Cal Escapes Trap Game vs. Georgia Tech Behind Dai Dai Ames’ Breakout Night
In college basketball, “trap game” is one of those phrases that gets tossed around a lot - and for good reason. It’s the kind of matchup where a team, on paper, should cruise to a win, but instead finds itself in a dogfight, often wondering how things got so complicated. That’s exactly what happened to Cal on Wednesday night at Haas Pavilion.
Coming off an impressive road win over Miami, the Bears looked poised to keep rolling. Georgia Tech, meanwhile, came in limping - losers of six of their last seven, dealing with injuries, and holding one of the weakest NET rankings on Cal’s remaining schedule. If there was ever a game that screamed “take care of business,” this was it.
And for a while, it looked like Cal would do just that. The Bears built a 14-point halftime lead, fueled by hot shooting and a defense that held Georgia Tech to just 29 first-half points.
But trap games don’t earn their name by being predictable. The Yellow Jackets came out of the break with energy, urgency, and a 24-6 run that stunned the home crowd and flipped the game on its head.
That’s when Cal had to dig deep - and when junior guard Dai Dai Ames stepped fully into the spotlight.
Ames, who had struggled in recent outings, delivered the kind of performance that can shift a season’s momentum. He dropped a career-high 29 points on 9-of-13 shooting, went 8-for-10 from the line, and was the steadying force Cal needed when things got dicey.
He opened the game on fire, hitting his first four shots and scoring 10 of Cal’s first 17 points. And even after picking up his fourth foul with more than 10 minutes left, he stayed composed, stayed on the court, and made the kind of plays that win games.
“To have a leader like Dai Dai in this program is such a great thing for Cal basketball,” head coach Mark Madsen said postgame. “You guys see him score close to 30 points, but what you don’t see is the leadership in the locker room … and just the fact that all he wants to do is win.”
Ames wasn’t alone in stepping up. All five Cal starters finished in double figures, a testament to the team’s unselfishness and balance. But Ames was the engine, and Cal needed every bit of his production to hold off Georgia Tech’s second-half surge.
After falling behind by four early in the second half, Cal leaned on two things: its ability to get to the free-throw line, and its poise in crunch time. The Bears entered the night ranked top-10 nationally in free throw percentage, and that skill showed up when it mattered most.
They shot 30 free throws in the second half, converting 23 of them. Twenty of those came in the final 14 minutes - a stretch where Cal didn’t even hit a field goal in the last two minutes, but still managed to score 10 points from the stripe alone.
That free throw disparity wasn’t lost on Georgia Tech head coach Damon Stoudamire.
“When we were making our runs and when we were making buckets, the biggest thing (Cal) did was put fouls on us and now they were living at the free throw line,” Stoudamire said. “39-14 (is) a big discrepancy.”
It was a gritty, not-always-pretty win - but a win nonetheless. And in February, with the postseason picture starting to sharpen, that’s what matters.
Cal is still firmly on the bubble, and every game from here on out carries weight. That makes Saturday’s showdown with No.
20 Clemson a potential turning point. The Tigers are the only ranked team left on Cal’s schedule, and a win would be the kind of résumé-booster that selection committees notice.
For now, though, Cal can exhale. They survived the trap. And thanks to Dai Dai Ames, they’re still dancing on the edge of March.