BearTalk

TIPOFF: Cal (20-7, 11-4 Pac-12) vs. Utah (13-2, 6-8) at Haas Pavilion, Thursday, 7 p.m.

GAME THEME: Cal returns home to close out the regular season with three straight at Haas Pavilion, where they are 11-2 this season. Colorado visits on Saturday. The Bears have a two-game lead over third-place Arizona State (18-8, 9-6) and can clinch that spot and the No. 2 seeding for the Pac-12 tournament with two wins this week. They end the season on Sunday, March 4 against Stanford.

NOTES: The Bears have their fifth 20-win season in the past six years, giving them 10 in the history of the program . . . Freshmen Reshanda Gray and Brittany Boyd continue to excel. Gray, a 6-foot-3 forward, is the third-leading scorer (10.7 ppg) among freshmen in the conference. Boyd, a point guard from Berkeley High, averages 10.0 points and 4.9 assists, the latter ranking her No. 2 in the Pac-12 . . . Cal’s RPI rating improved to No. 27 this week . . . Cal is outrebounding opponents at Haas by an 18.4 per-game margin.

NEXT TIME: Colorado at Cal, Saturday, Feb. 25, 2 p.m.

TIPOFF: Cal (19-7, 10-4 Pac-12) vs. Oregon State (17-8, 8-6) at Gill Coliseum, Corvallis, Ore., Saturday, 2 p.m.

GAME THEME: The Bears can further solidify their hold on second place by knocking off the Beavers, whom they have beaten 11 straight times, including 73-56 in Berkeley back on Jan. 5. Cal dominated that game, up by 15 at halftime. OSU had won six in a row before losing 78-45 to. No. 3 Stanford on Thursday. Certainly, it cannot hurt the Bears that their Saturday opponent is always coming off a thrashing at the hands of one of the nation’s top teams. But first-year coach Lindsay Gottlieb’s squad has played solid, consistent ball all season.

NOTES: The Bears have won 10 of their past 12 games, triggered by their win over OSU at Berkeley . . . The Beavers have climbed to the middle of the conference standings this season after finishing last a year ago . . . Cal needs one victory to reach 20 wins for the fifth time in six seasons. The Bears already have exceeded their win total of 2010-11, when they were 18-16 . . . Cal and OSU are the Pac-12′s two worst free-throw shooting teams.

NEXT TIME: Utah at Cal, Thursday, Feb. 23, 7 p.m.

TIPOFF: Cal (18-7, 9-4 Pac-12) vs. Oregon (14-11, 6-7) at Matthew Knight Arena, Eugene, Ore., Thursday, 7 p.m.

GAME THEME: The second-place Bears try to duplicate their success they enjoyed against the Oregon schools in Berkeley last month. Cal beat Oregon 90-67 and Oregon State 73-56. The Bears have beaten the seventh-place Ducks 11 of their past 12 meetings. Cal holds a one-game lead over third-place OSU, which must face third-ranked Stanford on Thursday night.

NOTES: Cal’s post players dominated the Oregon schools last month, with Gennifer Brandon totaling 28 points and 27 rebounds, Talia Caldwell 26 points and 22 rebounds, and freshman Reshanda Gray 26 points and 12 rebounds in the two wins . . . Oregon is the league’s No. 2 scoring team at 74.6 ppg, but ranked last in defense, allowing 75.6 ppg . . . Cal is second nationally in rebounding margin (plus-14.6) while the Ducks are last in the Pac-12 (minus-2.6) . . . The Bears dropped from No. 30 to No. 41, according to the NCAA’s official RPI computer ratings, after losing at home to USC last Saturday.

NEXT TIME: Cal at Oregon State, Saturday, Feb. 18, 2 p.m.

TIPOFF: 1 p.m. Saturday at the L.A. Sports Arena. TV: CSNBA. Radio: 910-AM.

