Tonight, Carolina starts a two-game home stand, as they host California tonight, in the first-ever ACC matchup with the Golden Bears. The Tar Heels are riding high entering tonight’s game, having won three straight games, most recently at NC State on Saturday, as the team is now 11-6 on the year, and 4-1 in the ACC. Jalen Washington stepped up in a big way in the win against the Wolfpack, recording his first double-double as a Tar Heel, while scoring the game-winning bucket, and securing the game-winning stop, with a blocked shot at the rim.
Cal’s first season in the ACC hasn’t gone the way that they would’ve hoped for, as they find themselves at 8-8, and just 1-4 in the league. Their lone win in ACC play came against Virginia at home last week, before losing to Virginia Tech over the weekend. They do have a road win at USC, but that is their only win away from Berkley so far, but they have played bother Clemson and Pittsburgh tough away from home, to go along with road losses at Vanderbilt, and Missouri. Andrej Stojakovic is Cal’s leading scorer at over 20 points per game, shining in his first season with the program, after transferring in from Stanford last off-season. He is one of three active players on the roster that averages double-figure scoring, on a team that averages 77.0 points per game.
After putting together his best performance at Carolina, Jalen Washington was the happiest player in the locker room after the win against NC State last weekend. Now that he’s shown what he’s capable of, the challenge is for him to build off that game, and continue to improve on both ends of the floor. The more that he helps solidify Carolina’s frontcourt, the better this team will get, and their ceiling will only get higher. For a guy who has been through a lot since arriving on campus three years ago, in the last three games we’ve seen Washington’s talent finally show up and show out on the court, and it couldn’t have come at a better time for Hubert Davis, and this year’s team.
Even after three straight wins, Hubert Davis is still stressing for his team to continue to improve defensively, and on the glass, and start putting together two complete halves. This is the worst team Carolina has played since the calendar turned to 2025, and serves up another opportunity for this team to build off their recent wins, and take steps in the right direction.
Don’t Overlook the Opponent: This is a maturity game for Carolina, as this team is coming together, and learning how to win. Cal’s record isn’t anything to be scared of, and they only have one legitimate player, and factor in that they’ll be playing at 4 PM according to their body clock, there isn’t a lot that should suggest that they could win this game. With that being said, Carolina needs to be ready to play, and not let them hang around, and keep the game closer than it should be. In the three-game winning streak, the Heels have eliminated the slow starts, as they haven’t trailed by double-digits in any game during the winning streak. Let’s hope that continues tonight.
Contain Stojakovic: When you’re going up against a player who averages over 20 points per game, it’s fair to expect him to get his numbers, and make plays even when you do everything right defensively. That’s certainly the case with Andrej Stojakovic, who averages over 20 points per game and is too good of a player for Carolina to take completely out of the game. With that being said, they can’t let Stojakovic have one of those career nights, that allows Cal to keep the game closer than it should, let alone pull the upset. At 6-7, he will pose a mismatch problem for Carolina’s backcourt, so expect Hubert Davis to put Drake Powell on him, to wear him down with his strength, and length.
Play Inside-Out: The best way for Jalen Washington to build off his NC State game is for his team to play through him, and feature him on the block. He and Elliot Cadeau have developed a nice two-man game, improving in the pick-and-roll game, and finishing more consistently at the rim. The next step for this offense is to develop a legitimate low post-scoring threat, and it feels like Washington is progressing towards that. In addition to that, the guards, led by Ian Jackson, and RJ Davis need to pay downhill and put pressure on the rim, to open up the perimeter offense. We’re learning there aren’t many players in the conference that can stay in front of Ian Jackson, and with the floor opened up, we know how good RJ can be when he’s driving to the basket. This is a game where Carolina should score plenty of points in the paint, and live at the foul line, but that only happens if they look to play inside-out from the opening tip.
Series History:
Carolina is 4-1 all-time against the Golden Bears, including being 2-0 in Chapel Hill, and 1-0 in the Smith Center. California won the most recent matchup back in 1998, a year after Carolina beat them in the NCAA Tournament, in the final March Madness run under Coach Smith.
KenPom:
North Carolina - 31st overall. Adjusted Offensive Efficiency: 116.8 (32nd) Adjusted Defensive Efficiency: 97.6 (40th)
California - 127th overall. Adjusted Offensive Efficiency: 112.5 (64th) Adjusted Defensive Efficiency: 109.5 (243rd)
NET:
North Carolina - 37th.
California - 123rd.
TV Info:
Tonight’s game will tip at 7 PM on the ACC Network.
The Four Corners Podcast:
Commentaires