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MORE POST-GAME: Cal shot 68 percent (15-for-22) in the second half, finishing the game at 58 percent. Cal had just eight turnovers. Randle shot 8-for-8 from the FT line, including 6-for-6 in the second half.

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FINAL SCORE: Cal wins 81-71.  Bears improve to 13-2, 2-0 in the Pac-10. The 17th-ranked Sun Devils, who were off to their best start in 35 years, drop to 12-2, 1-1. Randle equaled his career-high with 26 points and had a career-best 10 assists. It was, obviously, his first career double-double. Christopher had 20 points. Kamp contributed six points and six rebounds. Gutierrez has played well defensively down the stretch. James Harden scored 26 points for ASU, but shot 9-for-22. Rihards Kuksiks and Jeff Pendergraph each scored 16.

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:50.4 2nd H: Randle just made two FTs and the Cal lead is 79-71. On the previous possession, Harden missed twice from 3-point range, the second time after twice pump-faking Jorge Gutierrez. The freshman didn’t go for it, and the shot missed.

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1:24 2nd H: ASU just called a 30-second timeout after Christopher scored on a acrobatic baseline drive for a 77-71 score. He has 20. Randle completed his four-point play earlier, but Pendergraph answered with two FTs for ASU.

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2:13 2nd H: Randle just hit a long 3-pointer from straight on and, after the timeout, will go to the FT line for one after being fouled by Ty Abbott. Cal leads 74-69. Harden scored for ASU on the previous possession, waltzing through the lane untouched and dropping in a layup. He has 26.

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3:45 2nd H: ASU just called timeout after Christopher scored his second straight basket, giving Cal a 71-67 lead. Harden is almost unstoppable right now for the Sun Devils. He has 24 points. Can drive the ball and has made his last two 3-point tries. Robertson, out since picking up his fourth foul with 12:10 left, is back in the game. So is Pendergraph for ASU, after sitting since 9:20.

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7:49 2nd H: Cal’s lead is 67-62. Gutierrez scored on a tough drive to the basket and, in the process, drew Pendergraph’s fourth foul, so the ASU big man went to the bench with 9:20 left. Harden hit a long 3-pointer on ASU’s next possession, cutting the margin to five points. He has 21 points. Randle now has 20 points and 10 assists, a career-high in the latter category. D.J. Seeley made his first appearance of the game after Robertson came out, and immediately hit a 3-pointer.

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11:14 2nd H: Cal’s lead is just 58-56 after a hook shot by Pendergraph with 11:40 left. Robertson is on the bench with four fouls. Randle has 18 points and eight assists. Harden has 18 points and eight rebounds for the Sun Devils. Pendergraph, who has 10 points this half, seems fine.

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15:36 2nd H: Consecutive 3-pointers by Robertson and Christopher — both in transition off feeds from Randle — have pushed Cal into a 50-45 lead. Pendergraph is playing with his right knee wrapped. ASU reports he has a minor sprain. He already has a dunk this half, but also has missed two point-blank shots.

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PENDERGRAPH UPDATE: The Sun Devils’ 6-9 senior is back on the court. He’s headed back onto the floor for the start of the half. So, apparently, he’s OK.

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SECOND-HALF WARMUPS: Both teams are on the floor and no sign of ASU’s Jeff Pendergraph. We’ll pass along an update as soon as we get it.

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HALFTIME: It’s even at 37-all. ASU outscored the Bears 11-2 over the final 3:17. Forward Rihards Kuksiks hit a wide-open 3-pointer off a feed from Harden with 3 seconds left to knot the score. Harden has 13 points and eight rebounds and Rihards has 11 points. Randle and Christopher each have 11 points for the Bears. Both teams shot 14-for-28 — 50 percent — in the first half. ASU played the last 4 1/2 minutes without forward Jeff Pendergraph, who appeared to do something to his right knee earlier. He went to the locker room to have it checked. One day after scoring a career-high 31 points at Stanford, Pendergraph sat out Friday’s practice with a sore left heel.

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3:17 1st H: ASU closed the gap to 29-26, but the Bears have scored six straight for a 35-26 lead. Christopher got the last two on a thunderous alley-oop dunk off a fastbreak feed from Randle. Randle and Christopher each have 11. Harden has 11 for ASU on 4-for-10 shooting and is going to the FT line for two shots.
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7:45 1st H: Cal’s lead is 29-19. The scoring run reached 16 points before Harden made two FTs with 8:52, pulling the Sun Devils within 10. ASU went nine possessions without scoring. Cal is doing a nice job at point of attack on Harden, and not leaving open 3-point shooters. Randle scored eight of the 16 points during the Cal run.

