The middle eight minutes in a college basketball game can often determine the outcome on a given day. Cal learned that first hand Wednesday on the road at Pittsburgh. The Bears led by 16 points with 4:19 to play in the first half and watched that advantage evaporate by the 17:35 mark in the second half.

The end result was an 86-74 loss for Cal in its ACC road opener.

The Panthers took a timeout after the Bears made an 8-0 run with 5:05 to play in the opening half, and then things started to shift in favor of the home team. Cal (7-6, 0-2 ACC) had to work through some foul trouble while Pitt put together a 15-3 run over the final 4:02 of the first half to cut the Bears' lead down to just 4 points, 42-38, at the break.

Pitt (11-2, 2-0) then used a 9-2 run out of the locker room to take a 47-44 lead with 17:35 to play in the game and eventually never allowed the Bears to regain control after that 24-5 swing in the middle of the game.

The Panthers eventually pushed that lead all the way to 17 points with 1:15 to play while the Bears were never able to pull within more than 5 points over the last 15:36.

Madsen's team played a clean game with only 6 turnovers as a group and it led the rebounding battle for most of the day, but the Bears simply couldn't get enough stops on the defensive end of the floor to withstand the big scoring burst from Pitt.

The Panthers had three players score at least 15 points led by guard Jaland Lowe, who had a game-high 27 and 8 assists.

The Bears finished with five players with four fouls including starters Jovan Blacksher Jr., Rytis Petraitis and Mady Sissoko. Guards DJ Campbell and Jeremiah Wilkinson also picked up technical fouls in the loss as well.

There were 44 fouls called in the game overall, and Cal had to do a lot of its work offensively at the free-throw line. Wilkinson led the way for the Bears with 24 points, and 10 of those came on free throws. The freshman went 10 for 11 from the line and 6 for 15 from the field to go with 6 rebounds and 2 assists in 29 minutes off the bench.

Leading scorer Andrej Stojakovic also hit 10 free throws for the Bears as he went 10 for 12 from the line to go with four makes from the field to finish with 19 points. The sophomore also had 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and a block in a well-rounded effort.

Campbell had 11 points on a 5-for-11 effort from the field while Petraitis scored 11 on four makes from the field to go with 4 rebounds in 24 minutes on the floor for Cal.

The Bears used the long ball to build their 16-point lead with Wilkinson leading the effort. Cal hit four 3-pointers during the 24-7 run in the first half but went just 1 for 7 in the second to finish 6 for 21 in the game.

Madsen's squad had just 6 turnovers in the game and came down with 11 offensive rebounds plus had 13 assists on 22 made baskets.

Cal played the game without forwards Joshua Ola-Joseph (illness) and BJ Omot (injury).

The Bears will be back in action Saturday as they continue their first conference road trip as a member of the ACC with a visit to Clemson. Tipoff for that matchup is set for 5:30 p.m. PST.