Jan. 22, 2013

California Game Notes

BERKELEY - California continues its three-game road trip on Thursday when the Golden Bears travel to Salt Lake City, Utah to face Utah at 5:30 p.m. (PT) at the Jon M. Huntsman Center.

The Bears, 10-7 overall this season and 2-3 in the Pac-12, look to bounce back from a 69-59 setback on the road at Stanford this past Saturday. Cal will conclude its road trip in Boulder, Colo. against Colorado on Sunday.

Thursday's game will be televised nationally on the Pac-12 Networks with Rich Celini handling the play-by-play and Joe Cravens serving as the analyst.

The Cal IMG Sports Network will carry the game on KSFS 910 AM in the Bay Area with Todd McKim (play-by-play) and former Golden Bear assistant coach and current Assistant AD for Basketball Development Jay John (analyst) on the call. The broadcast is also available by clicking here and on Sirius channel 113 and XM channel 192. The pre-game show starts at 5 p.m. (PT).

• Cal, second in the Pac-12 in rebounding at 39.2 boards per game, has out-rebounded 13 of its 17 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.

• The junior guard duo of Allen Crabbe and Justin Cobbs is the highest scoring pair in the Pac-12 Conference with a combined average of 34.6 points per game. Crabbe leads the Pac-12 and ranks 17th nationally at 19.8 points per game, while Cobbs ranks 10th in the conference at 14.8 points per contest. The pair has combined to score 587 of Cal's 1,168 points (50.3 percent) and connected on 203 of the Bears' 427 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 Utah game 18th in school history with 1,266 points in 82 career games.

• Crabbe and Cobbs are joined in the line-up by sophomore forward David Kravish, freshman guard Tyrone Wallace and junior forward Richard Solomon. Cal has used four different starting lineups in its 17 games this season, including a different lineup in each of the last three contests.

• Fifth year Cal head coach Mike Montgomery enters Thursday's game just two wins shy from his 100th career victory at the helm of the Golden Bears. Montgomery, who owns 645 career victories in his 31st year as a head coach that also includes eight years at Montana and18 years at Stanford, owns a 98-54 record in his fifth season in Berkeley.

• Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak played four seasons under Montgomery at Montana from 1982-86.

• Thursday marks Cal's first game outside of the state of California since Dec. 2 when the Bears played in Madison, Wisc. It will be just Cal's third game outside of the Golden State this season.

CRABBE CONTINUES TO CLIMB 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, 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 Thursday's Utah game 18th in career scoring with 1,266 points in 82 games.

PAC-12 SCORING LEADER
With an average of 19.8 points per game, Crabbe leads the Pac-12 Conference in scoring and ranks 17th in the nation overall. His career-high 33 points against Pepperdine equals the second-most points by an individual in the conference this season.

Crabbe is also among the conference leaders in free-throw percentage (4th, .846) and three-point field goals made per game (11th, 1.6).

SAVE THE BEST FOR LAST
Crabbe has recorded 16 or more points in the second half in five games this season, including three of the last six contests. He also registered a 20-point first half on 8-of-12 shooting and 4-of-4 from 3-point range against CSUB. Here is a look at Crabbe's top second-half performances.

CRABBE FROM THE LINE
Crabbe has attempted 272 career free throws through the first 17 games of his junior season in Berkeley, converting 226 of those attempts. The guard owns an .831 free-throw percentage, which ranks fifth on the school's all-time list. He was a perfect 9-of-9 on free-throw attempts against Pepperdine, 8-of-8 at USC, 7-of-7 vs. Harvard, and 4-of-4 vs. Georgia Tech. Crabbe is 77-of-91 (.846)from the free throw line this season.

CRABBE FROM BEYOND THE ARC
Crabbe is one of the Pac-12 conference's top three-point shooters. Through 17 games of his junior season, he has drained 172 career three-pointers, which ranks fourth on Cal's all-time list. His .391 three-point field percentage is ninth-best in school history. As a sophomore in 2011-12, Crabbe recorded 62 three-pointers, which ranked as the seventh-most in a season in school history.

CRABBE AND COBBS
Junior guards Justin Cobbs and Allen Crabbe have combined to score 587 of Cal's 1,168 points through the first 17 games. Crabbe leads the Pac-12 conference with 336 points on the year, while Cobbs is 14th in the league (10th in points per game) with total 251 points.

JUNIOR GUARDS HAVE INCREASED MINUTES/PRODUCTION
Allen Crabbe has already recorded 56 more points this season than he did through the first 17 games of his sophomore campaign. The guard, who is averaging 2.3 more minutes per game this season (35.2) than he did last year (32.9), had 280 points through the first 17 games of 2011-12.

