No. 20 Clemson Clobbers Cal

Cal's hopes of achieving an impressive win needed to improve its chances of landing an NCAA tournament berth went up in smoke because of a disastrous 13-minute stretch in the first half.

It led to the Bears' 77-55 loss to 20th-ranked Clemson before a crowd of 5,629 at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley. As a result of this lopsided loss Cal remains precariously on the bubble in its bid for its first NCAA tournament bid since 2016.

The 22-point loss represented the Bears' largest margin of defeat in a home game this season and dropped the Bears record at Haas to 14-3. It was two points shy of Cal's largest margin of defeat this season, which was a 24-point road loss to Virginia.

Coach Mark Madsen took responsibility for the Bears' performance.

"This was 100 percent unacceptable," he said. "Especially the stagnation offensively. . . We had a massive amount of breakdowns, and that's 100 percent unacceptable."

In that pivotal stretch of the first half, Cal went from a 13-9 lead to a 32-14 deficit as turnovers on seven consecutive possessions and 14 straight missed shots limited Cal to just one point in a stretch of nearly 13 minutes.

And it wasn't just the offense.

"Our defense was horrendous tonight," Madsen said.

Cal trailed by 19 points at halftime, and the Bears never got closer than 15 points in the second half.

"I thought we played exceptionally well," said Clemson head coach Brad Brownell. "[Our] defense at the end of the first half, the last 10, 12, maybe 15 minutes was probably as good as it's been all year. And obviously we did a great job of making shots. We made 12 threes; we don't do that all the time.

"I thought we played one of our best games of the year today."

Cal (17-7, 5-6) had won four of its previous five games, the only loss being a two-point road defeat against Florida State. And the Bears were hoping a win over Clemson would improve their NET from the current No. 55 slot.

Cal center Lee Dort missed his fourth straight game because of injury. Milos Ilic got his fourth straight start as a result. Ilic finished with two points and five rebounds, which was not nearly enough against Clemson team that has been outstanding on the road.

Clemson (20-4, 10-1 ACC) has won 14 straight conference road games dating back to the 2023-24 season, and the Tigers have won 13 of their last 14 games overall this season.

When Saturday's action began, the experts were torn regarding Cal’s status for the NCAA tournament as of this weekend, with some projections having the Bears barely in the tournament and others having Cal barely out.

Cal was listed as the First Team Out in Joe Lunardi’s Saturday morning Bracketology projections, which means the Bears are Lunardi’s highest rated at-large team not to be included in the 68-team field. It made Cal the ultimate bubble team and it is likely to stay on the bubble.

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— Joe Lunardi (@ESPNLunardi) February 7, 2026

Similarly, the Friday USA Today projections placed Cal among the First Four Out, along with two other ACC schools, Miami and Virginia Tech.

However, Mike DeCourcy of Fox Sports and CBS Sports both had the Bears in the field in their most recent projections. DeCourcy projected Cal to be in with room to spare as a No. 10 seed in his Friday tournament predictions, while CBS Sports’ Saturday morning predictions had Cal as one of the Last Four In, putting the Bears in a preliminary-round game as a No. 11 seed.

Obvously a victory over Clemson, which had a NET ranking of 31 to start the day, would have given Cal's postseason chances a major boost. This loss may not have hurt Cal's chances too much, but it certainly didn't help.

Justin Pippen was the Bears leading scorer with 19 points, as Cal shot 39.6 percent from the floor, while Clemson hit 55.1 percent of its shots.

John Camden, who had averaged 19 points over the previous five games, when he hit 18-of-31 three-pointers, scored just four points on Saturday, going 1-for-7 from the floor and missing his only two attempt from long range. He scored his first points of the game with 2:02 left in the second half.

The first half was an offensive disaster for Cal, which trailed 39-20 at halftime.

Cal took an early 13-9 lead, but then committed turnovers on seven consecutive possessions. That started Clemson on a 23-1 run that put the Tigers ahead 32-14.

From the 15:21 mark of the first half until 2:41 remained, the Bears missed 14 consecutive shots from the field. They went without a field goal for nearly 13 minutes and scored just one point in that span as Clemson took command.

Cal shot 24 percent in the first half (6-for-25), while the Tigers shot 59.1 percent from the floor (13-for-22) before halftime.

Clemson’s bench outscored Cal’s reserves 20-0 over the first 20 minutes, and the Tigers' non-starters outscored Cal's bench 35-5 for the game.