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10:20 1st H: Cal has scored 12 straight points and leads 25-17. ASU called timeout and the place is going a bit nuts. Randle has 11 points, including three 3-pointers. Christopher just scored on fastbreak off a missed drive to the basket by Harden.

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11:28 1st H: Cal leads 20-17, having scored seven straight points after trailing 17-13. The Bears is shooting 63.6 percent, including 4-for-6 from 3-pt. ASU has failed to score on five straight possessions, turning the ball over on four of them. Jorge Gutierrez has come off the bench and provided a nice lift. Harper Kamp has a basket and took a charge by James Harden.

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15:20 1st H: Cal leads 13-12. Both teams making everything they put up. Cal is 5-for-6 with 3-pointers by Christopher, Robertson and Randle. ASU is 5-for-8 and James Harden already has five points and two offensive rebounds. One concern for the Bears: They have zero rebounds after nearly five minutes.

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LINEUPS: Both teams are starting their usual lineups. For Cal, it’s Jerome Randle, Patrick Christopher, Theo Robertson, Jamal Boykin and Jordan Wilkes. For ASU: Derek Glasser, Ty Abbott, James Harden, Rihards Kuksiks and Jeff Pendergraph.

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THIS SCORE JUST IN: An interesting day already in the Pac-10. UCLA struggled much of the afternoon before beating Oregon 83-74 in Eugene, and Oregon State just put the finishing touches on a 62-58 overtime upset of USC. It’s the Beavers’ first Pac-10 victory since the 2006-07 season, having gone 0-18 a year ago. The Beavers had lost 24 straight conference games. You think Craig Robinson could get some votes for mayor in Corvallis?

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RECORDS: Cal is 12-2 overall, 1-0 in Pac-10; Arizona State is 12-1, 1-0.

There’s the Arizona State zone defense. Of course, there’s James Harden. And, as Stanford found out, there is Jeff Pendergraph.

No shortage of concerns for Cal tonight when it takes on coach Herb Sendek’s No. 17 Sun Devils at Haas Pavilion.

“Solving the zone is everybody’s issue,” Cal coach Mike Montgomery said. “Herb’s done a great job of finding something that is troublesome for people and getting them to do it very well. Because it’s something different, it causes you problems.”

This zone won’t look anything like the more traditional alignment Cal dismantled Friday night in a 69-55 win over Arizona.

Read the rest of this entry »

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FINAL: The Bears win 69-55, just their third win over Arizona in their past 21 meetings. Cal is now 12-2 overall headed into Sunday’s home game against No. 17 Arizona State. Patrick Christopher scored 23 points to lead the Bears, Jerome Randle had 14 and five assists and Theo Robertson scored 13. This was decisive enough that Max Zhang went into the game with 50.6 seconds left. Jordan Hill had 18 points and 11 rebounds for Arizona and Nic Wise 16. Chase Budinger was held to nine points on 4-for-16 shooting, defended primarily by Christopher or Robertson.

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3:06 2nd H: Arizona just called timeout with Cal ahead 69-54 after a backdoor feed from Harper Kamp led to a layup by Robertson. The Azrizona zone, which caused the Bears so much trouble at the start, is no factor now. Christopher has 23 points, 15 of them in the second half. Randle has 14, Robertson 13.

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6:00 2nd H: It’s getting loud again. Cal leads 61-51 after dunks by Christopher on consecutive possessions off nice cuts to the basket.

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7:23 2nd H: Cal leads 57-51. Randle going back in for Knezevic. Hill has 18 points for Arizona, including another monster dunk. But the Bears have shown no panic. Moving the ball well and getting contributions from all. Omondi Amoke just scored on a reverse layup against pressure from Hill. On the other hand, Wildcats aren’t going away.

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10:01 2nd H: Officials timeout. Still 51-44. A critical stretch awaits the Bears w/o Randle.

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10:19 2nd H: Montgomery just called timeout after two straight Arizona baskets cut the Bears’ lead to 51-44. He also needed to get Randle out of the game after he picked up his third foul with 13:47 left. Knezevic sat by the scorer’s table that whole time, but a stoppage of play never happened. Jamelle Horne has become a factor offensively for UA, scoring six points in the half.

