March 12, 2010

LOS ANGELES -

Complete Release in PDF Format

California Golden Bears (22-9) vs. UCLA Bruins (14-17)
Friday, March 12, 6 p.m., Staples Center, Los Angeles, Calif.
Radio: KFRC 1550 AM TV: FSN

Entering the Pac-10 Tournament as the No. 1 seed for the first time, Pac-10 champion California is riding a five-game winning streak into the semifinals of the Pac-10 Tournament. The Golden Bears will play UCLA Friday at 6 p.m. at Staples Center in Los Angeles.

The Bears cruised past Oregon in the quarterfinals, 90-74, on Thursday behind 22 points from Pac-10 Player of the Year Jerome Randle and 21 from All-Pac-10 first-teamer Patrick Christopher.

This will be the sixth meeting in the Pac-10 Tournament between Cal and UCLA, with the Bruins having won three of the previous five meetings. The last time these teams met in the conference tournament, UCLA won, 88-66, in the quarterfinals in 2008.

Cal secured its first outright league championship in 50 years when it defeated Stanford in the regular-season finale on March 6 at Maples Pavilion.

Cal most recently won a conference crown in 1960 when the Bears captured the last of four straight Athletic Association of Western Universities (AAWU) crowns. Cal finished that year with a 28-2 overall record and 11-1 league mark, reaching the NCAA championship game before falling to Ohio State.

A strong free-throw shooting team all season, this year's Cal squad currently ranks No.14 in the nation at 74.8 percent, with Randle second in the country indivudally at 92.8 percent - the best single-season percentage in school history and the third best in Pac-10 history.

Randle is also moving closer to Sean Lampley on Cal's all-time scoring list with 1,766 points, Lampley (1998-01) leads with 1,776 points, and Christopher (1,654) is one point away from Kevin Johnson for fifth all-time.

The Bears have won eight of their last nine games, each by at least 10 points. This is Cal's first five-game winning streak since they enjoyed a nine-game winning streak last season.