Feb. 20, 2013

California Game Notes

BERKELEY - Winners of four straight and five of six overall, California heads north to the state of Oregon to face No. 23 Oregon on Thursday at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene on ESPN2 at 6:05 p.m. (PT)

Thursday's contest concludes a challenging six-game stretch against each of the conference's top-five teams, including three games against the Pac-12 leader at the time of the contest. The Bears won both their previous matchups against the league leader, defeating then-No. 10 Oregon (58-54) and then-No. 7 Arizona (77-69). Cal, whose only defeat during the stretch is a four-point setback at fellow fourth-place member Arizona State (66-62), also posted a convincing win over second-place UCLA (76-63) and a comeback triumph against fifth-place USC (76-68). Thursday will be Cal's third game in six contests against the conference leader.

Cal, 16-9 overall and 8-5 in the Pac-12, sits two games behind first-place Oregon and in a tie for fourth place in the league. The Golden Bears and Ducks are the league's two hottest teams with each coming into Thursday's contest with a three-game winning streak.

Thursday's matchup will be televised nationally on ESPN2 with Roxy Bernstein handling the play-by-play and Miles Simon serving as the analyst. The game can also be accessed online by clicker here.

The Cal IMG Sports Network will carry the game on KSFS NewsTalk 910 AM in the Bay Area with Todd McKim (play-by-play) and former Cal assistant coach and current Assistant Athletic Director for Basketball Development, Jay John, (analyst) on the call. The broadcast is also available online by clicking here. The pre-game show starts at 5:30 p.m.

•Cal's current three-game winning streak is its longest in league play this season. The Bears won six in a row in the Pac-12 last season, defeating Arizona State, USC, UCLA, Oregon, Oregon State and Utah. It is the Bears' second-longest winning streak of the season overall, after opening the year with six-straight victories.

• Cal is a perfect 10-0 against Oregon under head coach Mike Montgomery, dating back to the 2008-09 season. The Bears defeated the Ducks, 58-54, in Berkeley earlier this season.

• Cal ranks second in the Pac-12 with 15.1 assists per game and third with 7.1 steals per contest during league games. Junior Justin Cobbs leads Cal with 67 assists in the 13 games and his 5.2 apg. average in league action ranks second in the Pac-12.

• Mike Montgomery, the NCAA's eighth-winningest active Division I head coach with 651 wins, is now the fourth winningest coach in Pac-12 history with 268 league wins after moving past Washington's Hec Edmundson (266 wins from 1921-1947) in the win against UCLA last Thursday.

• Mike Montgomery became the fifth coach in school history to record 100 wins and the third fastest to achieve the milestone mark on Jan. 31 against Oregon State.

• The junior guard duo of Allen Crabbe and Justin Cobbs is the highest scoring pair in the Pac-12 with a combined average of 34.6 points per game. Crabbe leads the Pac-12 and is tied for 16th nationally at 19.8 points per game, while Cobbs ranks 11th in the conference at 14.8 points per contest. The pair has combined to score 863 of Cal's 1,721 points (50.1 percent).

• Allen Crabbe, who was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week each of the last two weeks, enters the Oregon game as the Pac-12's active career scoring leader and 11th in school history with 1,424 career points in 90 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 each of the last nine games.