Justin Cobbs has surpassed his scoring total from the season's first 17 games of last season by 32 points in 2012-13. Last year, he recorded 219 points through the Bears' first 17 games. He is averaging 6.8 more minutes a game this season (35.6) as compared to last year (29.8).

COBBS EARNS TOURNAMENT AND WEEKLY HONORS
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 15 of Cal's 17 games this season with four games of 20 or more points in the scoring column.

WALLACE IS INSTANT IMPACT FOR BEARS
Freshman guard Tyrone Wallace has provided an instant impact for the Bears. He earned a starting role in Cal's 10th game (vs. UC Santa Barbara on Dec. 18) of the season and has played at least 25 minutes in each of the Bears' last 11 games.

The first-year guard posted his first career double-double in his first career start against UCSB with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Wallace is Cal's fifth-leading scorer (6.5 ppg.) and lone freshman to play in all 17 games. He played a career-long 38 minutes at USC three games ago. The freshman scored a career-best 16 points and pulled down six rebounds vs. Washington State.

Since Wallace was inserted into the starting lineup eight games ago, he has averaged 6.9 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists.

KRAVISH CONTROLS THE 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 128 through 17 games, and ranks 10th in the Pac-12 with 7.5 boards per game. The forward has posted seven or more rebounds in a game in 10 contests. Kravish recorded his first career double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds at Denver. He posted a season-best 13 rebounds vs. No. 13 Creighton and has four double-digit rebounding performances this season, including 12 at UCLA and 10 vs. Pacific. The sophomore has also posted three blocks in a game on four occasions (vs. CSUB, vs. Creighton, at USC, and vs. Washington State). He has totaled nine blocks in Cal's last four games. Kravish matched his season-high last time out at Stanford with 14 points.

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

SOLOMON PROVIDES POST PRESENCE
Junior Richard Solomon, who missed the final 15 games of last season, has played in all 17 games this season. He has started 15 contests. Solomon is averaging 8.5 ppg. and 6.5 rpg. The junior has scored in double figures in six games, including a career-high 18 points vs. Prairie View A&M. He posted his second career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds at UCLA. Solomon also registered a career-high six blocks vs. WSU to go along with seven points and eight rebounds, becoming the first player in school history with at least six points, six rebounds and six blocks in a game. He has totaled nine rebounds in his last two games.

THURMAN EFFICIENT WITH MINUTES
Senior forward Robert Thurman has made the most of his minutes on the floor in 2012-13. He has started two games this season, averaging 17.2 minutes per contest. The senior made his first career start in his 55th career game vs. Washington on Jan. 9. He is averaging 4.8 ppg. and 3.6 rpg. The forward posted a season-high 14 points and six rebounds in 23 minutes vs. UCSB.

SUPER POWERS
After appearing in just five of the first nine games, junior guard Jeff Powers has played in each of the last seven games. He started the Bears' game against Washington State, playing a season-long 19 minutes against the Cougars. The guard has totaled 58 of his 109 minutes on the year in the last four games and 13 of his 22 points on the season have come in his last four contests. He has shot 4-of-9 from three-point range this season and is 3-of-5 from beyond the arc in the last four games.

Bak Bak
Senior center Bak Bak has also increased his presence in the Bears' line-up over the last four games, totaling 35 minutes on the floor in the last four contests. He had played 26 minutes overall in his first five appearances of the season prior to the USC contest on Jan. 5. Bak scored a season-high five points in a season-long 15 minutes vs. Washington State.

SCOUTING UTAH
Utah enters Thursday's game with Cal 9-9 overall and 1-5 in the Pac-12. The Utes picked up their first league win of the season last time out with a 74-65 victory on the road at Washington. They handed the Huskies their first conference loss in the process.

Freshman forward Jordan Loveridge leads Utah in scoring (12.8 ppg.) and rebounding (7.3 rpg.). The first-year player has started all 18 contests for the Utes.

Senior guard Jarred DeBois is averaging 12.5 points per game and senior center Jason Washburn is contributing 11.0 points per contest.

Utah ranks second in the Pac-12 in scoring defense, surrendering just 59.7 points per game, and leads the conference in field-goal percentage defense at .372.

Head coach Larry Krystkowiak played under Mike Montgomery form 1982-86 when Montgomery was the head coach at Montana.

CALIFORNIA-UTAH SERIES HISTORY
California and Utah have met on the hardwood 19 times previously. The Golden Bears hold an 11-8 advantage in the all-time series with the Utes. Cal has won the last three matchups with Utah, sweeping the season series from the Utes last season with an 81-45 victory in Berkeley and a 60-46 win in Salt Lake City.