Feb. 1, 2013

California Game Notes

BERKELEY - California, coming off a 71-68 victory over Oregon State on Thursday night, is ready to Gold Out Haas on Saturday when the Golden Bears take on No. 10/12 Oregon at 1:36 p.m. (PT).

The first 8,000 fans will receive a free gold t-shirt. Prior to the game, Cal Dining is hosting a 3-point truck stop for fans as the famous gourmet food trucks will be on Spieker Plaza just outside Haas Pavilion.

Saturday's game will be televised nationally on Fox Sports Net with Justin Kutcher handling the play-by-play, Marques Johnson serving as the analyst and Laura McKeeman on the sidelines.

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 online here and on Sirius channel 94 and XM channel 191. The pre-game show starts at 1 p.m. (PT).

Fifth-year Cal head coach Mike Montgomery, who notched his 100th win at Cal on Thursday, is two wins shy of becoming the Pac-12's fourth winningest coach of all-time.

Cal, 12-8 overall this season and 4-4 in the Pac-12, looks for its 10th straight victory over Oregon in the series.

• Mike Montgomery, one of the NCAA's winningest active coaches with 647 career victories, notched his 100th win at Cal on Thursday. He became just the fifth coach in school history and the third fastest to achieve the milestone mark, recording the triumph in his 155th game.

• Mike Montgomery is two wins shy of becoming the fourth winningest coach in Pac-12 Conference history. He enters Thursday's contest with 263 league wins.

• 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 34.5 points per game. Crabbe leads the Pac-12 and ranks 16th nationally at 19.8 points per game, while Cobbs ranks 10th in the conference at 14.7 points per contest. The pair has combined to score 688 of Cal's 1,372 points (50.1 percent).

• Allen Crabbe became the 42nd member of the school's 1,000-point club with 20 points at Denver on Nov. 16. He enters the Oregon game 16th in school history with 1,325 points in 85 career games.

• Allen Crabbe and Justin Cobbs are joined in the line-up by sophomore F David Kravish, freshman G Tyrone Wallace and junior F Richard Solomon. Cal has used this lineup nine of the past 11 games.

• Cal has faced two nationally-ranked teams this season, dropping a 76-75 decision to No. 18/21 UNLV on Dec. 9 and a 76-64 decision to No. 13/16 Creighton on Dec. 15. The last top-10 opponent to come to Haas Pavilion was No. 3 Kansas (L, 78-63) on Dec. 22, 2010.

• Cal last defeated a top-10 team on Jan. 31, 2008 with a 69-64 victory at No. 9 Washington State. The Bears last defeated a top-10 team at home on Jan. 26, 2006 with a 71-69 victory over No. 10 Washington.

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 Saturday's Oregon game 16th in career scoring with 1,325 points in 85 games.

PAC-12 SCORING LEADER ALL SEASON
With an average of 19.8 points per game, Crabbe has led the Pac-12 Conference in scoring all season and ranks 16th 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, .848) and three-point field goals made per game (6th, 1.9).

20-POINT GAMES
Crabbe has 24 career 20-point games, including 11 this season. He has topped the 20-point mark in six of the Bears' last 10 games. Crabbe has posted four-straight 20-point games twice in his career, both this season and as a freshman. Cal is 7-3 when Crabbe scores 20 or more points.

SAVE THE BEST FOR LAST
Crabbe has recorded 16 or more points in the second half in six games this season, including four of the last eight contests. He also registered a 20-point first half on 8-of-12 shooting and 4-of-4 from 3-point range against CSUB.

CRABBE FROM THE LINE
Crabbe has attempted 280 career free throws through the first 20 games of his junior season in Berkeley, converting 233 of those attempts. The guard owns a .832 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, 4-of-4 vs. Georgia Tech and 2-of-2 at Colorado and vs. OSU. Crabbe is 84-of-99 (.848) 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 20 games of his junior season, he has drained 182 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 688 of Cal's 1,372 points through the first 20 games. Crabbe leads the Pac-12 conference with 395 points on the year, while Cobbs is tied for 12th in the league (tied for 9th in points per game) with a total of 293 points.

JUNIOR GUARDS HAVE INCREASED MINUTES/PRODUCTION
Allen Crabbe has already recorded 80 more points this season than he did through the first 20 games of his sophomore campaign. The guard, who is averaging 2.5 more minutes per game this season (35.7) than he did last year (33.2), had 315 points through the first 20 games of 2011-12.

Justin Cobbs has surpassed his scoring total from the season's first 20 games of last season by 34 points in 2012-13. Last year, he recorded 259 points through the Bears' first 20 games. He is averaging 4.9 more minutes a game this season (35.6) as compared to last year (30.7).

WALLACE IS INSTANT IMPACT
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 13 of the Bears' last 14 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 (6.6 ppg.) and lone freshman to play in all 20 games. He played a career-long 38 minutes at USC. The freshman scored a career-best 16 points vs. Washington State and dished out a career-high eight assists at Utah,

Since Wallace was inserted into the starting lineup 11 games ago, he has averaged 6.9 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.4 assists.

KRAVISH STRONG IN THE POST
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 (ranks 13th in the Pac-12 with 7.0 rpg.) and shot blocker (ranks eighth in the Pac-12 at 1.4 bpg.). 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. He is tied for eighth all-time at Cal with 69 career blocks. Kravish matched his season-high with 14 points four games ago at Stanford.

SOLOMON RETURNING TO FORM
Junior Richard Solomon, who missed the final 15 games of last season, has played in all 20 games this season. He has started 18 contests. Solomon is averaging 8.2 ppg. and 6.4 rpg. The junior has scored in double figures in seven 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.

THURMAN EFFICIENT WITH MINUTES
Senior forward Robert Thurman has made the most of his minutes on the floor in 2012-13. The forward, who has started two games this season, is averaging 18.1 minutes per contest. The senior made his first career start in his 55th career game vs. Washington on Jan. 9. He is averaging 5.3 ppg. and 4.0 rpg. The forward posted a season-high 14 points and six rebounds in 23 minutes vs. UCSB. Thurman has totaled 25 points and 17 rebounds in his last three games.

SMITH RETURNS TO THE COURT
Senior guard Brandon Smith, who missed six games after suffering a head injury against Prairie View A&M on Dec. 22, made his return to the court three games ago at Utah. After being sidelined from all basketball activities for more than a month, he was cleared to play last week. Smith played 19 minutes at Utah and 13 at Colorado in his first two games back. The senior played his longest minutes since Dec. 9 with 23 minutes on the floor last time out vs. Oregon State. He scored six points and dished out a pair of assists vs. the Beavers.

BAK BAK
Senior center Bak Bak has also increased his presence in the Bears' line-up. Over the last seven games, Bak has totaled 52 minutes on the floor. 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.