Pac-12 Tournament Semifinal: Cal vs. Oregon
California men's basketball looks to punch its ticket to the Pac-12 Tournament Championship Game for the third time in program history when the fifth-seeded Golden Bears meet the top-seeded Oregon Ducks Friday in the semifinals. The battle begins at 6 p.m. from T-Mobile Arena and airs live on Pac-12 Network and KGO Radio.
The Bears and Ducks have met four times in the conference tournament, and Cal owns a 2-2 record against Oregon, most recently taking a 90-74 victory in the quarterfinal matchup in 2010. Cal also defeated Oregon, 91-87, in double overtime of the 2006 semifinals. The Bears lost to the Ducks in 2007 (81-63, semifinal) and 2004 (87-82, quarterfinal).
Through two appearances in the tournament,
Jabari Bird paces the Bears with 23.0 points. He is the first Cal player with back-to-back 20-point outings since Â
Theo Robertson in 2010.
Charlie Moore is averaging 15.5 points, and
Ivan Rabb has 12.0 points and 9.5 rebounds. Cal is averaging 72.5 points.
The winner advances to the Saturday's championship game, which tips off at 8 p.m. on ESPN.
HOW TO FOLLOW THE ACTION: The Pac-12 Network wil carry Friday's semifinal game, with Ted Robinson, Don MacLean and Louis Johnson on the call. Todd McKim and
Jay John will provide analysis and commentary on the California Golden Bears Sports Network on KGO 810 AM. Follow the Bears on social media for a behind-the-scenes look at Facebook.com/CalMensBball and on Twitter and Instagram @CalMensBball.
• Cal reached the Pac-12 Tournament semifinals for the second consecutive season. Friday's game will mark Cal's ninth semifinal appearance. The Bears are is 2-6 overall in the semifinals.
• This is the first time the Bears have made back-to-back trips to the tournament semifinals since the 2006 and 2007 seasons.
• Cal earned its first win over Utah in the Pac-12 Tournament. The Bears lost the previous two tournament meetings with the Utes, including an 82-78 overtime loss in the semifinals last season.
•
Jabari Bird matched his career-high 26 points, set previously in Cal's double-overtime win over Utah on February 2.Â
• Bird went 4-6 from beyond the arc and has now made 187 career three-pointers, taking sole possession of fifth-most in program history. The senior guard is 7-12 (58.3 percent) from beyond the arc in the Pac-12 Tournament after going just 5-20 (25 percent) from deep over the final four games of the regular season.
• Bird has increased his scoring from 10.4 points per game last year to 14.9 PPG this season -- the largest scoring increase by a Pac-12 senior this season.
• Bird is 25th all-time among Cal's 1,000-point club with 1,227 career points.
•
Charlie Moore notched his fourth 20-point performance of the season with 21 points against Utah.
• With his 21 points, Moore now has 399 points this season, passing Lamond Murray (387) and Jason Kidd (378) for eighth-most by any freshman in Cal history.
• Moore is also fifth for assists (116) and seventh for free throws (97) among Cal's freshman records.
•
Ivan Rabb has now scored in double-figures in all four career games at the Pac-12 Tournament.
• Rabb has 29 career double-doubles, tying Leon Powe for the second-most by any Cal player over the last 20 seasons. His 29 career double-doubles are second only to Washington State's Josh Hawkinson among the Pac-12's active career leaders.
• With six blocks in the Pac-12 Tournament,
Kingsley Okoroh now has 70 blocks this season. He is three blocks away from tying David Kravish's all-time record of 73, set in 2014.
•
Grant Mullins is tied for seventh in Cal's single-season records for three-pointers (64).