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* A five-way tie for the Pac-12 lead by Sunday is no long-shot

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A lot at stake at the L.A. Sports Arena, UCLA’s temporary home floor.

   — Cal can complete its first regular-season sweep of the L.A. schools since 1958-59.

   — Mike Montgomery can become the first Cal coach ever to post at least 20 victories in three of his first four seasons.

Of course, the Bears want to hold onto a share of first place. The Bruins, winners of four of their past five games, are hoping to continue their ascension after beating Stanford 72-61 on Thursday.

Bruins coach Ben Howland continues to be impressed by the Cal team that beat his Bruins 85-69 on New Year’s Eve.

“They’re really good,” Howland said Friday. ”Cal is definitely a team that could go into the NCAA tournament and make a nice run.” 

The Bruins are on the outside looking into that picture at this point, and need nothing less than a run through the Pac-12 tournament in order to get an NCAA invite.

Here’s a breakdown of the remaining schedule of the six teams at the top of the Pac-12 standings:

   — Cal (9-3): at UCLA, Oregon, OSU, at Utah, at Colorado at Stanford.

   — Washington (9-3): at OSU, ASU, Arizona, at WSU, at USC, at UCLA.

   — Arizona (8-4): Utah, at WSU, at Washington, USC, UCLA, at ASU.

   — Oregon (8-4): WSU, at Cal, at Stanford, at OSU, Colorado, Utah.

   — Colorado (8-4): at ASU, at Utah, Stanford, Cal, at Oregon, at OSU.

   — UCLA (7-5): Cal, USC, at St. John’s (non-conference), at ASU, at Arizona,. WSU, UW. 

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TIPOFF: Cal (15-6, 6-3 Pac-12) at Arizona (13-8, 2-7) , Thursday, 6 p.m.  TV: None.

GAME THEME: The Golden Bears try to stay in a tie for second place with Arizona State, whom they visit on Saturday. Cal is coming off a 74-71 overtime loss at Stanford, its first loss after six straight wins. The last-place Wildcats have dropped four in a row, six of seven.

NOTES: Cal has four losses this season to top-25 teams by a combined nine points . . . Freshman PG Brittany Boyd, coming off 19 points vs. Stanford, has 28 points, 16 rebounds, 11 assists and seven steals past two games . . . Layshia Clarendon has averaged 15.2 ppg over her past four road games . . . Despite being outrebounded 51-47 at Stanford, Cal stil No. 2 nationally in rebound margin at plus-15.1 . . . Arizona is first in Pac-12 in 3-point accuracy at .351, Cal 11th at .283 . . . Bears also last in conference in FT pct at .613.

NEXT TIME: Cal at Arizona State, Saturday, Feb. 4, 1 p.m.

Freshman Brittany Boyd scored 19 points, but Cal’s women fell 74-71 in overtime at No. 4 Stanford on Saturday. The Bears scored the final nine points of regulation to force overtime, then missed eight of their nine shots in the extra period.

Layshia Clarendon scored 17 points and became the 22nd Cal women’s player to top 1,000 for her career. The Bears (15-6, 6-3) had their six-game win streak snapped.

Sophomore Chiney Ogwumike had career-high totals of 27 points and 18 rebounds for the Cardinal (18-1, 9-0), which won its 66th straight game against Pac-12 competition and its 74th straight game at Maples Pavilion.

Elsewhere . . .

   – RUGBY: Cal routed Stanford 109-0, improving to 6-0 on the season. The Bears have outscored their opponents 461-13. And they wanted to demote these guys to a club team?

   – SENIOR BOWL: Former Cal wideout Marvin Jones caught just one pass in the Senior Bowl at Mobile, Ala., but he made it count for an eight-yard touchdown. Jones and the North squad posted a 23-13 victory.

FINAL SCORE: Texas 21, Cal 10. The Bears finish 7-6 after a 4-4 start. Texas, which had dropped three of its previous four games, winds up 8-5. There were lots of telling statistics in the game, but none moreso than the 5-0 turnover margin. Cal had coughed up just two turnovers in its previous four games.

