{"id":3177,"date":"2026-01-18T09:36:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T01:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/18\/cal-is-holding-on-to-no-15-north-carolina-basketball\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T09:54:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T01:54:13","slug":"cal-is-holding-on-to-no-15-north-carolina-basketball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/18\/cal-is-holding-on-to-no-15-north-carolina-basketball\/","title":{"rendered":"Cal is holding on to No. 15 North Carolina basketball"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Cal snapped a three-game skid on Saturday as the Golden Bears picked up their second win against a ranked team in defeating No. 15 North Carolina, 84-78, at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley.<\/p>\n

California led by 20 points in the second half of the game but North Carolina came back late, although it was not enough to come back. The victory was the Golden Bears’ first win over fifteen opponents since 2016.<\/p>\n

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The Golden Bears were led by senior forward John Camden with 20 points. Dai Dai Ames and Justin Pippen, son of Basketball Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen, each scored 17 in the game. Lee Dort had seven points and 12 rebounds.<\/p>\n

Cal coach Mark Madsen appreciated the loud, boisterous atmosphere during their home game at Hass Pavilion.<\/p>\n

“I want to say a big thank you to the Cal community, students, alums … donors and supporters. It was basically a packed house. We’re trying to build something special here at Cal and it takes everyone and I can’t say enough about the environment,” Madsen told reporters after the game.<\/p>\n

Madsen added: “I can’t give North Carolina enough credit. Late in the game they put us on our heels. They did a great job of making us uncomfortable. Give them credit and credit to some of our guys who stepped up and made plays late without timeouts.”<\/p>\n

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Tar Heels freshman Caleb Wilson had a team-high 17 points at North Carolina. Henri Veesaar and Derek Dixon each had 14. Veesaar grabbed 10 rebounds for UNC.<\/p>\n

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Before NBA glory: How Jordan, Bird, Magic and Curry dominated in college<\/h2>\n
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Magic Johnson<\/strong>
college governance:<\/strong> He led Michigan State to the 1979 NCAA Championship, defeating Larry Bird’s Indiana State.
NBA:<\/strong> 5 \u00d7 NBA champion in 1980, 1982, 1985, 1987 and 1988 with the Los Angeles Lakers. 3\u00d7 NBA Finals MVP in 1980, 1982 and 1987. 3\u00d7 NBA Most Valuable Player in 1987, 1989 and 1990. 12\u00d7 NBA All-Star: 1980, 1982-1992. 2\u00d7 NBA All-Star Game MVP in 1990 and 1992. Inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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1<\/span> \/ 2<\/span><\/p>\n

Before NBA glory: How Jordan, Bird, Magic and Curry dominated in college<\/h2>
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Magic Johnson<\/strong>
college governance:<\/strong> He led Michigan State to the 1979 NCAA Championship, defeating Larry Bird’s Indiana State.
NBA:<\/strong> 5 \u00d7 NBA champion in 1980, 1982, 1985, 1987 and 1988 with the Los Angeles Lakers. 3\u00d7 NBA Finals MVP in 1980, 1982 and 1987. 3\u00d7 NBA Most Valuable Player in 1987, 1989 and 1990. 12\u00d7 NBA All-Star: 1980, 1982-1992. 2\u00d7 NBA All-Star Game MVP in 1990 and 1992. Inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

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2<\/span> \/ 2<\/span><\/p>\n

Before NBA glory: How Jordan, Bird, Magic and Curry dominated in college<\/h2>
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Carmelo Anthony’s college tenure:<\/strong> In his one season (2003), he led Syracuse to a national championship and earned Final Four Most Outstanding Player honors. Averaged 22.2 points and 10 rebounds per game as a freshman.
NBA: <\/strong>10\u00d7 NBA All-Star. 2012\u201313 NBA scoring champion, averaging 28.7 points per game.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

More NCAA Men’s Basketball: <\/strong>USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll<\/span><\/p>\n

“I think there was a sense of urgency that wasn’t there in the first 20, 25 minutes,” UNC coach Hubert Davis told reporters after the game. “There were still mistakes made at both ends but it was not done in haste, with efforts that allowed us to get back into the game.”<\/p>\n

Cal shot 50% from the field and even better from 3-point range, shooting 54% from deep.<\/p>\n

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“It was nice to see,” said Madsen. “Everybody knows that we put pressure on the rim by attacking the rim with different actions that we do. It was nice to see a few shots fall and, in the evening, early in the morning, because we can shoot it, we can do both.”<\/p>\n

North Carolina shot 46% from the field and 33% from 3. Additionally, the Tar Heels missed 11 free throws, shooting 61% (17-of-28).<\/p>\n

Despite dominating the paint 32-18, the Tar Heels never took the lead.<\/p>\n

Cal runs its record to 14-5 (2-4 in the ACC standings), while North Carolina, 14-4, now has a 2-3 mark in the ACC.<\/p>\n

The Tar Heels’ next game is against Notre Dame on Jan. 21 on ESPN2. The Golden Bears visit the Stanford Cardinal at Maples Pavilion on Jan. 24 on the ACC Network.<\/p>\n

Cal vs No. 15 best North Carolina basketball photos<\/h2>\n

This article first appeared in USA TODAY: Cal upsets North Carolina basketball<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cal snapped a three-game skid on Saturday as the Golden Bears picked up their second win against a ranked team in defeating No. 15 North Carolina, 84-78, at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley. California led by 20 points in the second half of the game but North Carolina came back late, although it was not enough …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3177"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3179,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3177\/revisions\/3179"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}