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Basketball: Stuff you might have missed
By Jeff Faraudo
Friday, January 14th, 2011 at 1:36 am in Basketball, post game.
A few leftovers from Cal’s 88-81 win over Washington State on Thursday night . . .
– Allen Crabbe not only became the first Cal freshman since Shareef Abdur-Rahim to score 30 points in a game, he was just the third Bears’ rookie to do it. Abdur-Rahim did it four times in 1995-96 including a best of 33 points vs. Northern Arizona in his college debut. Brian Hendrick had 31 vs. UCLA during the 1990-91 1989-90 season.
– Crabbe is averaging 17.6 ppg over the past five games and — because we know you’re dying to know this — 21.3 ppg in three games since Gary Franklin took his talents to Waco, Texas.
– Center Markhuri Sanders-Frison (14 points, 10 rebounds) has five double-doubles this season, four in his past six games. He is shooting 25 for 39 in Pac-10 play.
– Best game yet for sophomore Brandon Smith, who had nine points and a career-high nine assists. He ran the team effectively, pushing the tempo when it was there and pulling back when that was the right thing to do. The Bears had 22 assists, and that’s a nice calling card for any point guard.
– Cal’s three starting guards combined for 16 rebounds.
– The Bears were 21 for 25 from the free throw line and made their last 12 in a row, including all eight in overtime.
– Freshman Richard Solomon was the Bears’ only reserve who had a point or a rebound. He had eight and seven, respectively, in 19 productive minutes.
– WSU junior Klay Thompson was magnificent — 36 points, including the 3-point shot that forced overtime. He has scored 111 points in five games against the Bears — an average of 22.2. But the Bears didn’t allow him a shot attempt in overtime, and he’s 0-5 lifetime against Cal.
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January 14th, 2011 at 6:18 am
Jeff,
Are you sure about the Brian Hendrick fact? I’m almost positive he was a freshman in the 1989-90 season, not 1990-91.
Great work covering the Bears.
January 14th, 2011 at 8:18 am
Ohio — You were right. Hendrick did score 31 vs. UCLA as a freshman, but it was during the 1989-90 season.
January 14th, 2011 at 9:28 am
I went, for the first time, to a Cal basketball game last night. Great game and nice to see Cal pull it out!
As usual, I want to provide a brief review of the Bears. Monty is doing a fantastic job with them, because they really don’t have a bench. Soloman is totally lost on defense and actually plays outside on offense, not at the post, though he is Cal’s tallest player, except on fast break dunks. (But he is athletic, so he can improve.) When Sanders-Frison graduates, Cal will have only one post-up player — Kamp — and he has only one more year left.
Crabbe can do it all, and I think he will end up having his jersey hanging on the wall when he graduates.
Murray does not seem to be useful at this time. He is very undersized playing against forwards and, from what I saw, is not a very good shooter.
Cal could have contended for the league championship with Amoke, Max, and Franklin, all who would have played a lot (Amoke may have started ahead of Crabbe, at least for awhile) but now doesn’t have much chance of doing so doing now even with four very good starters (Kamp, Sanders-Frison, Crabbe, and Gutierez), and average but improving guard (Smith) and a great coach. They just don’t have a bench.
January 14th, 2011 at 12:43 pm
Interesting but incomplete comment regarding Thompson’s zero attempts in the overtime period. I think Monty really pulled a fast one by having Smith dog him for awhile – really threw him a curveball, and got him a little out of synch. Might not work again with such a skilled player as Thompson, but it was a nice touch this time. Very fun game to watch even if it did have to go to overtime. At least the right team won – GO BEARS!
January 14th, 2011 at 3:08 pm
I love Monty throwing the box and one on Thompson…that’s old school, that’s the stuff you do in high school against hot talent. Monty called it perfect, waited until OT when Thompson was spent knowing it was a limited deal, and yes Smith dogged him.