 2025

Andrej Stojakovic midway through the second half, one of many times he was knocked to the ground

“When we get consistent, we’re going to be special.” - Coach Mark Madsen

In today’s postgame comments, Coach Madsen passed along the above message he gave to the team following Saturday’s rollercoaster 71-68 loss to the Virginia Tech Hokies. In Wednesday’s victory over Virginia, the Bears showed signs of improvement with a more consistent defensive approach and an all-around solid offensive output on their way to a relatively drama-free 15-point win. This afternoon, Cal’s problematic stretches of gameplay returned. In the first half, Cal dug themselves a hole with the worst offensive half of basketball in the two years of Coach Madsen’s tenure. Their 47-point second half is the highest scoring 20 minutes of basketball the Golden Bears have played this year.

The Golden Bears got off to a glacial start Saturday afternoon. The Hokies scored 15 straight points after Cal grabbed the early 4-0 lead from four Rytis Petraitis free throws. Cal missed their first 13 shots before Jeremiah Wilkinson hit a 3-pointer near the 12-minute mark. Cal found themselves behind early, 17-7.

The cold streak continued for the Bears. Cal would not make their first 2-point basket in the game until just under 8 minutes left in the half. Cal found themselves behind 28-12. When Cal has cold shooting nights, the defense is not at a point where it can step up and keep it close. Cal was allowing 65% shooting early on, while Cal was at 10%.

At the half, Virginia Tech led 42-23. Cal reduced the lead down to 13 with 90 seconds left, but the Hokies scored the last 6 points of the half to extend the lead to 19.

The first half numbers were abysmal across the board. Cal made 5-of-31 shots, including 3-of-14 from deep. Cal was a respectable 10-of-12 from the foul line, enough to keep it interesting before the ending 6-point surge from the Hokies deflated whatever energy was left in Haas. Jovan Blacksher Jr. led the Bears with 5 points. Andrej Stojakovic was 0-for-6 from the field.

For the Hokies, their guards consistently were able to beat their defender off the dribble and effectively penetrate the lane. Cal tried a variety of defensive schemes, but nothing was helping. The Hokies were 16-of-26 shooting for the half, with only 4 3-point attempts. You don’t need to take many outside shots when the guards are getting almost all the way to the basket. Guard Brandon Rechsteiner led all scorers with 10 points.

Five minutes into the second half, the Hokies had pushed the lead to 22, 51-29. Cal went on a 13-2 tun over the next four minutes, fueled by two 3-pointers from Joshua Ola-Joseph. At the twelve-minute timeout, Cal was within striking distance at 53-42. The crowd was back into the game.

The surge continued over the next stretch. The teams traded buckets before Jeremiah Wilkinson scored on 3 straight driving layups as the lead was trimmed to 8 points at just over eight minutes remaining.

And suddenly it was tied. Andrej Stojakovic scored 5 straight points, Mady Sissoko sunk 1 of 2 free throws, and Jeremiah Wilkinson had another driving layup. At 6 minutes, the game was tied 58-all.

The Hokies did not flinch, as they rattled off 9 straight points. Andrej Stojakovic answered with a driving layup, two free throws, and after a Petraitis steal-and-outlet pass, Stojakovic got the crowd on its feet with a thunderous slam. With 90 seconds left, Virginia Tech held a slim 67-64 lead.

The Hokies maintained their 3 point lead until 30 seconds left, 71-68. Cal had only committed five fouls, and they allowed over 15 seconds to run off the clock before fouling to stop the clock.

Rodney Brown Jr. missed the front end of a 1-and-1 for the Hokies, and Virginia Tech was called for traveling after they grabbed the rebound. Cal got possession, down three with 12 seconds left.

A designed kickout play to DeJuan Campbell for a corner three was deflect with 4 seconds left. Cal had one last chance. Andrej Stojakovic’s 3-point attempt with 2 seconds left rattled in and out, and the Hokies the victory at 71-68.

Avinash Kunnath

captured the last second shot. It was halfway down before bouncing out.

This game was exciting, disappointing, and maddening all at the same time. Virginia Tech was 6-9 coming into the game. Every conference game will be a challenge, but this was one of the easier conference matchups Cal will have on their schedule. The first half was so dejecting to observe. Many of the shots weren’t good decisions, Cal missed several gimme shots at the rim, and no one had a good read from 3-point range.

The second half was fueled by Jeremiah Wilkinson and Andrej Stojakovic. Wilkinson scored 11 points in the second half. He had 5 driving layups, always coming at a time when Cal needed to score. Andrej Stojakovic scored 22 points in the half, on a combination of driving layups and midrange shots coming off the drives. Both players attacked and were efficient at finishing, shooting a combined 13-of-21 for the half.

Coach Madsen shortened his rotation when the comeback began. Ten different players had first half court minutes. In the second half, Cal effectively went to a 6-man rotation. The group of Sissoko, Stojakovic, Joshua Ola-Joseph, Petraitis, Wilkinson and DJ Campbell played 92 of the 100 total minutes. When Jovan Blacksher Jr.’s shot is not falling, he becomes a defensive liability and ceded his minutes to other players. When asked about the tighter rotation, Coach Madsen said;

“It’s a combination of things. Jeremiah Wilkinson is playing extremely well…we’ve got to go with the guys who are executing offensively, executing defensively, organizing the team….I told the team back in September, October that there will be some games where the rotation will be tight.”

Cal falls to 8—8, 1-4 in ACC play. It doesn’t get any easier for the Bears, as they travel to North Carolina and NC State for their next two games, where an improvement in consistency may not be enough.

A few other notes;

Coach Madsen began his postgame comments acknowledging the LA fires, and thee impact it has on the campus community and the entire state. Madsen continued by saying that Mady Sissoko’s mother passed away on Friday. Mady chose to play this game, and Madsen was “proud of our guys for rallying around him.” All of the WriteforCalifornia staff is holding Mady and his family in our thoughts.
Virginia Tech’s Rodney Brown Jr. was on Cal’s roster last year. With the Hokies, Rodney is a solid rotation player. Tonight, he came off the bench and contributed 6 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists in 22 minutes.
This year, all visiting ACC coaches are made available for postgame comments and questions. Tonight, Hokies Coach Mike Young was ready to return to the East Coast. He asked us to “wrap this up quickly and hope it doesn’t take three days to travel back home.”