Cal used a hot start from point guard Jovan Blacksher Jr. to gain control early in Wednesday night's matchup against No. 14 Louisville, but the momentum would be short lived. Blacksher proved to be one of the only bright spots for the Bears in their quest for an upset to begin their final road trip of the season.
Mark Madsen's team allowed Louisville guard Terrence Edwards Jr. to score a career-high 35 points, including five 3-pointers in the first half, leading to an 85-68 loss to the Cardinals as KFC Yum! Center
Blacksher hit two early 3-pointers in the opening minutes to spark an 8-0 run and 8-3 lead with 16:54 to play in the first half. The Bears held onto their lead until the 11:22 mark when Edwards hit his third 3-pointer of the game to tie it up at 12-12.
The Bears and Cardinals traded baskets over the next few minutes and Cal was able to regain a lead, 19-16, after a basket from center Mady Sissoko with 8:06 to play in the opening half. However, that would be the last field goal for the Bears until second half.
In that time, Cal (13-17, 6-13 ACC) was outscored 25-7 allowing Louisville to gain full control behind 17 first-half points from Edwards.
Once the Cardinals (24-6, 17-2) gained momentum, they never relinquished it for most of the remainder of the night and led from the 6:23 mark of the first half until the final buzzer.
"Louisville played a great game tonight," Madsen said. "They were more physical than us. They got loose from 3, in particular Terrence Edwards made seven 3s. We're not gonna be able to beat a team like this if a guy like that gets loose. Terrence is a very talented player, we can't let him get to his sweet spot like that."
While Cal's defense will be looked at when reviewing Wednesday's matchup and it inability to slow down Edwards and the Louisville offense, it was the Bears' offense that truly impacted the end result as much as anything.
Cal head several stretches where it simply could not score including a drought of over 4 minutes in the second half that allowed the Cardinals to push their lead to 23 points with 4:56 to play.
Outside of Blacksher, Cal had issues getting any of its players in rhythm on offense including its two top scorers Andrej Stojakovic and Jeremiah Wilkinson. That duo combined for just 5 points in the first half and was 1 for 15 from the field through the opening 20 minutes.
Stojakovic, who is averaging 16.7 points for the Bears, scored the opening basket of the second half but finished the night with a season-low 4 points on a 2-for-11 shooting performance.
Wilkinson was held without a basket in the first half (0 for 7) and connected on just two shots, both 3-pointers, by the end of the game to finish with 11 points thanks to five free throws.
The freshman was the only other player aside from Blacksher to score in double figures Wednesday night.
Mady Sissoko contributed a game-high 13 rebounds to go with 8 points for the Bears in the loss.
"I think when they went to their big lineup, and we got some looks at the rim and they rimmed out," Madsen said about the difference in the game for his team's offense. "We weren't able to make some of those. A few were uncontested layups, most were contested, but we've gotta be able to put a few of those in.
"We had a lead at one point in the game early, and then we went 7 or 8 minutes without a made field goal. That hurts. You're not gonna win a game when you go that long without making a field goal."
Cal missed 50 shots in the game and finished the night shooting 30% (21 for 71) from the floor and hit just 9-of-32 shots from 3-point range in the loss.
The Bears will now turn their attention to the finale of the regular season as they head to Notre Dame for a Saturday afternoon matchup with the Irish.
