Jan. 12, 2009

BERKELEY - California junior Patrick Christopher has been named the U.S. Bank Pac-10 Men's Basketball Player of the Week for Jan. 5-11, Commissioner Tom Hansen announced today.

Christopher led Cal to a 57-50 win at Washington State and an 88-85 thrilling triple-overtime victory at Washington to increase the Bears' current winning streak to nine games and a perfect 4-0 record in Pac-10 play. The Compton, Calif., native averaged 24.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists while shooting 53.3 percent from three-point range.

Against the Huskies, Christopher scored a career-high 27 points and tied his career high in rebounds with 11. The junior ranks seventh in the Pac-10 in scoring (16.1 ppg) and is tied for ninth in three-point field goal percentage (.417).

This is the second consecutive weekly honor for Christopher and the 41st overall for Cal.

The last time Cal, as a team, earned back-to-back Pac-10 Player of the Week honors was in 2005 when DeVon Hardin won the award on Nov. 29 and Leon Powe won it on Dec. 5. The last time a Cal individual won back-to-back Pac-10 Player of the Week honors was in 2003 when Joe Shipp received the honor on Jan. 13 and 20.

2008-09 U.S. Bank Pac-10 Players of the Week: Nov. 17 - Darren Collison, Sr., G, UCLA; Nov. 24 - James Harden, So., G, ASU; Dec. 1 - James Harden, So., G, ASU; Dec. 8 - Dwight Lewis, Jr., G, USC; Dec. 15 - Jordan Hill, Jr., F, ARIZ; Dec. 22 - Jerome Randle, Jr., G, CAL; Dec. 29 - Jamelle Horne, So., F, ARIZ; Jan. 5 - Patrick Christopher, Jr., F, CAL