Nov. 15, 2012
California Game Notes 
BERKELEY - California looks to start the season 3-0 for the third straight season and fourth overall under fifth-year head coach Mike Montgomery on Friday night when the Golden Bears travel to Denver, Colo. to take on the University of Denver at Magness Arena at 5:05 p.m. (PT).
ROOT Sports will provide live television coverage of Friday's contest with Marc Stout (play-by-play) and Greg Lackey (analyst) to call the action. ROOT Sports is available on Comcast (Ch. 26 or 665 HD), DirecTV (Ch. 683) or Dish Network (Ch. 414).
Fans in the Bay Area can listen to the game through the Cal IMG Radio Network on KSFS NewsTalk 910 AM with Cal alum Roxy Bernstein (play-by-play) and former Golden Bear assistant coach Jay John on the call. The broadcast is also available through CalBears.com/All-Access.
Cal has opened the season with a pair of victories at home inside Haas Pavilion, taking care of CSU Bakersfield (89-80) in the season opener on Sunday and Pepperdine (79-62) on Tuesday. The junior guard duo of Allen Crabbe and Justin Cobbs has combined to account for 66.9 percent of the team's scoring output this season. The two have totaled 105 of the Bears' 157 points on the year. Each has reached the 20-point mark in the two games with Crabbe coming off a career-best 33-point game against the Waves on Tuesday.
Crabbe is the nation's third-leading scorer at 30.0 ppg. through Wednesday's contest. He enters Friday's game just 10 points shy of becoming the 42nd player in school history to reach the 1,000-point plateau. The last Golden Bear to post 1,000 or more career points in his junior season was Cal's all-time leading scorer, Jerome Randle, who scored 1,835 career points from 2006-10. Crabbe is looking to achieve the milestone in his 68th career game. It took Randle 87 games to reach the 1,000-point mark for his career. Guard Jorge Gutierrez (1,232) and forward Harper Kamp (1,133) each achieved the milestone as seniors last season.
Friday will mark the Golden Bears' third game in a six-day span. Cal opened the regular season on Sunday night against CSUB and then posted the victory over Pepperdine on Tuesday evening. The last time the Bears played three games in such a short span was the end of last season when Cal lost at Stanford in the regular-season finale on March 4, before earning revenge against the Cardinal in its opening game of the Pac-12 Tournament in Los Angeles on March 7. The Bears were defeated by Colorado a day later on March 8 in the semifinals of the conference tournament.
Denver comes into Friday's game 1-1 on the year after splitting its first two games of the season. The Pioneers suffered a 65-58 loss to Iona in the season opener before rebounding with a 68-51 win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Wednesday night at home inside Magness Arena.
CRABBE ON VERGE OF 1,000-POINT MILESTONE
Junior guard Allen Crabbe is on the cusp of becoming the 42nd player in school history to reach the 1,000-point milestone in his Golden Bear career. He enters Friday's game at Denver with 990 career points in 67 career games at Cal. The junior is on pace to eclipse Jerome Randle's school-record career total of 1,835 points from 2006-10. It took Randle 87 career games to score his 1,000th point. Guard Jorge Gutierrez (1,232) and forward Harper Kamp (1,133) each achieved the milestone as seniors last season.
CRABBE NAMED TO WOODEN AWARD LIST
Crabbe was named to the Preseason Top 50 list for the John Wooden Award for the second-straight season by the Los Angeles Athletic Club on Nov. 8. Crabbe was one of just nine current players in the country named to the list in consecutive years. He is one of four Pac-12 players - Arizona's Solomon Hill, Washington State's Brock Motum and Colorado's André Roberson were the others - on the list, chosen by college basketball media members.
PAC-12'S LEADING SCORER
With an average of 30.0 points per game through the season's first two contests, Crabbe is the Pac-12 Conference's leading scorer by 4.5 points over Oregon State's Ahmad Starks through Wednesday's contests. His career-high 33 points against Pepperdine on Tuesday equaled the most points by an individual in the conference through Wednesday's action. Oregon State's Ahmad Starks scored 33 against New Mexico State on Nov. 11. He is also among the conference leaders in three-point field goals made (T-1st, 8)three-point field goal percentage (T-4th, .667), free-throw percentage (T-8th, .909) and minutes played (T-9th, 31.0) through Wednesday's games.
SCORING IN BUNCHES
Crabbe has scored 20 or more points in a single half in each of the first two games. In the first half of the season opener vs. CSUB, the junior poured in 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including 4-of-4 from the three-point range. In the second half of the Pepperdine contest, the guard registered 24 points on 7-of-10 shooting, including a perfect 7-of-7 from the free-throw line and 3-of-4 from beyond the arc.
CRABBE FROM THE LINE
Crabbe has attempted 192 career free throws through the first two games of his junior season in Berkeley, converting 159 of those attempts. The guard owns a .828 free-throw percentage, which ranks sixth on the school's all-time list. He was a perfect 9-of-9 on free-throw attempts last time out against Pepperdine and is 10-of-11 from the free throw line overall this season.
