Mark Madsen challenged his players following a rough two-game stretch that halted a three-game winning streak last week. The Bears had just 4 assists in a 9-point loss to Syracuse over the weekend prompting criticism from the Cal head coach as well as a players-only meeting following the game.

Aided by the return of leading scorer Andrej Stojakovic, who missed the previous four games, the Bears responded with a convincing second-half showing against NC State Wednesday night to earn a season sweep of the Wolfpack with a 74-62 win at Haas Pavilion.

"I was proud of our guys," Madsen said. "It was a game of runs. Both teams made runs. I was proud of our guys for stepping up the defense late in the game."

A timeout from a visibly upset Madsen following a go-ahead basket on a second-chance play by the Wolfpack that made it a 46-44 game with 13:42 to play ultimately changed the momentum. Just 40 seconds after the timeout, forward Rytis Petraitis hit a 3-pointer to put the Bears ahead 47-44 followed by a 3-pointer from Joshua Ola-Joseph.

Up 50-46 with 12:34 to play, the Bears never looked back as the eventually pushed their lead up to 8 points following a 18-8 run sparked by the back-to-back 3-pointers from Petraitis and Ola-Joseph.

A 10-0 run, highlighted by 3-pointers from Ola-Joseph and point guard Jovan Blacksher Jr., late in the game cemented the victory for the Bears.

"They (NC State) just scored I think it was six field goals or eight field goals, and I don't think had that in the first half and they got it in just a few minutes," Madsen said. "So, we got after the guys and told them, 'hey, we need more.' Let's move our feet, let's get in rotation, let's be in help-side. Not only help the helper, but let's help the helper's helper. Let's be on a string. And, they responded."

Cal ended the game with nine 3-pointers on 21 attempts (43%) with Blacksher and Ola-Joseph accounting for six of those makes.

More importantly for Madsen, Cal had its season high with 16 assists on 27 made baskets coming off its performance against the Orange on Saturday.

"Honestly, I think we just got a little bit outside of ourselves in the Syracuse game," Madsen said Wednesday. "We got a little bit out of rhythm, and guys got a little bit trigger happy. It was very lopsided. The bigs barely touched the ball, and so I got after the team as a whole because that can't happen.

"... So, I think our guys were very conscious about spreading out touches and allowing everyone to be involved."

Blacksher paced the Bears in the opening half with 15 points before tacking on a 3-pointer to finish the night with a team-high 18 to go with 3 steals and 2 assists. It was the fifth time the senior has scored in double figures over the last six games.

"I just hit my shots today, honestly," he said. "I was able to get it inside to our bigs a little bit more. I know last game they didn't get a lot of touches, so we wanted to get them a more touches. Did that, then was able to play inside out."

Ola-Joseph was the spark the Bears needed off the bench with Stojakovic still getting back into the a rhythm after missing time over the last couple weeks. The Minnesota transfer hit all seven of his shots, including two 3-pointers, to finish the night with 13 points.

He had 8 of those points come in the second half, and helped the Bears eventually push their lead to as many as 15 late in the contest. Madsen said Ola-Joseph was one of the main voices to speak out in the Bears' team meeting.

"The Syracuse loss hurt us a lot, and as a team we talked about it," Ola-Joseph said. "I feel like tonight we came out and executed really well. ... I feel like as a team we were all very disappointed. We all had to look ourselves in the mirror and figure out what the issue was. We talked as a team and we addressed the issue, and I feel like we came out and responded pretty well."

Stojakovic struggled a bit from the field by going 2 for 12 on the night resulting in just 6 points, but he was one of six players to pull in an offensive rebound for the Bears and found other ways to contribute in 24 minutes off the bench.

The sophomore missed four games total, one with an illness and three because of a hip injury, leaving the Bears to have to figure out other ways for offensive production. Even though he had to shake off some rust, Cal was happy to get him back on the floor.

"Any time Andrej Stojakovic is on the court, he brings tremendous gravity to the court," Madsen said. "He hasn't gone full court live in probably two and a half weeks. So, we really accelerated, and he accelerated, his time frame coming back without having done all the things that a player wants to do.

"So, I was proud of him for just stepping forward and making a big contribution tonight. It was great having him back. ... He had great energy. He was maybe a little bit tired in his first stint in the first half, but other than that he didn't look tired. He's in phenomenal shape."

The Bears will be back in action Saturday at 2 p.m. when they host Wake Forest in the lone meeting between the two teams this season before heading on the road for three straight.

Press conference videos provided courtesy of Cal Athletics