Cal's introduction to the ACC has been rough.
The Bears have yet to lock up a conference win in their new league, and that streak was extended Saturday night against Clemson. The Tigers led for the last 26:09 of the game at Littlejohn Coliseum to upend the Bears, 80-68, despite the second 30-point performance from leading scorer Andrej Stojakovic.
The sophomore put together one of his most efficient performances of the season to finish with 30 points after going 11 for 15 from the field plus tacking on seven free throws.
Still, the Bears struggled to provide much help to the Stanford transfer leading to the Tigers controlling the second half and eventually pulling away.
"Our guys played incredibly hard the entire night," Cal head coach Mark Madsen said in his postgame press conference. "The execution was there for much of the night. Where we have to get better is we have to execute more consistently throughout the 40 minutes. It was a high-energy game, our guys were on the floor diving, scrapping for loose balls.
"We took care of the ball, that was a bright spot. We forced some turnovers, Clemson came away with the win."
Stojakovic was the clear bright spot for the Bears in Saturday's loss, Cal's third straight and sixth in the last seven games, as he shined early with 17 points in the first half including making a leaning 3-pointer as time expired.
It was the second game this season in which Stojakovic has reached the 30-point threshold, and he was able to score in a variety of ways against the Tigers.
"I thought Andrej Stojakovic still was able to find seams knifing into the paint," Madsen said. "But, having Viktor Lakhin as a back-line defender, he's done a really good job of helping his team."
Lahkin, who had 2 steals and 2 blocks, was just part of the challenge for Cal in Saturday's game. The Tigers had three players score at least 15 points led by Ian Schieffelin, who scored 21 points to go with 7 rebounds and a pair of assists.
Chase Hunter was also difficult for the Bears to stop in Saturday's game, and he finished with 19 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists.
The Bears have one of the worst 3-point defense percentages this season as they are allowing opponents to connect on 37.6% of their attempts. Clemson made use of the long ball Saturday with eight 3-pointers on 18 attempts including three during a 6-minute stretch late in the first half that led to the Tigers going up 39-30 with 1:13 to play in the opening half.
Cal led just once Saturday, 1:12 into the game, when Jovan Blacksher Jr. hit a shot to put the Bears on top 4-2.Clemson led for 37:20 in the game as the Bears struggled to find a rhythm offensively for a lot of the night outside of Stojakovic.
Blacksher was one of the players who was able to reach double figures for Cal, as the senior point guard put together one of his most productive performances of the season. Blacksher, who missed some time with an injury earlier in the season, had his best scoring night since scoring 19 points against USC back in November with a 15-point showing against the Tigers.
He only assisted on one play, and that continues to be one of the bigger concerns for the Bears as they move into conference play. Cal only assisted on six of its 26 made baskets compared to 18 on 31 makes for Clemson.
Freshman Jeremiah Wilkinson continued his production off the bench for the Bears, as he contributed 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting including hitting one of Cal's six 3-pointers in the loss.
The Bears shot 46% as a team while the Tigers hit 62% of their shots in the contest.
Games away from Haas Pavilion continue to be an issue for Madsen's squad this season. Cal is now just 1-5 when playing games outside of Berkeley, but the Cal head coach believes his team is working toward being able to turn things around on the road.
"Winning on the road is something that we've had success at," Madsen said. "But, we have to continue to improve to win on the road in a venue like this against a team like Clemson."
The Bears will be back in action Wednesday when they host Virginia at 8 p.m.
