Cal’s second-half comeback fell short as they suffered their fifth consecutive loss, falling to SMU 81-77 at Haas Pavilion in front of 4,133 fans on Wednesday night. Despite the defeat, the Bears moved closer to securing a spot in the ACC Tournament due to losses by Boston College and North Carolina State, who are also vying for the final tournament spot.
Cal (12-16, 5-12 ACC) has three regular-season games remaining and can clinch a conference tournament berth if results go their way on Saturday.
The Bears were down by 17 points late in the first half and trailed by 16 at 45-29 just after the break. However, Cal fought back, trimming the deficit to two points on Christian Tucker’s layup with 7:34 left and again pulling within two with Andrej Stojakovic’s free throws at 6:04. Stojakovic later tied the game at 66-66 with another pair of free throws at the 5:33 mark.
Despite these efforts, Cal couldn’t take the lead. SMU’s Samet Yigitoglu scored five straight points to put the Mustangs ahead by five, and BJ Edwards added a breakaway basket off a Cal turnover to extend the lead to seven with 3:33 left. The Mustangs pushed the margin to nine before Cal managed to score again. The Bears closed the gap to four with 43.9 seconds left and again to four with 30 seconds remaining. Mady Sissoko made a three-point play to cut SMU’s lead to two at 79-77 with 5.3 seconds left, but Matt Cross sealed the game for SMU with two free throws.
Jeremiah Wilkinson led the Bears with 20 points, while Stojakovic, Cal’s leading scorer, was held to just nine points on 1-of-9 shooting. Chuck Harris paced SMU with 21 points.
Before Wednesday’s game, Cal was tied with Syracuse for 14th place in the ACC, just one game ahead of Boston College and North Carolina State. Both Boston College and NC State lost their games on Saturday, leaving them with 4-13 records and three regular-season games left. If Cal defeats Boston College on Saturday and NC State loses to Georgia Tech, the Bears could tie for the final spot in the tournament. Since Cal holds a 3-0 record over both Boston College and NC State, they would win any tiebreaker for the 15th and final spot.
Only the top 15 teams in the 18-team ACC make the tournament, and Cal holds the tiebreaker against Miami, the last-place team.
SMU (21-7, 12-5 ACC) entered the game on a three-game road trip and had been struggling at home, but they maintained their strong chances for an NCAA Tournament berth with the win. The Mustangs led 42-29 at halftime, thanks to a hot start that saw them make their first five three-pointers, jumping to a 16-point lead early on.
Wilkinson’s 12 first-half points kept Cal in the game, though the Bears struggled with shooting, making only 33.3% of their shots and just 1-of-9 from three-point range in the first half.
Notes: SMU’s leading scorer and assist leader, Boopie Miller, missed his fourth consecutive game due to a foot injury. Cal forward Joshua Ola-Joseph also missed his second straight game with an injury. He had started 10 games this season, averaging 7.2 points and 3.8 rebounds.
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