The Bears finished with 195 total yards, their season low. The running game, which opened things up nicely for Maynard in recent weeks, netted seven yards (thanks partly to six sacks). Sofele, who averaged 143 yards the previous four games, had 20 carries for 52 yards.

Wideouts Allen (9 catches for 82 yards) and Jones (8-88) accounted for 170 of the Bears’ 195 yards. Jones finished his career with a catch in 38 consecutive games. Maynard was 19 for 33 for 188 yards, with three turnovers (2 fumbles, 1 INT). But he was harassed all night.

14:57 4th Q: Cody Johnson, a 5-foot-11, 252-pound running back, powered in from the 4 on the first play of the quarter and Texas leads 21-10. Four turnovers may be too much to overcome.

END OF THIRD QTR: The Bears just squandered a great chance. They forced a Texas punt from the end zone and took possession at the 27 after a 16-yard return by Marvin Jones. But Anthony Miller was flagged for a personal foul on a second-down play, pushing the ball back to the 44, and Maynard fumbled after being sacked. Goodwin raced 37 yards to the 7 and Cody Johnson powered to the 4 before the quarter ended. Texas leads 14-10.

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Here’s my story from this morning’s edition on how Cal junior running back Isi Sofele feels a responsibility to help carry the Bears against a stout Texas defense.

From the San Diego Union-Tribune, here are Five Things to Watch in the Holiday Bowl.

Elsewhere . . .

– The Pac-12 and Big Ten are moving to strengthen their historic alliance, including plans for annual preseason matchups of every team from both conferences in games that would be played at the Rose Bowl, or perhaps Soldier Field, Wrigley Field or even Yankee Stadium. Here is the Pac-12′s news release.

– And here’s a real surprise: Oregon unveils new Nike uniforms for its Rose Bowl matchup vs. Wisconsin. It’s called the Nike Pro Combat system of dress technology. Are they cool or have you had enough of the Ducks’ marketing excess?

FINAL SCORE: San Diego State 64, Cal 63. Tapley made two FTs with 8.6 seconds left and finished with 25 points. Crabbe hit a 3-pointer with 2.1 seconds left to finish at 23. Cobbs had 17 points and five assists. Crabbe also had nine rebounds. A tough game for Gutierrez, who scored six points — his first non-double-figure game of the season — on 3 for 12. Kamp had six points and seven rebounds. Kravish eight points and six rebounds. Cal is 6-2 heading home to play San Jose State on Wednesday. SDSU is 8-2 and 3-0 vs. the Pac-12, with wins over Arizona, USC and Cal.

0:09.2 2nd H: Cobbs scores quickly on drive to the basket. Cal calls timeout, down 62-60. Bears’ original starting lineup — with four guards — will be on the floor.

0:15.5 2nd H: Cal got within 60-58 when Kamp tipped in miss by Gutierrez. Bears played good defense, then allowed Aztecs to corral long offensive rebound. Franklin made two FTs and the lead is 62-58.

1:06 2nd H: Kravish fouls out. SDSU leads 58-56. Franklin shooting two: a make and a make. It’s 60-56 SDSU. Cal calls timeout. Crabbe has 18 points, Cobbs has 15. Tapley has 23 for the Aztecs. And joint is jumping. Student section going NUTS.

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If the No. 20 Golden Bears (3-0) get past Georgia (3-0) they will have their hands full Tuesday night in the championship game of the CBE Classic at Kansas City.

No. 21 Missouri (4-0) enjoyed home cooking at the Sprint Center to rout Notre Dame (4-1) by an 87-58 margin. And the game was no closer than the final score.

Mizzou, athletic and super quick, shot 65.5 percent in the first half to lead 52-37 and finished the game at 58.2 percent. Guard Marcus Denmon led four players in double digits with 26 points. Tim Abromaitis topped the Irish with 22.