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University of North Carolina Athletics
Wednesday, January 15
Chapel Hill
7 PM
North Carolina
79
vs
53
Cal
Photo by: ANTHONY SORBELLINI
Tar Heels Tame Golden Bears, 79-53
January 15, 2025 | Men's Basketball
CHAPEL HILL, N.C.— North Carolina used a stingy defense and a late, 15-0 run to stifle California, 79-53, on Wednesday night in the Smith Center.
The Tar Heels posted their best shooting first half of the season and limited the Golden Bears to 53 total points in the first meeting between the schools as Atlantic Coast Conference opponents. Cal's points are the fewest by a UNC foe this season.
Ian Jackson led all scorers with 20 points, adding seven rebounds. He's scored 20+ in six of the last seven games and seven times overall in his freshman season. Elliot Cadeau scored seven of UNC's first 16 points and posted his 11th double-figure scoring game by halftime. He finished with 15 points, three off his season high, while adding three rebounds and three assists. He was aggressive offensively, hitting 7 of a season-high 15 shots.
Seth Trimble scored 12 points, reaching double figures for the first time since the UCLA game on December 21, while also leading the Tar Heel defensive effort with a game-high three steals. He hit all six of his free throw attempts and added six rebounds. Nine different UNC players scored.
"I felt like Seth was off the chart with his energy, effort and attention to detail," Tar Heel head coach Hubert Davis said. "He was all over the place getting rebounds, deflections, steals, running in transition, scoring at the basket, passing and just his overall activity on both ends of the floor. He just made winning plays everywhere."
"Absolutely, today was a huge step in the right direction," said Trimble. "I felt completely like myself, but I'm always nitpicking at myself, so one thing I've got to do again is get back on from three and give the team a boost from the three-point line behind the arc. We're getting there, very close."
The Tar Heels came out of the locker room hot to start the game, hitting 13 of their first 18 shots and 17 of 30 overall in the first half (56.7 percent). It was Carolina's best first-half shooting percentage in the Smith Center in over a year (since shooting 57.6 percent in the first half versus Tennessee on November 29, 2023).
Cal's Andrej Stojakovic, who entered the night averaging 20.3 points per game and leading the ACC at 24.2 ppg in conference games, scored just two first-half points on 1 of 8 shooting due largely to the defense of Trimble and Drake Powell. He missed 9 of his first 10 shots, didn't hit his second field goal until under six minutes remained and finished with six points on 3 of 13 shooting in his season-low scoring output. His previous scoring low was 13, and he failed to reach double figures for the first time 17 games this season.
"I just think we were great for 40 minutes," Cadeau said of the team's defensive effort. "Usually, in most games, we will be good for the first half or maybe just good for the second half. I felt like we finally put together a full 40 minutes together and we were playing good the whole time. It was a big emphasis for us at halftime. Coach says that, he pushes us. He says that statistically, our defense is a lot worse in the second half for most of our games. He brought that up, and it just pushed us harder in the second half."
The Tar Heels (12-6, 5-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) won their fourth consecutive game and sixth in the last seven outings. Cal (8-9, 1-5) lost for the eighth time in its last 10 games. It was the first meeting between the two schools since December 29, 1998.
Carolina limited the Golden Bears to 34.8 percent shooting in the game, including 31.4 percent in the second half. Cal was 3 for 25 from three-point range (12.0 percent).
"Give Carolina the credit, they played with tremendous pace and speed, but we have to have more effort and fight," said Bear head coach Mark Madsen. "Some point midway between that second half our effort and our fight dropped dramatically, and that's not acceptable."
How It Happened
First Half
• Carolina used an early, 12-2 run to take a 14-6 lead five minutes into the game.
• The Tar Heels hit 13 of their first 19 shots (68.4 percent) in the first 12+ minutes, building a first-half lead that reached as many as 12 points before halftime.
• Carolina went more than 3:30 without a point late in the half until RJ Davis hit his first bucket of the game, a three-pointer with 40 seconds remaining.
• UNC shot 56.7 percent as a team from the floor in the opening 20 minutes, its best shooting first half of the season through 18 games. Carolina's defense limited the Golden Bears to 38.7 percent (including 1 of 11 from three-point territory).
• Eight different Tar Heels scored in the first half.
Second Half
• The Bears cut into the lead to pull within single digits more than once in the second half before Carolina used a 7-0 spurt over 2:03 to take its biggest lead to that point at 55-39 at the second media timeout.
• Later in the half, Carolina held Cal scoreless for over five minutes of action and ripped off a 15-0 run to lead, 63-39, with 8:27 to go.
