Dec. 21, 2012

California Game Notes

BERKELEY - California looks for its second-straight win when the Golden Bears host Prairie View A&M on Saturday at 2:06 p.m. (PT) inside Haas Pavilion.

The Pac-12 Networks will provide live national television coverage of Saturday's game with JB Long handling the play-by-play and Dan Belluomini serving as the analyst. It will be the third-straight Pac-12 Networks broadcast for the Bears.

The Cal IMG Sports Network will carry the game on KSFS 910 AM in the Bay Area with Todd McKim (play-by-play) and former Cal standout Jon Wheeler (analyst) on the call. The broadcast is also available through CalBears.com/All-Access. The pre-game show starts at 1:30 p.m. (PT).

California, 7-3 overall this season, looks for its second win of the week after posting a 68-59 victory over UC Santa Barbara on Tuesday at home.

Five of the Bears' seven wins this season have come by double digits, including two of the last four victories - an 11-point win over Georgia Tech on Nov. 23 and a 20-point victory over Pacific on Nov. 25.

Cal has out-rebounded eight of its first 10 opponents with a 40.4 rpg. average. The Bears recorded 40 or more rebounds in four-straight games earlier this season for the first time since the 1997-98 campaign.

The junior guard duo of Allen Crabbe and Justin Cobbs are the highest scoring pair in the Pac-12 Conference. Crabbe paces the Bears and ranks second in the league overall at 20.1 points per game, while Cobbs ranks sixth in the conference at 16.8 points per contest. Crabbe is 20th in the nation in scoring through Thursday's action.

The pair has combined to score 369 of Cal's 711 points and connected on 124 of the Bears' 260 field goals this season.

Crabbe became the 42nd member of the school's 1,000-point club with 20 points at Denver on Nov. 16. He enters the Prairie View A&M game 30th in school history with 1,131 points in 75 career games.

Crabbe and Cobbs are joined in the line-up by junior forward Richard Solomon, sophomore forward David Kravish and freshman guard Tyrone Wallace.

The Bears used the same starting lineup in the first nine games, before Wallace made his debut as a guard in the lineup Tuesday vs. UC Santa Barbara.

CRABBE ONE OF LEAGUE'S TOP SCORERS
Junior Allen Crabbe became the 42nd player in school history to reach the 1,000-point milestone for his Golden Bear career. He hit the four-digit total in the season's third game at Denver on Nov. 16. Crabbe achieved the milestone in his 68th career game, which is 19 games less than it took Cal's all-time leading scorer Jerome Randle (1,835 from 2006-10) to reach the 1,000-point mark.

Crabbe enters Saturday's Prairie View A&M game 30th in school history in career scoring with 1,131 points in 75 career games.

ONE OF PAC-12'S LEADING SCORERS
With an average of 20.1 points per game through the season's first 10 contests, Crabbe ranks second in the Pac-12 Conference in scoring and 20th in the nation overall. His career-high 33 points against Pepperdine equals the second-most points by an individual in the conference so far this season. Oregon State's Ahmad Starks scored 33 against New Mexico State on Nov. 11, while fellow Beaver Roberto Nelson posted 34 points vs. Chicago State on Dec. 16. Crabbe is also among the conference leaders in three-point field goals made per game (T-4th, 2.0) and free-throw percentage (7th, .839).

COBBS AND CRABBE
Junior guards Justin Cobbs and Allen Crabbe have combined to score 369 of Cal's 711 points through the first 10 games. Crabbe is second in the conference with 201 points on the year, while Cobbs is seventh in the league with 168 points.

JUNIOR GUARDS HAVE INCREASED MINUTES/PRODUCTION
Allen Crabbe has already recorded 43 more points this season than he did through the first 10 games of his sophomore campaign. The guard, who is averaging 3.1 more minutes per game this season (33.7) than he did last year (30.6), had 158 points through the first 10 games of 2011-12.

Justin Cobbs has surpassed his scoring total from the season's first 10 games last season by 55 points in 2012-13. Last year, he recorded 113 points through the Bears' first 10 games. He is averaging nearly 8.9 more minutes a game this season (35.4) as compared to last year (26.5)

NON-CONFERENCE HOME GAMES UNDER MONTGOMERY
The Bears are 32-5 in non-conference home games under Mike Montgomery following Tuesday's win over UC Santa Barbara.

