Cal's Jeremiah Wilkinson in a Historic Debut at Cameron Indoor

Cal guard Jeremiah Wilkinson’s 21 points on Wednesday night were the most scored by an opposing freshman at Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium in more than four years.

Wilkinson assembled the most prolific game by a visiting freshman since North Carolina’s Caleb Love put up 25 points in a 91-87 victory on the Blue Devils’ home floor on Feb. 6, 2021.

That stretch spanned 71 games, including Duke’s 14 home games this season. Despite Wilkinson’s big game, the Bears lost 78-57.

“I mean, you saw that tonight from Jeremiah, but really, he’s been doing that all season,” Cal coach Mark Madsen said afterward. “To have that level of poise as a freshman . . . to have the composure . . . to be able to run an offense against one of the top defenses in the country . . . Jeremiah Wilkinson is a tremendous leader. He’s a phenomenal basketball player.”

Only one Duke opponent of any experience level has scored more points than Wilkinson in a game this season at Cameron Indoor. Notre Dame sophomore guard Markus Burton posted 23 in the Blue Devils’ 86-78 win on Jan. 11.

Wilkinson, a 6-foot-1 guard from Powder Springs, Georgia, will get to play essentially a home game Saturday when the Bears (12-13, 5-9 ACC) visit Georgia Tech (12-13, 6-8) for a 1 p.m. PT tipoff. Powder Springs is located 24 miles from the Georgia Tech campus in Atlanta.

Wilkinson is averaging 14.0 points for the season, which puts him on pace to record the eighth-highest mark by a Cal freshman.

In seven games since joining the starting lineup, Wilkinson is scoring at an even 20-points-per-game pace.

“You look at his growth from when he stepped on campus in the early summer months until now, it’s been incredible he growth that he’s had,” Madsen said. “(When) he came, he was a great player, and he’s just gotten better every single day.

“He had a strong effort tonight, the four-point play, getting to the rim, finding the open man. It was great to see his continued steady play.”

Wilkinson shot 8 for 17 from the field, made 4 of his 8 3-point attempts and his only free throw. He also had three assists.

Wilkinson’s seventh game of at least 20 points equals Ryan Anderson (2006-07), Brian Hendrick (1989-90), Lamond Murray (1991-92) and Leon Powe (2003-04) for the second-most by a Cal freshman.

Shareef Adbur-Rahim, who was Pac-10 Player of the Year in 1995-96 after averaging a Cal freshman record 21.1 points, had 16 games of at least 20 points, including three of 30 or more.

Wilkinson is the third high-scoring rookie the Bears have recruited out of the state of Georgia. Abdur-Rahim and Jaylen Brown both grew up in the Atlanta suburb of Marietta. Brown scored 14.6 points per game as a freshman in 2015-16.

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