Cal takes on FSU in ACC Tournament Opener in Rematch of Gut-Wrenching Loss

CHARLOTTE, N.C.-The ninth seeded California Golden Bears square off against the eighth seeded Florida State Seminoles on Wednesday, March 11 for Day 2 of the 2026 ACC Tournament.

The Seminoles narrowly beat the Bears, 63-61, when the two teams played in late January. At that point in the season, FSU was struggling and needed a win to remain in contention for the conference tournament. The Bears came into Tallahassee, Fla. 3-5 in conference play but 15-6 overall having notched notable wins against UCLA and UNC.

FSU outscored Cal 36-23 in the first half and the Bears’ struggled to find their rhythm offensively, turning the ball over eight times in the first period. While Cal claimed the early lead (14-8 in the first 10 minutes) an extended dryspell, combined with an impressive interior attack from the Seminoles, left the Bears down by double digits at the half.

Cal came back in the second half, cutting the lead to single digits in the final 10 minutes of the game. A John Camden steal led to a Justin Pippen layup and the Bears’ first lead of the night, 59-58. It was short-lived however as the Seminoles got a go-ahead lay-in. Cal had one more chance but gave up an offensive rebound with under 30 seconds to play.

The Bears will be looking for some retribution on Wednesday night as the loss at Donald L. Tucker Civic Center stung. Cal had come off its first win of the season against archrival Stanford and was hoping to build momentum. The Bears showed grit in the second half, coming close to clinching the game but playing from that kind of deficit, especially on the road, is a challenge to overcome.

Cal comes into the conference tournament off a similarly tough loss to Wake Forest in the final game of the season. The Bears struggled defensively in the second half of that game and gave 51 points that was critical to the Demon Deacons victory. To win against the Seminoles, the Bears will need to shore up their interior defense especially because they were dominated in the paint in the previous matchup (FSU 32, Cal 14).

Notably, big man Lee Dort was out for the Jan. 28 matchup. His presence defensively down low and on the glass was missed and his return bodes well for the Bears interior defense. Beyond that, ball control is the most central issue for the Bears. In the games they’ve struggled, the turnovers have been high so if they can keep the total turnovers under 10, they have an excellent chance of winning on Wednesday night.

Cal finished the season at 21-10 overall but 9-9 in conference play which put them as the eighth seed. While the Bears were dominant at Haas Pavilion this year (16-4) the underwhelming road record, 4-6, plagued them. The travel can take its toll to be sure but some key losses on the road, the March 7 loss to Wake Forest among them, hurt the Bears’ chances to make a deep run in the conference tournament.

FSU comes into the conference tournament on a three game win-streak, beating Georgia Tech, Pitt and SMU in the final days of the regular season. Robert McCray V was the team’s leading scorer (15.6 ppg average) and distributor (6.1 apg average). He’s a strong guard with a nose for the basket and will be an early test for the Bears’ defense in the paint.

Dai Dai Ames finished as the team’s leading scorer (16.9 ppg average), Dort the team’s leading rebounder (7.6 rpg average) and Pippen the leading distributor (4.4 apg average). Pippen also averaged nearly two steals a game. Cal also got excellent contributions from the bench this season. Milos Illic was effective in his seven game starting stint, helping to move the ball offensively and freshman TT Carr played a pivotal role as a ball-handler late in several games.

Limiting turnovers and maintaining defensive intensity and focus will be key to a Bears’ victory on Wednesday night. If they get lackadaisical on the defensive glass, the Seminoles will take advantage. This is not a game the Bears can afford to go down by double-digits. The individual matchups are in Cal’s favor as the FSU guards struggled to cover Ames and Pippen, which in turn created opportunities for Camden and Chris Bell on the wings, exploiting the Seminoles’ aggressiveness on defense with the drive and kick can be useful for Cal.

Overall, Cal put together a solid regular season and reached 20 wins for the first time in Coach Mark Madsen’s career. But as he noted in a recent post game conference that’s just the start of the expectations and he hopes the team can play not just late in this tournament but in the NCAA tournament as well.