• The Tar Heels eventually led by as many as 27 points with just over two minutes remaining in the contest.
Up Next
The Tar Heels will play host Stanford in the Smith Center on Saturday afternoon at 2:15 p.m.
The Tar Heels posted their best shooting first half of the season and limited the Golden Bears to 53 total points in the first meeting between the schools as Atlantic Coast Conference opponents. Cal's points are the fewest by a UNC foe this season.
Ian Jackson led all scorers with 20 points, adding seven rebounds. He's scored 20+ in six of the last seven games and seven times overall in his freshman season. Elliot Cadeau scored seven of UNC's first 16 points and posted his 11th double-figure scoring game by halftime. He finished with 15 points, three off his season high, while adding three rebounds and three assists. He was aggressive offensively, hitting 7 of a season-high 15 shots.
Seth Trimble scored 12 points, reaching double figures for the first time since the UCLA game on December 21, while also leading the Tar Heel defensive effort with a game-high three steals. He hit all six of his free throw attempts and added six rebounds. Nine different UNC players scored.
"I felt like Seth was off the chart with his energy, effort and attention to detail," Tar Heel head coach Hubert Davis said. "He was all over the place getting rebounds, deflections, steals, running in transition, scoring at the basket, passing and just his overall activity on both ends of the floor. He just made winning plays everywhere."
"Absolutely, today was a huge step in the right direction," said Trimble. "I felt completely like myself, but I'm always nitpicking at myself, so one thing I've got to do again is get back on from three and give the team a boost from the three-point line behind the arc. We're getting there, very close."
The Tar Heels came out of the locker room hot to start the game, hitting 13 of their first 18 shots and 17 of 30 overall in the first half (56.7 percent). It was Carolina's best first-half shooting percentage in the Smith Center in over a year (since shooting 57.6 percent in the first half versus Tennessee on November 29, 2023).
Cal's Andrej Stojakovic, who entered the night averaging 20.3 points per game and leading the ACC at 24.2 ppg in conference games, scored just two first-half points on 1 of 8 shooting due largely to the defense of Trimble and Drake Powell. He missed 9 of his first 10 shots, didn't hit his second field goal until under six minutes remained and finished with six points on 3 of 13 shooting in his season-low scoring output. His previous scoring low was 13, and he failed to reach double figures for the first time 17 games this season.
"I just think we were great for 40 minutes," Cadeau said of the team's defensive effort. "Usually, in most games, we will be good for the first half or maybe just good for the second half. I felt like we finally put together a full 40 minutes together and we were playing good the whole time. It was a big emphasis for us at halftime. Coach says that, he pushes us. He says that statistically, our defense is a lot worse in the second half for most of our games. He brought that up, and it just pushed us harder in the second half."
The Tar Heels (12-6, 5-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) won their fourth consecutive game and sixth in the last seven outings. Cal (8-9, 1-5) lost for the eighth time in its last 10 games. It was the first meeting between the two schools since December 29, 1998.
Carolina limited the Golden Bears to 34.8 percent shooting in the game, including 31.4 percent in the second half. Cal was 3 for 25 from three-point range (12.0 percent).
"Give Carolina the credit, they played with tremendous pace and speed, but we have to have more effort and fight," said Bear head coach Mark Madsen. "Some point midway between that second half our effort and our fight dropped dramatically, and that's not acceptable."
How It Happened
First Half
• Carolina used an early, 12-2 run to take a 14-6 lead five minutes into the game.
• The Tar Heels hit 13 of their first 19 shots (68.4 percent) in the first 12+ minutes, building a first-half lead that reached as many as 12 points before halftime.
• Carolina went more than 3:30 without a point late in the half until RJ Davis hit his first bucket of the game, a three-pointer with 40 seconds remaining.
• UNC shot 56.7 percent as a team from the floor in the opening 20 minutes, its best shooting first half of the season through 18 games. Carolina's defense limited the Golden Bears to 38.7 percent (including 1 of 11 from three-point territory).
• Eight different Tar Heels scored in the first half.
Second Half
• The Bears cut into the lead to pull within single digits more than once in the second half before Carolina used a 7-0 spurt over 2:03 to take its biggest lead to that point at 55-39 at the second media timeout.
• Later in the half, Carolina held Cal scoreless for over five minutes of action and ripped off a 15-0 run to lead, 63-39, with 8:27 to go.
• The Tar Heels eventually led by as many as 27 points with just over two minutes remaining in the contest.
Up Next
The Tar Heels will play host Stanford in the Smith Center on Saturday afternoon at 2:15 p.m.
Players Mentioned
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