Cal’s depth has been tested in the last three games with injury absences from starters Jovan Blacksher Jr., BJ Omot, and DJ Campbell. And while we knew going into this season the Bears would be well provisioned all the way to the 13th man on the bench, who could have expected true freshman Jeremiah Wilkinson to emerge as one of Cal’s best offensive scorers?

With team captain Blacksher out, the Bears have turned some of the offensive keys over to Wilkinson to high degrees of success. Against Air Force, Sacramento State, and Mercyhurst, the 6-foot-1 guard out of Powder Springs, Georgia, averaged 21.3 points on an extremely efficient 64.7% from the field. Head coach Mark Madsen called his number and Wilkinson has made the most out of the chance to make an impact.

“It’s just taking advantage of the opportunity,” Wilkinson said. “I feel like I’m good enough to make all of these plays, so I know I only have a few opportunities to show what I can do.”

Pessimists would say that Wilkinson’s only really shined so far against lower-quality opponents but I believe that ignores some of the very encouraging green flags for the freshman’s future development. Right off the bat, Wilkinson’s 3-point shooting has been off the charts.

In the last three games, Wilkinson has shot the 3-point ball at an absurd 52.9%, completely lights out from beyond the arc.