Nov. 30, 2012

Game Notes

BERKELEY - California travels to Madison, Wisc. to face the University of Wisconsin on Sunday at 1 p.m. (PT)/3 p.m. (CT) in a matchup of Pac-12 and Big Ten powers inside the Kohl Center.

The Big Ten Network will provide live television coverage of Sunday's game with Milwaukee Brewers broadcaster Brian Anderson handling the play-by-play and former Wisconsin point guard Mike Kelley serving as an analyst.

The Cal IMG Sports Network will carry the game on KSFS NewsTalk 910 AM in the Bay Area with Cal alum Roxy Bernstein (play-by-play) and Todd McKim (analyst) on the call. The broadcast is also available through CalBears.com/All-Access. The pre-game show starts at 12:30 p.m. PT

California looks to start the season 7-0 for the first time in more than five decades. The last time Cal opened the season with at least seven-straight regular-season victories was in 1959. That season, the Pete Newell-led Bears opened the year 9-0 with wins over UC Santa Barbara, San Francisco, San Jose State, Colorado twice, No. 4 Michigan State, No. 4 Illinois, No. 3 USC and No. 2 West Virginia. They finished the season as NCAA finalists with a 28-2 overall record.

The Bears opened the 1994-95 season 7-0 under Todd Bozeman with wins over Texas Southern, Northern Arizona, Pacific, San Francisco, Minnesota, Cincinnati and Columbia, however the victories were later forfeited by Cal for the use of an ineligible player.

Cal is coming off a DIRECTV Classic Championship with victories over Drake, Georgia Tech and Pacific in the Thanksgiving tournament in Anaheim. The Bears were led by junior guard Justin Cobbs, who took Most Outstanding Player honors with 58 total points in the three games in the tournament. He was honored as the Pac-12 Player of the Week on Monday.

Five of the Bears' six wins have come by double digits, including two of the last three - an 11-point win over GT and a 20-point victory over Pacific.

Cal has out-rebounded each of its first six opponents with a 41.0 rpg. average. The Bears have recorded 40 or more rebounds in four-straight games for the first time since the 1997-98 season.

The junior guard duo of Cobbs and Allen Crabbe lead the Pac-12 in scoring and have paced the Bears in each of the first six games. Crabbe is the league's scoring leader at 22.0 ppg., while Cobbs is second at 20.0 ppg.

Cal is one of only two teams in the nation to have two players rank in the top-35 in the country in scoring as Crabbe ranks 11th and Cobbs is 35th through Thursday's Division I action.

The pair has combined to score 252 of Cal's 448 points and connected on 85 of the Bears' 159 field goals this season. The duo is shooting a combined .570 (85-of-149) from the floor.

Crabbe became the 42nd member of the school's 1,000-point club with 20 points at Denver on Nov. 16. He enters the Wisconsin game 34th in school history with 1,062 points in 71 career games.

Crabbe and Cobbs are joined in the line-up by junior forward Richard Solomon, sophomore forward David Kravish and senior guard Brandon Smith. The Bears have used the same starting lineup in all six games.

CRABBE'S 20-POINT GAMES
Crabbe posted his 17th career 20-point game with a game-high 24 points against Pacific last time out. It was his fourth 20-point game of the 2012-13 season and third-highest in the six games. He poured in a career-high 33 points vs. Pepperdine and 27 vs. CSU Bakersfield. The record for 20-point Games in a season is 23 by Lamond Murray in 1993-94. Crabbe fell one game shy of equaling his longest career stretch of 20-point contests. The guard recorded four-straight games of 20 or more points during his freshman season, pouring in 26 at Oregon State, 24 vs. Stanford, 21 against USC, and 20 vs. Mississippi in consecutive games. Crabbe opened the 2012-13 season with 27 points vs. CSU Bakersfield, 33 points against Pepperdine and 20 at Denver before ending his streak with 15 against Drake.

