Andrej Stojaković dominates in Charlotte, setting up all-California game at ACC Tournament
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2025 ACC Men’s Tournament
Follow all the action from the 2025 ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament in Charlotte, NC, with updated scores, standings, game recaps and analysis from the team of writers from the News & Observer, Charlotte Observer and The State.
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A pair of schools from California are set for an ACC Tournament meeting at Spectrum Center.
Cal, which earned a thrilling double-overtime victory to advance, plays Stanford at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the second round of the conference’s men’s basketball championship in Charlotte.
The 15th-seeded team entering the tourney, the Golden Bears kept it close throughout their win over Virginia Tech and looked dominant in overtime. While the No. 10 seed Hokies rallied and forced a second overtime period, Cal’s strong team put the game away in its final moments.
Wednesday’s rivalry game holds significant meaning to Andrej Stojaković — the 20-year-old who powered the Golden Bears with 29 points in their hard-fought win on Tuesday — as the sophomore guard initially started his collegiate career as a member of the Cardinal.
“Definitely been a heck of an experience,” Stojaković said. “The biggest thing is just trying to stay resilient. We keep each other company on the off days, and it’s been great. We’ve been on the road for 10 days, and I wouldn’t change it for anything else. We get to play basketball. It’s a win-or-go-home scenario, so just got to be out there, stay aggressive and have fun with the guys.
“We’re doing it for Cal in our first year in the ACC. We want to make some noise, and we’re bringing a West Coast rivalry to an ACC Tournament for the first time. We’re very excited to play against those guys.”
‘We’ll have laundry services out here’
Stojaković has been on both sides of this rivalry, and now he’ll experience it in multiple conferences.
Cal’s leading scorer is the son of Peja Stojaković, a 13-year NBA veteran who played in three NBA All-Star games with the Sacramento Kings and won the 2011 Finals with the Dallas Mavericks.
Born in Greece, Andrej Stojaković grew up in the Sacramento suburbs and graduated from Jesuit High School in Carmichael, California. A McDonald’s All-American and former five-star recruit, Stojaković initially decided to head to Stanford.
“It’s a fantastic experience,” Cal head coach Mark Madsen said. “We love the ACC. The travel in the ACC is tough. I hear Mick Cronin and Eric Musselman talking about travel they have in their conference, and I chuckle, because it’s nothing compared to what we’re doing. But what a great basketball conference, what a great sports conference the ACC is in general. We love it. We’ve been on the road for 10 days now, and our director of operations, Shasha (Brown), told us we’ll have laundry services out here.
“I’m just so proud of the way our guys fought. Andrej was just in here, talk about someone who’s a true professional. Someone who only cares about winning. That’s obviously Stojaković. He was absolutely masterful late in the game (Tuesday) — composure, poise, making free throws, knocking down threes — but then also going down to the mid-range and knocking them down. I’m really proud of him.”
‘Something I’ve always dreamed of’
Cal’s trip to the East Coast already included stops in Louisville and South Bend for their final regular-season games, before the Golden Bears even got to North Carolina for the ACC Tournament.
The travel is a lot, especially for Rytis Petraitis — who’s majoring in engineering at Cal — and it makes the experience unique.
Petraitis, the Golden Bears’ junior forward who scored 16 points in Tuesday’s victory, had never been to North Carolina before Cal’s regular-season conference games at UNC, N.C. State and Duke. He grew up in Arlington, Texas, and previously played at Air Force, but he hadn’t been to the Tar Heel State before this basketball season.
“This is something I’ve always dreamed of — a rivalry in an ACC tourney — and it’s gonna be even crazier for Andrej (Stojaković),” Petraitis said. “That’s his old school. We’re just gonna try and go out there and win for him, and win for the team.
“DJ (Campbell, who played two years at Western Carolina) was telling us before the game: ‘If you don’t have anyone to play for, play for your teammates. Play for your family, play for someone, and you’re gonna come out with the win.”
This story was originally published March 12, 2025 at 6:30 AM.
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