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14:05 2nd H: Cal leads 48-38, despite a botched, probably ill-advised alley-oop try from Randle-to-Christopher that led to a fastbreak dunk by UA’s Hill. Christopher is playing more aggressively on offense so far this half, with a pair of baskets on drives along the baseline. He has 12 points, Randle 14. Hill leads the Cats with 14.

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16:07 2nd H: Cal’s lead has opened to 46-34 after a 3-pointer by Theo Robertson. The Bears are moving the ball much better now against the zone and it’s Arizona that’s suddenly struggling to find good shots. The Bears are 4-for-6 in the half, including a pair of 3-pointers.

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HALFTIME: Cal leads 36-30 in front of a pretty loud crowd. The Bears outscored the Wildcats 17-7 over the final 9 minutes of the half, doing a much better job of attacking the Arizona zone defense. Randle’s floater in the lane with 9.5 seconds left completed the first half scoring and pushed the junior guard’s total to 11 points. Montgomery got nice contributions from his bench, not only from Harper Kamp and Jorge Gutierrez, but from Nikola Knezevic and D.J. Seeley. After a rough start shooting the ball, Cal wound up at 43.8 percent for the half, while Arizona shot 48.3 percent. Two big differences in the game: Arizona sent Cal to the line for seven free throws (made 5) while UA shot none, and the Cats turned the ball over nine times.

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3:46 1st H: Cal lead is now 30-28 after a 3-pointer by Chase Budinger. The trio of Budinger, Hill and Wise has combined for 26 of the Cats’ 28 points. Randle has nine points for the Bears, who have scored 14 points off Arizona’s nine turnovers.

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4:28 1st H: Russ Pennell just called timeout with Cal leading 30-25 after Randle split the zone and scored on a floater in the lane. Nikola Knezevic played 3 1/2 solid minutes off the bench, giving Randle some rest. Cal has outscored Arizona 11-2 over the past 4 1/2 minutes. The Wildcats have eight turnovers.

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7:46 1st H: Arizona leads 23-21. Theo Robertson just picked up his second foul on a charge. Nic Wise has two for the Wildcats. Wise has nine points and Hill eight for UA; Randle has five for the Bears, who are shooting 40 percent. Arizona is at 61 percent, thanks to six layups or dunks. Mike Montgomery removed Randle at 8:02. We’ll see how long he rests.

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11:27 1st H: Arizona leads 17-15. There have been seven lead changes and one tie. Cal is 6-for-15 from the field, Arizona 8-for-13. Jamelle Horne has two fouls for the Wildcats. Jordan Hill has scored eight, with three different Cal defenders taking a turn on him.

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15:47 1st H: Arizona leads 6-5. Cal is struggling so far to find good shots against the Wildcats’ zone. The Bears are 2-for-7 from the field, Arizona 3-for-8. Theo Robertson and Jerome Randle each have one foul.

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LINEUPS: Cal will go with its usual starting five — Jerome Randle, Patrick Christopher, Theo Robertson, Jamal Boykin and Jordan Wilkes. Likewise, Arizona is making no changes: Nic Wise and Kyle Fogg at the guards, Chase Budinger and Jamelle Horne at the forwards and Jordan Hill at center.

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RECORDS: Cal is 11-2, Arizona 9-3 in the Pac-10 Conference opener for both teams.

Here’s this morning’s story on Jerome Randle, one of the most-improved players in the Pac-10.

On Tuesday afternoon, Cal coach Mike Montgomery was asked if he had any sense of where the Golden Bears might fit into the Pac-10 Conference race.

“No,” he admitted.

“I think there’s a bunch of us probably that would have the same aspirations or the same thought process as to where we can finish . . . (teams) that are similar, that maybe have some issues but have done well enough or could do well enough they could move up in the thing.

“But I think there’s a lot of people who have to be in that same category.”

Read the rest of this entry »

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FINAL: Cal wins 81-61, improving to 11-2 in their final game before the start of Pac-10 play Friday against Arizona. The Haas Pavilion crowd loved the final few minutes, when 7-foot-2 1/4 Max Zhang blocked two shots, and should have gotten credit for a third but was whistled for a foul. Afterward, Cal coach Mike Montgomery gave Portland coach and protege Eric Reveno a nice pat on the shoulder.

All-tournament team: Jerome Randle (MVP), Theo Robertson, Jamal Boykin, Cal; T.J. Campbell, Luke Sikma, Portland; Anwar Johnson, Air Force.

