The Hokies continue their western trip on Saturday as Virginia Tech (6-9, 1-3) takes on California (8-7, 1-3) at 6 PM in Berkeley, California at Haas Pavilion. The Golden Bears are coming off their first conference win over Virginia and the newly added ACC team has scoring talent on the wings that Mark Madsen can deploy to give the Hokies some fits. The line opened with Cal as 6.5-point favorites for the ACC Network game.
There are four guards that lead the scoring for the Golden Bears as a perimeter-oriented team. Andrej Stojakovic leads the way and is one of the better scorers in the nation, averaging 20.1 points and 4.7 rebounds per game. Andrej obviously has a great basketball lineage but the 6’7″ wing has done more than enough to prove himself on this stage. Coming off 30-point and 23-point performances, there will be a heavy focus on slowing down Stojakovic Saturday night.
Jeremiah Wilkinson and Jovan Blackshear are two others averaging double figures and pressing the pace for the Golden Bears. Stojakovic, Wilkinson, and Blackshear have all attempted more than 60 threes so far this season with the next highest on the team having attempted 36. Wilkinson will play more on the perimeter to try to make the extra pass if he doesn’t have the shot and Blackshear is the point guard that will help run the show. Jeremiah, a true freshman, is the more explosive scorer of the two having scored over 20 points three times this season, but discounting Blackshear would be a mistake.
DJ Campell and Christian Tucker will round out the guard rotation. Campbell, a Virginia native, is more comfortable attacking the basket but has a perimeter shot that should be respected. DJ can also cause problems on the defensive end so the Hokies turnover problems could come into play. Tucker is more of a defensive player, having only attempted 29 shots on the season, but is a capable three-point shooter if given some space…