This is the game where we find out how bad things really are.
If the issues that have plagued the Tar Heels through the first two weeks of 2026—whether stemming from effort, coaching, or both—prevent them from beating a struggling Cal team, it will be time to hit the panic button. The Golden Bears, ranked #69 in NET and #84 in KenPom, have lost four of their last five games, dropping them to 13-5 overall and 1-4 in ACC play. They’ve hit 38% of their field goals and 27% of their threes during that span, and they were held to a season-low 56 points in a home loss to Duke on Wednesday.
The Bears’ recent numbers suggest this should be a get-right game for a UNC team allowing an average of 92 points in its last three outings, but Cal has a few players who could give the Tar Heels trouble. The top name on the scouting report will be junior guard Dai Dai Ames, who spent last season at Virginia. He’s averaging a team-high 17.3 points, has scored 20 or more eight times this season, and is a 43% 3-point shooter. To be clear, he only averages about four attempts from deep each game, but he can be explosive there–he made 11-of-13 threes over a two-game span back in November. If Cal wins this game, he’ll likely be a big reason why.
Sophomore guard Justin Pippen—Scottie’s son—is the Bears’ primary facilitator and second-leading scorer, averaging 14.4 points and four assists. Pippen, who spent last season at Michigan, isn’t a good shooter (37% from the field) but compensates with his defense (2.1 steals per game, second-most in the ACC).
Senior forward Chris Bell (13.3 ppg), who spent the past three seasons at Syracuse, fifth-year forward John Camden (13.1 ppg), who played at Virginia Tech from 2022-2024, and senior forward Lee Dort (8.7 ppg, 7.6 rpg)–Lu’s brother–constitute Cal’s starting frontcourt. Camden will be the one to keep an eye on in that trio, as he takes the most threes on the team and makes over 38% of them.
After the Tar Heels nearly blew a 15-point lead against Wake Forest, it would have been reasonable to expect that they would do a better job maintaining control the next time they went up by double digits. It was deeply troubling to watch them fall apart in essentially the same way for a second straight game, but maybe they needed to actually lose for the lesson to stick. Cal has overcome deficits of 10 and 12 points to win games this season, so it’s incumbent on Carolina to stay locked in (which includes making free throws) until the final buzzer. The Tar Heels have a great opportunity to get things back on track, and at this point in the season, it’s one they can’t afford to miss.
UNC’s game at Cal starts at 4:00 PM ET on Saturday and will be broadcast on ACC Network.