CRABBE FROM BEYOND THE ARC
Crabbe is one of the Pac-12 conference's top three-point shooters. Through two games of his junior season, he has drained 153 career three-pointers, which is tied for eighth on Cal's all-time list. His .408 three-point field percentage ranks fifth-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.
COBBS AND CRABBE
Junior guards Justin Cobbs and Allen Crabbe have combined to score 105 of Cal's 157 points through the season's first two games. Crabbe has poured in a conference-leading 60 points on the year thanks to a career-high 33-point outing last time out. Cobbs, who was an All-Pac-12 honorable mention selection last season, isn't far behind with 45 points in two games.
The duo has connected on 39 of the Bears' 59 field goals this season and is shooting a combined .639 (39-of-61) from the floor through the first two games of the year. The pair has also accounted for 14 of Cal's 32 assists this season.
COBBS AMONG LEAGUE'S ASSIST LEADERS
Junior Justin Cobbs also ranks among the conference's leaders in several categories. He is fourth in the league in scoring (22.5 ppg.), first in free throw percentage (a perfect 6-of-6 for 1.000), eighth in field goal percentage (.692) and tied for ninth in assists (eight). He leads the Bears in assists for the second-straight season. The 6-3 guard, who transferred from Minnesota, made his debut with the Bears last season after sitting out the 2010-11 year due to NCAA transfer regulations. He earned a starting role eight games into last season and finished the year with a 12.6 points-per-game average. Cobbs was the Bears' assist leader and ranked third in the Pac-12 Conference overall in assists with 169 on the season for a 4.9 assists-per-game average. His 169 assists was the ninth-most in a season in school history.
KRAVISH LOOKS TO BUILD ON FRESHMAN CAMPAIGN
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 and looks to become a bigger presence in the post. In the season opener against CSU Bakersfield, the sophomore posted a game-high three blocks to go along with nine rebounds. He is the team's leading rebounder with 16 boards through two games. As a freshman, Kravish started 24 games and averaged 6.9 points and 5.6 rebounds. He recorded 41 blocks - the third-most by a freshman in school history - ranked ninth overall and second among freshmen in the Pac-12. Kravish's .594 field-goal percentage (98-of-165) was the highest among Cal's regular starters last season.
SOLOMON RETURNS TO LINEUP
Junior forward Richard Solomon returned to the Cal lineup in the season opener for the first time since Jan. 12, 2012. After missing the final 15 games last season, Solomon was back in the starting lineup vs. CSU Bakersfield. He finished the season opener with eight points and nine rebounds in 27 minutes. The forward averaged 6.0 points and 6.2 rebounds to go along with 16 blocks last season.
SHARP-SHOOTING KREKLOW MAKES CAL DEBUT
Sophomore guard Ricky Kreklow played in a collegiate game for the first time in nearly two years on Tuesday night. He made his Cal 6:30 into the game against Pepperdine, playing 17 minutes total. The guard recorded three points, four rebounds, three steals and two assists in limited action while he continues to recover from pre-season foot surgery. The Missouri transfer sat out last season due to NCAA transfer regulations after leaving the Tigers' program following the 2009-10 season. He played in 32 games as a true freshman at Missouri, averaging 2.1 points and 1.3 rebounds in 9.8 minutes per contest for the Big 12 school. At Missouri, 13 of Kreklow's 22 field goals were from three-point range.
DENVER CONNECTIONS
Two Golden Bears have connections to Denver. Junior Jeff Powers originally enrolled at Denver and was a member of the Pioneers before transferring midway through the 2009-10 season. Freshman Kaileb Rodriguez is from Highlands Ranch, Colo., a suburb of Denver. Rodriguez is expected to have more than 30 friends and family in attendance on Friday.
LAST SEASON VS. DENVER
The sophomores Allen Crabbe scored 15 points and matched his career high with 10 rebounds and Cal defeated Denver 80-59 on Nov. 26 at Haas Pavilion. Crabbe shot 6 for 9 with three 3-pointers and helped the Golden Bears overcome a slow start against the Pioneers.
Chris Udofia scored nine points to lead Denver, which was outmuscled inside in losing the rebounding battle 33-20 and outshot from the perimeter.
SCOUTING DENVER
Denver comes into Friday's game 1-1 on the year after splitting its first two games of the season. The Pioneers suffered a 65-58 loss to Iona in the season opener before rebounding with a 68-51 win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Wednesday night at home inside Magness Arena.
Denver has three players averaging double figures with junior Chris Udofia leading the way with a team-best average of 18.5 points and 6.5 rebounds in its two contests. Sophomore guard Brett Olson (11.5) and senior guard Chase Hallam (10.0) are the other Pioneers in double figures through two contests.
Denver finished 22-9 overall last season posting a team-record 22 Division I victories.. Head coach Joe Scott is in his sixth season at the helm of the Pioneers.
CALIFORNIA-DENVER SERIES HISTORY
Cal and Denver have met three times previously with the Bears winning all three contests. Cal and DU met last season in Berkeley, an 80-59 victory for the Golden Bears.