The UNLV loss on Dec. 9 was the first non-conference setback at home since dropping a 78-63 decision to No. 3 Kansas on Dec. 22, 2010. Last Saturday's defeat to No. 13 Creighton was the first time the Bears had dropped back-to-back non-conference home games under Montgomery.

KRAVISH PROVIDES POST PRESENCE
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. In the season opener vs. CSU Bakersfield, the sophomore posted a game-high three blocks to go along with nine rebounds. He is the team's leading rebounder with 80 through 10 games, and ranks seventh in the Pac-12 with 8.0 boards per game. The forward has posted seven or more rebounds in a game in seven contests. Kravish recorded his first career double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds at Denver on Nov. 16. He posted a season-best 13 rebounds vs. No. 13 Creighton two games ago and has three double-digit rebounding performances this season.

Kravish has scored in double figures twice this season with 10 points last time out vs. UC Santa Barbara along with his production against Creighton.

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.

SOLOMON RETURNING TO FORM
Junior Richard Solomon returned to the Cal lineup in the season opener after missing the final 15 games of last season, Solomon has started each of the Bears' first 10 games, averaging 8.0 ppg. and 6.0 rpg. He has scored in double figures in four games this season, matching his career-high of 14 against Pacific and No. 18 UNLV. The junior ranks second on the team with 60 rebounds.

WALLACE MAKES FIRST CAREER START
Freshman guard Tyrone Wallace has seen his minutes increase as the season has progressed. He earned his first career start in the Bears' last game vs. UC Santa Barbara. The first-year guard responded with his first career double-double against the Gauchos with 10 points and 10 rebounds. He has 10 rebounds in each of the last two games.

Wallace has played at least 25 minutes in each of the last four games. In the first three-games of Cal's current five-game homestand, Wallace has averaged 10.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists vs. No. 18 UNLV, No. 13 Creighton and UCSB. Two of his three double-figure scoring outputs have come in the last three games with a season-best 13 points vs. UNLV and 10 vs. UCSB.

THURMAN EFFICIENT WITH MINUTES
Senior forward Robert Thurman has made the most of his minutes on the floor in 2012-13. The forward leads all non-starters with 6.0 ppg. and 3.9 rpg. in just 18.4 minutes per contest. Thurman is coming off a season-high 14 points and six rebounds in 23 minutes vs. UC Santa Barbara on Tuesday.

KREKLOW RETURNS TO COURT
Sophomore guard Ricky Kreklow played in a collegiate game for the first time in nearly two years in Cal's second game of the season against Pepperdine on Nov. 13. The Missouri transfer played 17 minutes, recording three points, four rebounds, three steals and two assists. In an increased role (28 minutes) at Denver, Kreklow posted 10 points, six rebounds, three assists and two blocks.

Kreklow originally underwent surgery on his right foot during the pre-season. He aggravated the injury in warm-ups prior to the Bears' DIRECTV Classic opener against Drake and missed five games before returning to the court vs. No. 13 Creighton on Dec. 15. He posted four points and two rebounds before fouling out in 15 minutes while guarding Bluejays' All-American Doug McDermott. Last time out, Kreklow posted registered five points and six assists in 18 minutes of action as he continues to work his way back into the rotation.

Kreklow played in 32 games as a true freshman at Missouri, averaging 2.1 points and 1.3 rebounds in 9.8 minutes per contest. At Missouri, 13 of Kreklow's 22 field goals were from three-point range.

SCOUTING PRAIRIE VIEW A&M
Prairie View A&M enters Saturday's game 5-6 overall with wins in two of its last three games. The Panthers had their two-game winning streak snapped last time out with a 95-53 loss at UCLA last Saturday.

They beat Houston (81-80) and Navy (42-40) earlier this season, while playing seven of their 11 games so far away from Prairie View, Texas.

Prairie View A&M ranks 21st nationally with 9.8 steals per game. The Panthers also average 41.1 rebounds per contest.

Junior Jourdan DeMuynck, a native of nearby San Leandro, Calif., is Prairie View A&M's leading scorer and rebounder with an average of 13.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per game.

Ryan Gesiakowski is contributing 9.9 points and Carl Blair is adding 9.8 points per contest.

CALIFORNIA-PRAIRIE VIEW A&M SERIES HISTORY
California and Prairie View A&M have met once before on the hardwood with the Golden Bears defeating the Panthers, 76-68, on Nov. 29, 1989 in Berkeley.