PAC-12'S LEADING SCORER
With an average of 22.0 points per game through the season's first six contests, Crabbe is the Pac-12 Conference's leading scorer and ranks 11th in the nation overall entering Friday's games. His career-high 33 points against Pepperdine this season equaled the most points by an individual in the conference through Thursday'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 per game (4th, 2.3), free-throw percentage (6th, .875), three-point field goal percentage (11th, .438) and field goal percentage (12th, .523) through Wednesday.

6-0 START
California has opened the season 6-0 for the first time since the 2007-08 season. Cal defeated Southern Mississippi, Nicholls State, San Diego State, Nevada, Missouri and Jackson State in 2007.

PERFECT FOR NOVEMBER
Cal finished the November portion of its schedule with a perfect 6-0 record. It is the first perfect record in the season's opening month since the Bears started the 2007-08 season 4-0.

MOST CONSECUTIVE 40-REBOUND GAMES IN 15 YEARS
Cal has out-rebounded each of its first six opponents and has recorded 40 or more rebounds in four-straight games for the first time since the 1997-98 season. In that year, the Bears posted at least 40 rebounds in five consecutive games - 41 vs. Houston, 46 vs. Portland State, 40 vs. BYU, 42 vs. New Hampshire and 42 vs. VCU.

In 2012-13, Cal has posted a +8 (46-38) advantage against CSU Bakersfield, a +3 (39-36) edge vs. Pepperdine, a +12 (40-28) advantage at Denver, a +14 (40-26) edge vs. Drake, a +12 (41-29) advantage vs. GT and a +9 (40-31) advantage vs. Pacific.

COBBS FAMILIAR WITH BADGERS
Junior guard Justin Cobbs is familiar with Bo Ryan's Wisconsin team. Before transferring to Cal, Cobbs played one season at Big Ten foe Minnesota during the 2009-10 campaign. In his lone meeting with Wisconsin in Minneapolis, Cobbs recorded four points and one assist in 12 minutes in the Gophers' 68-52 win over the Badgers on Feb. 18, 2010. Cobbs played against current Badgers Ryan Evans and Mike Bruesewitz in the contest.

KREKLOW-WISCONSIN CONNECTION
Sophomore Ricky Kreklow's uncle Mike Kreklow played two years at Wisconsin during the 1979-80 and 1980-81 seasons. As a freshman, he saw action in 24 games, scoring 21 points during the 1979-80 season. As a sophomore, he started 13 of the 26 games he played with 85 points in 1980-81.

Mike Kreklow decided to transfer from Wisconsin to Drake University following the season.

SCOUTING WISCONSIN
Wisconsin comes into Sunday's game 4-3 overall with two losses in their last three games. The Badgers are coming off a 60-54 loss to Virginia at home on Wednesday evening in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Wisconsin also suffered setbacks at No. 10 Florida (74-56) and against No. 14 Creighton (84-74) in Las Vegas.

Senior center Jared Berggren paces the Badgers with 14.7 points per game. He is one of four players averaging double-figures in the scoring column along with junior guard Ben Brust (12.3 ppg.), freshman forward Sam Dekker (10.6 ppg.) and senior guard Ryan Evans (10.1 ppg.).

As team, Wisconsin is shooting 35.5 percent (61-of-172) from three-point range and just 68.9 percent (82-of-119) from the free-throw line.

Bo Ryan is in his 12th season as head coach of Wisconsin. Under Ryan (since 2001-02), Wisconsin owns an overall record of 114-30 in non-conference games, including a mark of 85-7 at the Kohl Center.

CALIFORNIA-WISCONSIN SERIES HISTORY
California and Wisconsin have met seven times previously. The Golden Bears own a 5-2 advantage in the all-time series. Cal and Wisconsin last met on Dec. 29, 1986, a 66-63 win in the Rainbow Classic, Honolulu, Hawaii. The Bears are 1-1 all-time at Wisconsin with a 64-57 loss on Dec. 26, 1952 and a 68-53 victory in Madison on Dec. 21, 1958 during Cal's National Championship season.