ACC tournament berth on the line for Boston College, Cal

Field Level Media|published: Fri 28th February, 21:37 2025

Feb 26, 2025; Berkeley, California, USA; California Golden Bears guard Andrej Stojakovic (2) dribbles against SMU Mustangs guard AJ George (10) in the second half at Haas Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Eakin Howard-Imagn Images

Boston College hasn't won a road game all year. Cal hasn't won any games since Feb. 5.

The chance to erase one of these painful factoids is what's on the line in Saturday night's Atlantic Coast Conference action in Berkeley, Calif.

There's also this key detail: Cal (12-16, 5-12) ranks 15th in the ACC standings while Boston College (12-16, 4-13) sits 16th. Only the top 15 teams qualify for the ACC tournament.

The Golden Bears, who have lost five straight, have dropped three of their last four at home. That includes Wednesday's 81-77 loss to SMU. The Eagles are 0-8 on the road this season, which includes Wednesday's 78-60 loss at Stanford.

That blunted Boston College's momentum as it had won consecutive ACC games for the first time with home victories over Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech.

Donald Hand Jr., Boston College's leading scorer (16.2 ppg) and the reigning ACC Player of the Week, finished with only six points at Stanford as he made 2 of 10 shots from the field.

Boston College committed 12 turnovers in the first half as Stanford built a 37-19 lead.

"We needed to be better, right?" Boston College coach Earl Grant said. "We needed to be better as a team, early. Thought we turned the ball over, made mistakes."

Cal is also coming off a poor first half against SMU, allowing the Mustangs to shoot 58.1 percent from the field. The Golden Bears trailed 42-29 at halftime. They outscored SMU 48-39 in the second half, but had dug themselves too much of a hole.

"We were slow on rotations defensively in the first half," coach Mark Madsen said. "We were playing with nonchalance on both ends of the court."

The game will be Cal's last home game of the season.

Andrej Stojakovic, a sophomore transfer from Stanford, leads the Golden Bears with 17.3 points per game. He is struggling from the perimeter, making 30.5 percent of his 3-point attempts after hitting 32.7 percent for the Cardinal.

Boston College is 3-0 all-time against Cal and all three games were played on a neutral court. The most recent game on Dec. 21, 2019, was played at the Chase Center in San Francisco as the Basketball Hall of Fame Al Attles Classic.

--Field Level Media

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