Cal couldn’t come up with an upset in its first trip to Cameron Indoor Stadium on Wednesday. The third-ranked Blue Devils were coming off a loss and went into the game as a more than 20-point favorite, and that is how the matchup played out.
The Bears struggled offensively out of the gate Wednesday and had problems getting the ball to go in the basket. Duke wasn’t have such issues. By the 11:44 mark in the first half, the Blue Devils had built a 19-9 lead thanks to a 10-2 run.
Ultimately, that separation was all Duke needed to secure its eventual 78-57 win as the Bears continue to work to find their rhythm on offense.
“The intensity was there,” Cal head coach Mark Madsen said. “We battled and we fought. I felt like we were three or four defensive sequences away. I said earlier in the week, we want to be in a position to win the game in the last five minutes. It did not work out that way for us. Three or four defensive sequences away from that being the case, and we gotta knock down a couple of the open 3s and we’re right there.”
Cal leaned on its leading scorers to try and make up the early deficit, but every jab from the Bears was met with a blow from the Blue Devils. Eventually that lead to a 15-point deficit at the half with Duke out in front 38-23.
Freshman guard Jeremiah Wilkinson proved to once again be the catalyst for the Bears as he squared off against the other top freshman in the ACC, Cooper Flagg. The Cal star hit a pair of 3-pointers in the first half but truly found his stride over the final 20 minutes to chip in 15 points in the second half and end his night atop the Bears’ scoring list with 21 points.
The Georgia native was an efficient 6 for 9 from the floor in the second half to help pace the Bears as they worked to chip away at what eventually was a 26-point lead, 58-32, with 10:39 to play.
Cal responded by hitting four 3-pointers the rest of the way but were never able to get within less than 18 points the rest of the night.
In addition to Wilkinson’s 21 points, the Bears received 11 points from Rytis Petraitis and 10 points for leading scorner Andrej Stojakovic, who also had 4 rebounds and 2 assists. Petraitis had 6 rebounds and an assist.
Only three other Cal players scored in the matchup led by Mady Sissoko who had 7 points and 3 rebounds in the loss.
Cal returns to the floor Saturday when it takes on Georgia Tech with tipoff set for 1 p.m. in Atlanta.
Video provided courtesy of Cal Athletics
