March 1, 2013

California Game Notes

BERKELEY - Winners of six straight and eight of nine overall, California is entrenched in the race for the Pac-12 Conference regular-season title with two games remaining on its slate. The Golden Bears, who earned a 64-46 victory over Utah on Thursday, host Colorado on Saturday at 2:05 p.m. (PT) at Haas Pavilion.

Cal, 19-9 overall and 11-5 in the Pac-12, is tied with Arizona for third place in the conference standings, a game behind first-place Oregon. UCLA is in second place with an 11-4 record. The Bears won their only matchup against Arizona, swept Oregon and split their two games against UCLA this season. They currently own the tiebreaker against the Bruins should the teams finished tied in the standings. Cal is the only one of the four schools in the hunt for the league title that plays the remainder of its regular-season games at home.

• With 11 wins in league play, Cal is the only team in the Pac-12 Conference to post at least 10 conference wins each of the last five years, the first five years of the Mike Montgomery era.

• The Bears completed the month of February 7-1 with a pair of victories over first-place and nationally-ranked Oregon, a win at nationally-ranked Arizona, a road win at Oregon State and home triumphs over UCLA, USC and Utah.

• Cal also won six straight conference games in 2012 and 2006. The last time the Bears won seven consecutive contests was in 2003 when they opened league play 7-0.

• It is the longest active streak in the Pac-12, the second-longest among BCS conference schools (Georgetown has won 10-straight) and the 13th longest overall among Division I schools.

• Cal is holding opponents under .400 (.397) from the field through the first 28 games. The mark is the lowest since the 1960 NCAA Runner-Up squad that held opponents to a .365 shooting percentage.

• Mike Montgomery, the NCAA's eighth-winningest active Division I head coach with 654 wins, is the fourth winningest coach in Pac-12 history with 271 league wins. He moved past Washington's Hec Edmundson (266 wins from 1921-1947) in the win against UCLA on Feb. 14. Montgomery is just five wins shy of matching the legendary Oregon State head coach, Slats Gill, for the third-most wins in Pac-12 history at 276.

• The junior guard duo of Allen Crabbe and Justin Cobbs is the second highest scoring pair in the Pac-12 with a combined average of 33.6 points per game. Crabbe leads the Pac-12 and ranks 28th nationally at 18.8 points per game, while Cobbs ranks 11th in the conference at 14.8 points per contest. The pair has combined to score 940 of Cal's 1,893 points (49.7 percent).

• Allen Crabbe, who was named to one of the top-30 candidates for the Naismith National Player of the Year Award, enters the Colorado game as the Pac-12's active career scoring leader and 10th in school history with 1,457 career points in 93 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 12 games.

A LOOK AT COLORADO
Colorado enters Saturday's game with a 19-8 overall record and a 9-6 mark in Pac-12 play. The Buffaloes are right behind the Golden Bears in the league standings in fifth place. CU is coming off a 65-63 win over Stanford on Wednesday night.

Colorado possesses a balanced scoring attack, led by sophomore guard Spencer Dinwiddie (15.4 ppg.). Fellow sophomore guard Askia Booker is averaging 13.0 ppg, and junior forward Andre Roberson is contributing 10.8 points per contest.

Roberson leads the nation in rebounding at 11.7 boards per contest. He has a pair of 20-rebound games this season. The junior has posted 11 double-doubles on the year.

The Buffaloes have been without the services of freshman Joe Scott, who is third on the team in scoring at 11.4 ppg. and second on the squad in rebounding at 5.0 rpg., for several games.

CALIFORNIA-COLORADO SERIES HISTORY
California and Colorado have met on the hardwood 21 times previously. The Buffaloes hold a 11-10 edge in the all-time series with the Golden Bears. CU has won three-straight and five of the last six overall, including an 81-71 win in Boulder in January. Cal is 8-1 against Colorado at home, including a 57-50 win over the Buffaloes in Berkeley last season.