It’s been a rollercoaster of a month for Cal men’s basketball, but the Bears are finally starting to find their rhythm-and the timing couldn’t be better.
After a rocky 1-4 start to Pac-12 play, Cal has now strung together back-to-back wins, the latest coming in a statement 78-66 road victory over rival Stanford. The win not only gave the Bears a little extra bragging rights in the Bay Area-it also marked a milestone: they’ve officially surpassed their total number of wins from last season. Progress, plain and simple.
And for head coach Mark Madsen, who once wore Stanford red as a player, the win carried a little extra weight. Now on the other side of the rivalry, Madsen’s fully embraced the blue and gold.
“I love our team. I love our guys,” Madsen said after the game. “I could go down the list and talk about each one of our players, but I’m extremely grateful to be able to coach them.”
Gratitude aside, what Cal showed on the court Saturday was grit-and a lot of it. Down 16 points in the first half, the Bears didn’t flinch.
Instead, they responded with a 21-5 run to erase the deficit, flipping the game on its head and eventually taking control in the second half. That kind of resilience doesn’t show up on a box score, but it’s the kind of fight that turns a struggling team into a dangerous one.
A big reason for Cal’s recent surge? Graduate forward John Camden.
The Pennsylvania native has been on a tear, averaging 18.7 points over his last three games. Against Stanford, he put together his best performance yet: 25 points and 10 rebounds, notching the team’s first double-double of the season.
“John is a great basketball player,” Madsen said. “The fact that he’s also rebounding just shows the type of heart that he has.”
Camden’s emergence couldn’t come at a better time. The Bears are heading into Wednesday’s matchup against Florida State with momentum-and a real opportunity to stretch this win streak to three.
On paper, the Seminoles look vulnerable. They’re 1-6 in ACC play and have struggled to keep opponents off the scoreboard, allowing a conference-worst 84.57 points per game.
That’s not just a leaky defense-it’s a floodgate. They’re also getting outscored by an average of just over 10 points per game, and they’ve yet to notch a win at home this month.
But Cal shouldn’t get too comfortable. Strip away Florida State’s blowout loss to NC State, and the Seminoles have actually been competitive.
They’re coming off a gritty 65-63 win over Miami and gave top-ranked Duke all it could handle in a narrow four-point loss. Add in close defeats to Florida (by 2), Wake Forest (by 1), and SMU (by 3), and you start to see a team that, while flawed, can hang with just about anyone when it’s locked in.
The Bears, meanwhile, have their own challenges to navigate. Senior forward Lee Dort exited the Stanford game in the second half with a left leg injury, and his status remains uncertain.
“We’re hopeful, and we’re keeping Lee in our thoughts and prayers,” Madsen said. “But we don’t have any information right now.”
If Dort can’t go, expect graduate center Milos Ilić to take on a larger role. The Serbian big man has appeared in all 20 games this season, and while his numbers-2.8 points and 3.5 rebounds per game-aren’t flashy, his presence in the paint could be crucial against Florida State’s size.
Ultimately, Cal’s fortunes may hinge on their perimeter shooting. Through their first five conference games, the Bears were ice-cold from deep, shooting just 26.8% from beyond the arc.
But in their last two wins? A scorching 24-of-51 from three-point range.
That’s the kind of shooting that can change the complexion of a game-and a season.
So here we are: Cal is heating up, Camden is playing the best basketball of his college career, and the Bears are walking into Tallahassee with confidence. If they can keep the threes falling and stay locked in defensively, there’s no reason this win streak can’t keep rolling.