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3:30 2nd H: Max Zhang is entering the game, which means two things — his right wrist is OK and this game is over. Jamal Boykin has 19 points and 12 rebounds, Theo Robertson and Jerome Randle 16 each and Patrick Christopher 13. The Bears are at 55.8 percent from the field, the Pilots an even 40 percent. Cal leads 78-55.

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7:49 2nd H: Cal’s lead is up to 69-48 and this is just about over. The Bears continue to execute their offense well, shooting 59.5 percent from the field. Portland is at 40 percent with 12 turnovers. Randle is returning to the floor after a nice 5 1/2 minute rest.

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10:34 2nd H: Cal is taking charge. The Bears lead 62-46 after a jumper by Patrick Christopher, who has scored nine of his 13 points in the second half. Bears shooting 58 percent, Portland 41 percent.

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14:32 2nd H: Portland just called timeout after a steal by Jorge Gutierrez and fastbreak dunk by Theo Robertson pushed Cal’s lead to 54-41. Patrick Christopher has come alive on offense, scoring on consecutive possessions.

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15:53 2nd H: Cal leads 47-39. Portland is feeding the ball to the post at every opportunity, and Cal already has five fouls in the half. The Bears had just five in the entire first half, when they outscored Portland 11-1 at the FT line. The Pilots seem bent on reversing that. Jamal Boykin has scored twice for the Bears and has 14 points.

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HALFTIME: Cal leads 42-32 after being up by as many as 16 points with 5 minutes left in the half. Cal is shooting 54.2 percent, including 5-for-6 from 3-point. Portland is at 41.9 percent, but has hurt the Bears with offensive rebounds, leading to eight second-chance points.  Nik Raivio, the Pilots’ leading scorer, didn’t take a shot in the first half until burying a 3-pointer with 26 seconds left to get the visitors within 10 points.

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3:35 1st H: A 10-0 run by the Bears helped push them into a lead that is now 38-23. Patrick Christopher scored four points during the run, including a spectacular dunk off an alley-oop pass from Jordan Wilkes. The Bears are shooting 63.2 percent, the Pilots 41.7 percent.

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6:53 1st H: Randle just wowed the crowd with a change-of-direction drive to the basket and Cal leads 33-21. Randle has 14 points. Cal is shooting 62.5 percent, including 5-for-5 from 3-point.

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11:45 1st H: Cal leads 20-14 after a layup by Harper Kamp. He will be shooting one free throw after the timeout. The Bears led by as many as 12 points after a layup by Jamal Boykin made it 17-5 with 14:17 left. But Portland went 7-0, including a 3-pointer by Jared Stohl, to climb within four points before Kamp’s basket. 

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15:19 1st H: Cal leads 13-5 after hitting 3-pointers on its past three possessions — two by Jerome Randle and one by Theo Robertson off a feed from Randle. Cal is 4-for-4 from beyond the arc after making just three the entire game on Saturday against Dartmouth.  

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LINEUPS: The usual five for Cal — Jerome Randle, Patrick Christopher, Theo Robertson, Jamal Boykin and Jordan Wilkes. A couple of changes for Portland. Former De La Salle HS standout Ethan Niedermeyer gets a start at small forward, and Luke Sikma starts again for Kramer Knutson, apparently still out after suffering a concussion during practice on Christmas.

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MAX WARMS UP: Sophomore backup center Max Zhang, who fell hard on his right wrist during Saturday’s Golden Bear Classic opening-round win over Dartmouth, is dressed and warming up with his teammates for tonight’s championship game vs. Portland.

His wrist is taped, but he’s taking shots and appears OK.

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RECORDS: Cal is 10-2, Portland 7-5

Portland (7-5), which hopes to scramble into the upper division of the West Coast Conference this season, can climb above .500 against the Pac-10 this preseason with a victory tonight in the finals of the Golden Bear Classic.

Cal (10-2) will try to prevent that and, in the process, earn an 11th victory before the start of conference play for the first time since the 1946-47 season.

Coached by Eric Reveno, a former player and assistant coach under Mike Montgomery at Stanford, the Pilots opened the season by beating Washington 80-74, and last weekend lost 79-76 in overtime at Oregon.

“He’s done a fabulous job. I’m really proud of him,” said Montgomery, in his first season at Cal. “They are disciplined and organized. They’re tough to beat.”

The Pilots should look familiar to the Bears as they run the same offense Monty has been teaching for years.

“Portland does the best job of feeding their inside people of anybody we’ve faced,” Montgomery said.

The Pilots are significantly bigger than the Dartmouth team Cal beat 98-62 in Saturday’s first-round game.

