Cal Holds Off Tar Heel Rally, 84-78

Saturday, January 17

Berkeley, Calif.

4 p.m.

North Carolina

14-4,2-3ACC

Cal

14-5,2-4ACC

North Carolina

California

Caleb Wilson

Photo by: Maggie Hobson

January 17, 2026 | Men's Basketball

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By: Matt Bowers

BERKELEY, CALIF. — California led by as many as 20 points in the second half before holding off a furious North Carolina rally to beat the No. 14 Tar Heels, 84-78, on Saturday afternoon in Haas Pavilion.

The Tar Heels closed the game on a 22-10 run in the final 8:07 but came up short, dropping to 0-2 on their initial Atlantic Coast Conference west coast road trip.

Cal hit 10 first-half three-pointers and finished 14 for 26 (53.8 percent) from behind the arc, becoming the fourth consecutive Carolina opponent to reach double digits from long range. The Golden Bears shot 50.0 percent overall, the third straight Tar Heel foe to make at least half of its shots from the floor.

The Tar Heels lost their second game in a row and their third in four outings, falling to 14-4 this season, 2-3 in the ACC. Cal snapped a two-game losing streak to improve to 14-4, 2-3. The Golden Bears are 13-1 at home.

John Camden hit three three-pointers and scored a game-high 16 points in the first half, ultimately finishing with 20 points on 7 of 14 shooting for the Bears. Justin Pippen was 3 for 4 from three-point range for 19 points, five assists and four rebounds. Dai Dai Ames hit a trio of three-pointers and scored 19.

Caleb Wilson fought double-teams by the Cal defense throughout the game and led Carolina with 17 points. He's scored in double figures in all 17 games this season, tying Brandan Wright (2006-07) for the second-most in program history by a freshman to start a career.

Henri Veesaar posted his ninth career double-double (all this season) with 14 points and 10 rebounds, but he hit just 1 of 6 three-point tries. Seth Trimble had 12 points and four assists, hitting 7 of 8 free throws.

Freshman Derek Dixon made his first career start at point guard and tied his season high with 14 points while hitting 4 of 8 three-point attempts.

How It Happened
First Half
• The Bears hit a pair of early three-pointers and led the Tar Heels, 10-3, in the first three minutes.
• Later in the half, Cal went on a 16-3 run to take a 26-13 lead, forcing a UNC timeout with 11:09 left before the break.
• After being held scoreless with just two shot attempts in the first nine minutes, Wilson caught fire and scored eight consecutive points. He finished the half with those eight points on 3 of 6 shooting.
• Carolina trailed by as many as 13 points early, crept back to within five at 31-26, then allowed a 9-1 run to fall back behind by double digits. Cal eventually led by as many as 19 late in the half at 54-35.
• The Golden Bears hit 10 of 16 first-half three-pointers (62.5 percent).
• UNC hit 14 of 28 shots (50.0 percent) but was 4 for 11 from long range. Cal outscored Carolina, 30-12, from three-point territory in the half.

Second Half
• Carolina hit 6 of its first 9 shots in the second half and tried to trim the Bear advantage but still trailed by double digits for the first 10 minutes of the second half.
• The Tar Heels were scoreless for over four minutes as the Bears held them at bay midway through the second period.
• UNC used a 7-0 run to cut it to 74-62 with 7:08, the closest Carolina had been in the half to that point.
• Minutes later, Jaydon Young hit a three for a 10-0 run Tar Heel run that made it 74-65, drawing Carolina within single digits for the first time in the half. Next time down the floor, Wilson hit a free throw for an 11-0 spurt.
• Carolina climbed to within as few as three points with 18.8 seconds to go after a Veesaar three-pointer but couldn't close the deal to complete the comeback.

Notes
• Dixon made his first career start.
• It was Carolina's first visit to Cal as ACC opponents in the seventh all-time meeting between the two schools.

Up Next
Carolina returns home and will host Notre Dame on Wednesday January 14 at 7 p.m. in the Smith Center on ESPN2.