North Carolina Dominates Cal, 79-53

Where the Bears stand after a thorough beatdown by the Tarheels

Mady Sissoko being helped up by his teammates. He was Cal’s MVP tonight

What were your expectations coming into the season?

For me, it was an 8-3 non-conference record(Bears went 7-4), and close to .500 in conference play (currently 1-5). Both would be an improvement from last season, would show that Cal can be competitive in the ACC, and provide signs of continued growth as Coach Madsen rebuilds the program from the ashes of the 2022-23 season.

Record is not the only factor, of course. Are there signs of player development and improvement both during the year, and year-over-year? Does the staff show signs of adaptability for their current talent pool and for the opponents they face? In short, are the program leaders both maximizing the talent amongst themselves and of the roster they have.

I think many of us are frustrated because the first six games of conference play have been disappointing. We’re just over the halfway point of the season (17 games down, at least 15 more to go). So it’s a good time to look at where the team stands as we enter the meat of the conference schedule.

But first, tonight’s game.

This year’s version of Hubert Davis’ Tarheels are not the typical worldbeaters you think of when you hear ‘North Carolina’. Their 12-6 record is very good, but their best win is a 2-point win at home over UCLA back in December. Senior RJ Davis was ACC Player of the Year last year, and this game was hyped as a battle of potential NBA picks between him and Andrej Stojakovic. It did not play out that way.

DJ Campbell was given the assignment to be RJ Davis’ primary defender. Campbell has the lateral quickness to keep up with Davis, and did an excellent job in forcing Davis to pass the ball instead of going to the basket. Davis scored 3 points in the first half on 1-of-5 shooting.

While Davis wasn’t scoring, the rest of the team more than made up for it. Pass-first guard Elliot Cadeau picked up the scoring slack, consistently beating his defender off the dribble and getting off uncontested midrange shots. He scored 11 first-half points on 5-of-8 shooting. As a team, the Tarheels shot 57% from the field in the first half, 17-of-30 overall. The majority of these were short to medium shots as the Tarheels were 14-of-22 from 2-point range. Cal’s defense once again executed poorly on screens and switching. The Tarheels larger frontline was dominant on Cal’s smaller guards and wings.

On the offensive side, Andrej Stojakovic’s drive-and-finish game was shut down by the Tarheels tall and long frontline. Andrej was limited to 1-of-8 shooting in the first half. When players like Andrej and Jeremiah Wilkinson aren’t finding success on dribble penetration, Cal needs the outside shooting to help make up the difference. Today, that was not happening. In the first half, Cal shot 38% overall, including 1-of-11 from 3-point range. Andrej, Jeremiah and Jovan Blacksher Jr. all were 0-of-3 from deep.

At the break, North Carolina led 39-29. A few bright spots for Cal to keep it competitive include DJ Campbell’s 6 early points. He displayed a nice range of moves to penetrate and finish with a nice touch or short jumper. When he dropped off, Joshua Ola-Joseph came on, scoring 8 points on perfect shooting. Mady Sissoko was Cal’s star of the game. Scoring 8 points mainly coming from forceful offensive rebounds and putbacks. More on Sissoko later on.

Cal kept it close early in the second half, chipping the lead down to six at one point. A Mady Sissoko dunk at 13:34 cut the lead to nine, 48-39, at the 13-minute mark. The Tarheels would go on a 15-0 run over the next five minutes to push the lead to twenty four, 63-39, at the 8-minute mark. The outcome was never in doubt, as both teams substituted to the end of their benches for the last couple minutes. The Tarheels win 79-53.

There’s not much more to add about this game. The better team won convincingly. Cal’s defensive problems on switching and challenging shooters were on full display as North Carolina repeatedly got to where they wanted to get, and attempted high-percentage shots. When Cal’s penetration-based offense was not working, the outside shooting was not able to make up the difference. A win tonight was always unlikely. I’m not taking much away from this single game.

We can look at the first 6 games of the ACC schedule and make some judgments. Cal ranks 328th (of 356) in field goal percentage defense(**). Cal surrenders a high percentage of both interior scoring (like tonight) and long-range shooting (like Cornell). The help defense showed signs of improvement in the recent Virginia game (win), but regressed both against Virginia Tech and North Carolina.

Cal is streaky on offense. We’ve seen players like Andrej Stojakovic and Jeremiah Wilkinson have incredible hot streaks where they cannot be stopped. We also have nights like tonight when the team shoots a collective 3-of-25 from long range.

What I have seen is the coaching staff making in-game adjustments to try new things like defensive sets, even if they don’t always change the outcome. I appreciate the play designs, like the last second Andrej drive and kick to Campbell at the end of the VA Tech game, or the ATO plays discussed quite a bit last year that continue this year.

What I have not seen is consistency. I’m still buying into Coach Madsen’s comment of “When we get consistent, we’re going to be special” after week’s loss to Virginia Tech. I think it’s fair to be frustrated that it has not happened yet at this point in the season. I also acknowledge that it may be unfair to judge it too harshly, given the roster turnover and the challenges of navigating the logistics of being an ACC member.

After 17 games last year with a whole new roster which featured a first round NBA player, Cal was 6-11, 2-4 in conference. This year with a whole new roster that includes a potential NBA draft pick, Cal is 8-9, 1-5 in conference. Last year, Cal finished strong, going 8-6 in conference play the rest of the way before falling in the first round of the PAC-12 Tournament.

I continue to take the long view. This year will most likely be mildly underwhelming for most of us. In our preseason podcast, Nick predicted 14-16 wins, I went slightly higher at 18 wins, and Terence aimed for the moon with 20 wins. Nick will probably be closest to correct. The optimist in me sees that there is still a jumble of eleven teams with between one and three conference wins. The ACC is top-heavy; Cal can still finish in the middle of the pack in conference. This season, I want Cal to end strong, display more consistency across 40 minutes and show improvement on defense like they have flashed a few times.

Give me reason to believe that with a returning core of players, next year will be the breakout year.

A few other notes;

• Mady Sissoko’s mother passed away last Friday. He chose to play the Saturday game against the Hokies while the news was still fresh. Tonight, Mady was easily the best Cal player, continually fighting for rebounds and being tenacious on defense en route to a 16 point, 8 rebound game. Mady continues to be in our thoughts.

• Jovan Blacksher Jr. is in a major shooting slump. Over the last 6 games, he is 11-of-52 overall. His minutes have been reduced as Jeremiah Wilkinson’s have increased, though tonight both of them were cold.

• ** - Cal is not last statistically in the ACC in several defensive categories. Without going into all the numbers, Miami is easily the worst team in the conference both in record (4-13) and most statistical categories. Syracuse, Boston College and Virginia are in our neighborhood for many categories.