Their usual starting center, 6-foot-9, 245-pound sophomore Kramer Knutson, averages 7.5 points and 3.2 rebounds. But he suffered a concussion during practice on Christmas and did not play Saturday against Air Force. His status for tonight is unclear.

Luke Sikma, a 6-8, 230-pound sophomore, started in his place against Air Force and responded with seven points and 13 rebounds. If the name sounds familiar, Sikma is the son of former Seattle Sonics star Jack Sikma.

Also up front is Robin Smeulders, a 6-10, 240-pound junior from Braunshweig, Germany. Smeulders missed his first seven shots against Air Force before converting a layup and free throw with 33 seconds left to secure the 43-42 victory.

Portland’s size should provide Cal center Jordan Wilkes with the kind of challenge he could face in Pac-10 play. Wilkes equaled his career high with 11 points in Cal’s win over Dartmouth, but Montgomery said evaluating his performance has been tricky.

“There’s been tough matchups,” Montgomery said. “We really haven’t played against big guys. It seems like every game people end up going small and that provides awkward matchups for us.”

Portland’s best player is junior wing Nik Raivio, who failed to score double digits on Saturday for just the second time this season, finishing with seven points against Air Force. Raivio has scored 18 points or more seven times.

NIEDERMEYER COMES HOME: Portland junior forward Ethan Niedermeyer, who missed five games with a high ankle sprain, scored eight points off the bench against Air Force in his most productive outing since Nov. 21.

The De La Salle High grad averaged 12 points over Portland’s first three games this season, including 14 in the season-opening upset of Washington. For the season, he’s averaging 6.4 ppg.

TIPOFF: 5 p.m. Sunday, Haas Pavilion, Berkeley.
TV: None. RADIO: 1550 AM.

NOTES: Cal has won 10 of the previous 15 Golden Bear Classic titles, including three of the last four . . . This is the third time in five years the Bears will meet a team from the West Coast Conference in the tournament final. Cal beat Pepperdine 61-58 in the 2004 title game, but lost 72-67 to San Diego in 2006 . . . Jerome Randle’s 15 points against Dartmouth made him Cal’s leading scorer for the 11th time in 12 games this season . . . The Bears, who have led the nation in 3-point accuracy much of the early season, remain just above 50 percent at 76-for-151 for 50.3 percent . . . Portland’s Jared Stohl, who entered the weekend shooting 43.3 percent from 3-point range, was just 1-for-11 against Air Force . . . Doubtful to play tonight is Cal sophomore backup center Max Zhang, who injured his right wrist in Saturday’s game.

   PROJECTED STARTING LINEUPS:

   Cal:
   PF Jamal Boykin, 6-8, Jr., 9.2 ppg, 5.7 rpg
   SF Theo Robertson, 6-5, Jr., 11.8 ppg, 3.4 rpg
   C Jordan Wilkes, 7-0, Jr., 4.9 ppg, 4.3 rpg
   SG Patrick Christopher, 6-5, Jr., 14.1 ppg, 3.9 rpg
   PG Jerome Randle, 5-10, Jr., 19.8 ppg, 4.8 apg

   Portland:
   PF Robin Smeulders, 6-10, Jr., 12.8 ppg, 6.8 rpg
   SF Nik Raivio, 6-4, Jr., 16.1 ppg, 6.4 apg
   C Kramer Knutson, 6-9, So., 7.5 ppg, 3.3 rpg
   SG Jared Stohl, 6-1, So., 10.2 ppg, 1.8 rpg
   PG T.J. Campbell, 5-9, Jr., 10.5 ppg, 2.4 apg

Total yards: Miami 223, Cal 280

Rushing: Best 18-167, 2 TDs; Cooper 10-43.

Passing: Harris 17-27-1, 145 yards, 2 TD; Longshore 9-20-0, 119 yards.

Receiving: Zellner 5-40, Boateng 3-27.

Tackles: Van Dy 5, Hill 5, Follett 5, Ezeff 5, Thompson 5.

Not sure if they’ve mentioned the reason on the broadcast, but you may have noticed that Darian Hagan hasn’t played since early in the game. Chris Conte has been taking his reps there.

Total yards: Miami 124, Cal 197

Rushing: Best 10-106, 2 TDs, Cooper 8-27.

Passing: Harris 12-20-1, 93 yards, 1 TD; Longshore 6-15-0, 92 yards.

Receiving: Zellner 4-33, Vereen 2-7.

Tackles: Cook 3, Adkins 3, Follett 5.