Jan. 8, 2013

California Game Notes

BERKELEY - California hosts Washington in its Pac-12 home opener on Wednesday night inside Haas Pavilion at 8:05 p.m. (PT). The first 1,000 fans in attendance at Wednesday's game will receive free hot dogs courtesy of Cal Dining. Tickets are available here.

The Golden Bears, 9-5 overall this season and 1-1 in the Pac-12, look for their 10th win of the year and second in the conference after defeating USC, 72-64, in Los Angeles Saturday night.

THE LAST MEETING

Cal	69
Washington	66

January 19, 2012
Seattle, Wash.

Bears Hold Off Huskies in 69-66 Victory Allen Crabbe scored 16 points, unheralded walk-on Robert Thurman added a career-high 16 off the bench, and California remained in at least a tie for first place in the Pac-12 with a critical 69-66 win over Washington on Thursday night.

Recap | Box Score | Notes | Quotes | Photo Gallery

The Cal IMG Sports Network will carry the game on KSFS 910 AM in the Bay Area with Cal alum Roxy Bernstein (play-by-play) and Todd McKim (analyst) on the call. The broadcast is also available by clicking here. The pre-game show starts at 7:30 p.m. (PT). The broadcast is also available on Sirius channel 92 and on XM channel 199.

Cal, second in the Pac-12 in rebounding at 40.2 boards per game, has out-rebounded 12 of its first 14 opponents this season. The Bears recorded 40 or more rebounds in four-straight games earlier this season for the first time since the 1997-98 campaign. They have averaged 42.8 rebounds per game over their last six contests.

The junior guard duo of Allen Crabbe and Justin Cobbs are the highest scoring pair in the Pac-12 Conference. Crabbe leads the Pac-12 and ranks 10th nationally at 21.4 points per game, while Cobbs ranks eighth in the conference at 15.6 points per contest.

The pair has combined to score 518 of Cal's 995 points (52.1 percent) and connected on 181 of the Bears' 367 field goals this season.

Crabbe became the 42nd member of the school's 1,000-point club with 20 points at Denver on Nov. 16. He enters the Washington game 21st in school history with 1,229 points in 79 career games.

Crabbe and Cobbs are joined in the line-up by junior forward Richard Solomon, sophomore forward David Kravish and freshman guard Tyrone Wallace.

The Bears used the same starting lineup in the first nine games, before Wallace made his debut as a guard in the lineup five games ago vs. UC Santa Barbara.

CRABBE CLIMBS CAL'S ALL-TIME SCORING LIST
Junior Allen Crabbe became the 42nd player in school history to reach the 1,000-point milestone for his Golden Bear career. He hit the four-digit total in the season's third game at Denver on Nov. 16. Crabbe achieved the milestone in his 68th career game, which is 19 games less than it took Cal's all-time leading scorer Jerome Randle (1,835 from 2006-10) to reach the 1,000-point mark. Crabbe enters Wednesday's Washington game 21st in career scoring with 1,229 points in 79 games.

CRABBE'S 20-POINT GAMES
Crabbe has 22 career 20-point games and nine in 2012-13. He has topped the 20-point mark in the Bears' last four games at USC (27), at UCLA (21), vs. Harvard (27) and Prairie View A&M (23). Crabbe, who also posted four-straight 20-point games as a freshman, matched his longest streak of 20-point outings. The junior also topped the 20-point mark at Wisconsin (25), vs. CSU Bakersfield (27), against Pepperdine (career-high 33), at Denver (20) and against Pacific (24) this season. The record for 20-point Games in a season is 23 by Lamond Murray in 1993-94.

CRABBE AND COBBS
Junior guards Justin Cobbs and Allen Crabbe have combined to score 518 of Cal's 995 points through the first 14 games. Crabbe leads the Pac-12 conference with 299 points on the year, while Cobbs is eighth in the league with 219 points.

JUNIOR GUARDS HAVE INCREASED MINUTES/PRODUCTION
Allen Crabbe has already recorded 81 more points this season than he did through the first 14 games of his sophomore campaign. The guard, who is averaging 2.7 more minutes per game this season (34.6) than he did last year (31.9), had 218 points through the first 13 games of 2011-12.

Justin Cobbs has surpassed his scoring total from the season's first 13 games last season by 46 points in 2012-13. Last year, he recorded 173 points through the Bears' first 14 games. He is averaging 6.0 more minutes a game this season (34.9) as compared to last year (28.9).

