Andrej Stojakovic Has Been Dynamite But Cal Wins With Balance

Cal men’s basketball begins a critical stretch Wednesday night against Florida State, with five of its next six games at Haas Pavilion. The Bears are 7-3 at home this season, compared with 2-6 in road or neutral games, so this needs to be an advantage.
But recent outings also clearly have suggested Cal is better when it gets strong supporting performances around star sophomore Andrej Stojakovic.
The 6-foot-7 guard was the ACC’s No. 2 scorer entering play last week before North Carolina ganged up on him defensively and the Bears were helpless to do anything about it.
Stojakovic was held to a season-low six points on 3-for-13 shooting but almost no one else got anything done either in the 79-53 loss.
Coach Mark Madsen made it clear the Bears failed on multiple fronts at Chapel Hill, NC. “We came out totally flat,” he said this week. “The defense was below average. They got us in transition. We struggled (3 for 25) to make a 3 — everything was short.”
Three days later, in a 65-62 win at North Carolina State, Stojakoic was among five Golden Bears who scored in double digits. He shot just 5 for 16 and had 10 points, but his plus-12 rating showed the impact his presence on the floor has on the opposing defense.
Meanwhile, Cal’s other four starts combined to shoot 13 for 21, led by 14 points from Jovan Blacksher Jr., 13 from DJ Campbell and 10 from Mady Sissoko. Sixth man Jeremiah Wilkins scored 11 points.
“We had five guys in double figures,” Madsen confirmed. “There are going to be teams that try to load up on Andrej and double-team him. I thought Andrej did a really nice job of making the extra pass, particularly in the second half against North Carolina.
“He got Mady (Sissoko) some easy ones. Really, in the first half against NC State, Andrej was making the extra pass really well. A couple guys missed some shots, we missed a dunk.
“Andrej has done a good job of knowing when to attack and when to make the extra pass.”
Stojakovic had four assists in the loss at UNC, where Sissoko scored a career-high 16 points on 8-for-9 shooting and Joshua Ola-Joseph had 10 points on 4 for 8 from the field. The rest of the team combined to shoot 23 percent.
Cal actually is 1-4 in Stojakovic’s five highest-scoring games, beating Northwestern State (when he scored 31 points) but losing to Clemson (30 points), Missouri (26), Stanford (25) and Virginia Tech (24).
That does not suggest the Bears are better off when he has quiet game, but that basketball is a five-man game. Stojakovic scored 23 against Virginia and the Bears prevailed because three of his teammates chipped double-figure scoring totals.
Cal (9-9, 2-5 ACC) will need an efficient offensive performance to topple Florida State (13-5, 4-3), which leads the ACC in turnovers forced (15.11) and steals (8.83).