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For the first time all season, Syracuse has lost three straight games. Across a week-long span, it lost to Clemson, Pitt and Stanford. The Orange are in a rut that they can’t quite seem to get out of. As of now, SU sits tied for 13th place in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Due to the conference’s expansion, three teams don’t make the postseason tournament. Syracuse stands just a half-game ahead of NC State for one of those positions.

The Orange will look to create some breathing room between them and the bottom-three teams when they take on the University of California, Berkeley, on Saturday. SU’s matchup with Cal is its second on the West Coast after falling 70-61 to Stanford on Wednesday. As of now, the Golden Bears sit one game ahead of the Orange in the ACC standings.

Here’s everything to know about Cal (11-10, 4-6 ACC) ahead of its fifth-ever matchup with Syracuse (9-12, 3-7 ACC):

All-time series

Syracuse leads 3-1.

Last time they played …

Cal took down Syracuse 73-59 on Nov. 20, 2014, in the 2K Classic at Madison Square Garden. The Orange scored just 22 points on nine made field goals in the first half and trailed by 12 at the break. SU couldn’t overcome its deficit in the second half and suffered its first loss of the season.

Three Syracuse players finished in double figures, but none of them had more than 13 points. Kaleb Joseph and Michael Gbinije led SU in scoring, while Chris McCullough added 12. The Orange went 4-for-15 from 3-point range, while Cal shot 8-of-18.

KenPom Odds

Syracuse has a 37% chance of winning, with a projected score of 78-75.

The Golden Bears report

Despite a mediocre season so far, Cal has the potential to finish with its most wins in nearly a decade. The Golden Bears last made the NCAA Tournament in 2016. The following season, they won 21 games but haven’t had more than 14 victories since. After a three-win season in 2022-23, Cal fired Mark Fox and hired Mark Madsen, who has helped turn the program around.

Cal went 13-19 last season, but virtually nobody returned from that team, so Madsen replenished through the transfer portal. The biggest was Andrej Stojaković — son of former NBA player Peja Stojaković — who leads Cal in scoring (18.9 points per game) but has missed the past three games. Freshman Jeremiah Wilkinson is the Golden Bears’ second-leading scorer (13.1), while BJ Omot and Jovan Blacksher Jr. both average at least 10 points per game.

How Syracuse beats Cal

Syracuse fell behind 17-0 against Stanford and later trailed 25-2. It simply can’t get out to another lethargic start Saturday. If the Orange do, it’ll be a long trip back to the East Coast for them. To start fast, J.J. Starling needs to be involved early and often. He’s coming off a seven-point outing on 3-of-16 shooting, and it should be a priority to get him in an early rhythm.

A way Syracuse can do that is by giving more minutes to Jaquan Carlos. At this point, Elijah Moore starting seems relatively pointless. He often plays the first five minutes, gets subbed out and plays sparingly after. Carlos scored a season-high 16 points against Stanford without missing a shot. When the Hofstra transfer started earlier this season, it didn’t work out, but neither is playing Moore right now. The Orange have nothing to lose at this point.

Stat to know: 13.3

Cal is the best offensive-rebounding team in the ACC, pulling in 13.3 per game. According to KenPom, it also has the second-best offensive rebounding rate in the conference at 35.9%. However, rebounding is one of Syracuse’s strengths.

SU pulls in 37.6 rebounds per game, 27 of which are defensive, which both rank in the top five in the ACC. Per KenPom, Syracuse is the 14th-best team in the country at keeping teams off the offensive glass. The Orange hold their opponents to an offensive rebounding rate of 25.1%.

Player to watch: Jeremiah Wilkinson, guard, No. 0

During Stojaković’s three-game absence, Wilkinson has deputized as Cal’s biggest offensive threat. In Cal’s first 18 games prior, Wilkinson had only played 30 minutes once and didn’t have a game with more than 15 shot attempts. Across the last three, the least number of minutes he’s played is 32 and shots taken is 17. Against Miami on Jan. 25, Wilkinson scored 30 points in 40 minutes and went 9-of-12 from 2-point range.

According to 247Sports, Wilkinson was a three-star recruit from McEachern High School (Georgia). He was ranked the 30th-best combo guard in the 2024 class and came in as Cal’s highest-ranked recruit. So far, he’s been productive, averaging 13.1 points per game in 22.9 minutes.

Published on January 31, 2025 at 2:10 pm

Contact Zak: zakwolf784254@gmail.com | @ZakWolf22