COBBS PACKS SCORING PUNCH
Junior guard Justin Cobbs was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week on Nov. 26 after leading Cal to the DIRECTV Classic championship in Anaheim. The junior was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player after scoring 58 points in three victories. The guard was 25-of-29 (.862) from the free-throw line and posted 17 rebounds, 13 assists and six steals in the tournament. Cobbs scored four of his 21 points in the final 71 seconds to lead Cal to the 73-70 win over Drake. He followed that with 17 points in the 68-57 win over Georgia Tech and 20 points in the 78-58 victory over Pacific

Cobbs has scored in double figures in 13 of Cal's 14 games this season with four games of 20 or more points in the scoring column.

WALLACE'S INSTANT IMPACT
Freshman guard Tyrone Wallace has seen his minutes increase as the season has progressed. He earned his first career start vs. UC Santa Barbara on Dec. 18. The first-year guard responded with his first career double-double against the Gauchos with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

He is Cal's fifth-leading scorer (6.4 ppg.) and lone freshman to play in all 14 games so far this season. Wallace has played at least 25 minutes in each of the last eight games. He played a career-long 38 minutes at USC last time out.

Since Wallace was inserted into the starting lineup five games ago, he has averaged 6.6 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists.

KRAVISH CONTROLS GLASS
After a 2011-12 season where David Kravish earned a spot on the All-Pac-12 Freshman team, the 6-9 forward added 20 pounds to his frame in the off-season. He is the team's leading rebounder with 109 through 14 games, and ranks ninth in the Pac-12 with 7.8 boards per game. The forward has posted seven or more rebounds in a game in nine contests. Kravish recorded his first career double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds at Denver on Nov. 16. He posted a season-best 13 rebounds vs. No. 13 Creighton and has four double-digit rebounding performances this season, including 12 at UCLA two games ago. The sophomore also has a pair of three-block performances against CSU Bakersfield and at UCLA.

As a freshman, Kravish started 24 games and averaged 6.9 points and 5.6 rebounds. He recorded 41 blocks - the third-most by a freshman in school history - ranked ninth overall and second among freshmen in the Pac-12.

SOLOMON RETURNING TO FORM
Junior Richard Solomon returned to the Cal lineup in the season opener after missing the final 15 games of last year, Solomon has started the first 14 games, averaging 8.6 ppg. and 6.4 rpg. He has scored in double figures in six games, including a career-high 18 points vs. Prairie View A&M. The junior posted his second career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds at UCLA. He registered a career-high five blocks vs. Harvard three games ago.

THURMANINATOR PROVIDES SOLID DEPTH
Senior forward Robert Thurman has made the most of his minutes on the floor in 2012-13. The forward leads all non-starters with 5.0 ppg. and 3.7 rpg. in just 17.6 minutes per contest. Thurman posted a season-high 14 points and six rebounds in 23 minutes vs. UCSB.

SENIOR TRIO LOOKS FOR ANOTHER LEAGUE TITLE
The senior class of guard Brandon Smith and forwards Bak Bak and Robert Thurman were each a member of the 2009-10 team that won the league title. Smith played in 26 games that season, while Bak played in eight. Thurman redshirted after transferring from Norwich University.

All three have seen action this year. Smith started the first nine games and is averaging with 3.5 ppg. in 20.7 minutes per contest. Thurman is Cal's leading scorer off the bench with 5.0 ppg. in 17.6 minutes per contest. Bak has averaged 5.5 minutes in six games.

SCOUTING WASHINGTON
Washington comes into Wednesday's game 9-5 overall and 1-0 in the Pac-12 after defeating rival Washington State on the road in Pullman, Wash., 68-63, on Saturday evening.

The Huskies are led offensively by junior guard C.J. Wilcox, who ranks in fourth in the Pac-12 in scoring at 18.4 points per game.

Senior 7-0 center Aziz N'Diaye is nearly averaging a double-double with 11.1 points and 9.2 rebounds per game.

Wednesday's game will be the third-straght road game. The Huskies traveled across the country to play at Connecticut on Dec. 29 where they fell 61-53. UW bounced back with Saturday's win in Pullman, Wash.

Washington won the Pac-12 regular-season title last season, finishing just ahead of second-place Cal.

CALIFORNIA-WASHINGTON SERIES HISTORY
California and Washington have met on the hardwood 155 times previously. The Golden Bears hold a 78-77 edge in the all-time series with the Huskies. Cal and Washington have split the last 10 meetings between the schools with the Bears winning the lone matchup last year, a 69-66 win in Seattle. The Bears own a 40-25 all-time record at home against Washington.

BEARS HOST WASHINGTON STATE AT 1 P.M. ON SATURDAY
- The first 3,000 kids in attendance at Saturday's game at 1 p.m. against Washington State will receive a mini drawstring bag. Tickets are available here.

For more on season-long promotions, click here.