Lots on the Line When Cal Hosts NC State on Wednesday at Haas Pavilion

Bears would like to cushion their chances of finishing high enough to quaify for the ACC tournament

Cal guard Jovan Blacksher Jr. / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

The move to the Atlantic Coast Conference gives Cal the chance to play in the oldest, most storied men’s basketball tournament in the country. The ACC tournament began in 1954 and became a fixture on the late-season college hoops calendar.

But entry into the event this year is not automatic. With 18 teams now playing in the ACC — following the addition of Cal, Stanford and SMU — the conference tournament will utilize a 15-team format.

That means the bottom three teams in the final standings will stay home.

Cal (11-11, 4-7 ACC) currently sits in a four-way tie for 11th (through 14th) place. The Bears will try to snap a two-game losing streak Wednesday night when they host North Carolina State (9-12, 2-8) at Haas Pavilion. Tipoff is 8 p.m.

Cal beat the Wolfpack 65-62 at Raleigh, NC, on Jan. 18 for its first (and still only) ACC road victory. They had star sophomore Andrej Stojakovic for that one, although he scored just 10 points as five Bears posted double digits in one of the team’s most balanced performances.

Stojakovic has not played since that game, missing the past four outings due to a hip injury. Coach Mark Madsen said this week Stojakovic’s status is “somewhere between day to day and week to week.” He said the same thing last week, and the 6-foot-7 guard did not play in either game.

With or without Stojakovic, the Bears need to play better than they did Saturday in a 75-66 home loss to Syracuse.

In order to maintain a cushion above the bottom three teams in the ACC standings, the Bears need get a win on Wednesday night. They have nine conference games remaining and this game along with a March 1 home game vs. Boston College (10-11, 2-8) seem to represent their best chances to win.

The Wolfpack has lost six in a row and is winless in five road games this season. But Madsen stressed this is more about how his team performs.

Cal fell behind 40-23 by halftime against Syracuse and never caught up. The outcome was disturbing enough to prompt a players-only meeting afterward.

“Syracuse ran us out of the gym in the first half,” Madsen said. “Our job is to be more consistent and not have a lull like we did in the first half against Syracuse.”

The Bears made just four of 23 shots in the first half — a startling 17 percent. They were 2 for 14 on 3-point tries.

I felt like we took some bad (shots), I felt like we took some early ones, I felt like we missed our bigs at times on easy dump offs. I was pretty heated and upset after the game,” said Madsen, who said the Bears must execute better at both ends of the floor and follow the game plan. 

“We’re going to chip away and work at it and get better,” he said. “We have a tremendous group of players . . . they’re resilient, the staff is resilient.”