CU-CAL Game Notes

MISCELLANEOUS STATISTICS
Colorado California
Time Spent in the Lead (Tied 0:15) 39:09 0:36
Total Possessions/Scores 72/37 73/33
Percentage 51.4 45.2
First Half (Possessions/Scores) 36/15 37/10
Percentage 41.7 27.0
Second Chance Shooting (Points) 2-4 (5) 6-10 (13)
Free Throws 0-0 1-2
Turnovers 1 2
Bench Points 10 7
Field Goal Shooting 5-11 3-5
Free Throw Shooting 0-0 0-2
Charges Taken 1 1
One-and-Ones (Front End) 3-3 0-1

GAME FLOW NOTES

Colorado jumped out to a 14-5 lead over Cal, and combined with its start against Stanford on Thursday, jumped out to combined 30-10 lead against the Pac-12 Bay Area schools.
Both teams entered a lull after a Cal basket made it 14-7 with 15:36 left in the first half; the game was scoreless for the next 4:36 (15 possessions) when a Justin Cobbs jumper cut the lead to 14-9. But that was Cal's only score in a span of 15 possessions where it shot 1-of-13 with three turnovers).
CU went scoreless for 6:28 (11 possessions) until a Xavier Johnson layup made it 16-9. But in that span, Cal scored on just two possessions and the Buffs used an 18-7 run to double up the Bears, 32-16, late in the half.
Cal forced three CU turnovers on the first three possessions of the second half, turning those into seven points to pull to within 34-25. But the Buffs rebounded to go on a 24-15 run to take their big lead of 58-40.

QUICKLYColorado wore its silver uniforms for the second time this season - the other was in CU's 70-61 win over Colorado State on Dec. 5 ... Colorado built its 34-18 halftime lead with junior Andre Roberson playing only 2:09, leaving the game at that point with two fouls and CU ahead, 5-3 ... Today's crowd of 10,132 was the eighth over 10,000 this year; the Buffs have now drawn 102,897 for 10 home games, or 10,290 per (behind only Arizona in the Pac-12) ... Game time was 1:54 ...

Colorado's 34-18 lead at halftime was its biggest of the year in Pac-12 play (fourth largest overall), topping the 15 (44-29) versus Stanford last Thursday ...

Colorado shot a season best 81.8 percent (18-of-22) from the free throw line (previous best was 12-of-15, 80.0 at Wyoming); the Buffs made their last 13 free throws of the game, including all 8 in the final two minutes ... The Buffs survived 20 turnovers (which led to 22 Cal points), its second-most this year (21 vs. Hartford) ... Four CU starters scored in double figures, the eighth time this year that has occurred (and all five did so against Stanford).

FIRST HALF DEFENSE CU limited Cal to 20.6 percent shooting in the first half (7-of-34); that was a CU opponent low for either half this season (old low was 21.4 by Texas Southern in the second half on Nov. 27, 6-of-28). It was also the fewest points scored in the first half by Cal this year (18; previous low was 20 against Washington) and the second fewest allowed by CU (led at Fresno State, 27-17).

Stanford and Cal combined to shoot 19-of-69 in the two first halves (27.5) in scoring just 47 points. Stanford scored on just 12 of 34 first half possessions, Cal on only 10 of 37.
Colorado entered the game third in the Pac-12 and 45th in the NCAA in field goal percentage defense (39.2); with Cal shooting 20.6 in the first half; CU has now held the opponent to under 30 percent shooting in a half eight times (six in the first) and to under 40 percent in a half 24 (13 in the first). Cal rallied to shoot 41.7 for the game.

SERIES With today's win, Colorado now leads the series with Cal by an 11-10 count (CU has won three straight and six of the last seven dating back to 2003, and leads 8-1 in Boulder). CU's 81 points are the fourth most in the series by either team.
Tad Boyle-coached teams are now 4-1 against the Bears. He is now 62-32 in two-plus seasons at Colorado (and 41-5 in Boulder).

BEST RECORD AFTER 20 GAMES Colorado at 14-6 is off to its eighth best start (tied) after 20 games in its history:

17-3 --1939-40, 1968-69
16-4 --1996-97
15-5 --1937-38, 1954-55, 1961-62, 2005-06
14-6 --1962-63, 1979-80, 2010-11, 2011-12, 2012-13
13-7 --on 12 occasions (last: 2003-04)

INDIVIDUAL LINER NOTES
ASKIA BOOKER (20 PTS, 4 REB, 3 AST) He has the second 20-point game of his career (he had 23 versus Murray State earlier this year), and he matched his career best with four 3-pointers (which he had against Utah last year). He led the Buffs in scoring for the seventh time this season (sixth time outright). With 13 first half points, it was his most in the first half since 14 against Murray State and his highest of the year.

XAVIER JOHNSON (18 PTS, 12 REB) The true freshman from Los Angeles (Mater Dei) had his first career double-double, doing so on 7-of-10 FG shooting and 4-4 FT from the line. Both were career highs (previous: 17 point vs. Northern Arizona and eight rebounds in the opener against Wofford).

ANDRE ROBERSON (15 PTS, 5 REB, 1 BLK) Roberson played a season low 22 minutes (all 20 in the second half) after earning two quick fouls in the first half. His 15 points were the most he had 17 at Fresno State and tied for his fifth most this year. His five rebounds were thus a season low, and he is now averaged 11.6 per game (232 in 20 games).

SPENCER DINWIDDIE (16 PTS, 4 AST) It was the 20th time in his career he has scored 15 or more points, and he has now made 25 of his last 28 free throw attempts (9-of-10 today).

LIGHTS OUT Colorado shot 71.4 percent in the second half (15-of-21) and 59.6 for the game. It was the second time CU this year the Buffs shot over 50 percent in two consecutive games, with the 59.6 figure the second best game of the year (CU shot 66.7 against Northern Arizona). The Buffs started out 5-of-13 in the game, meaning it closed making 23-of-32 shots, or 71.9 percent.

UPDATED PAC-12 STANDINGS
Conference Overall
Seed W L Pct. W L Pct.
1 OREGON 7 0 1.000 18 2 .900
2 UCLA 6 2 .750 16 5 .762
3 ARIZONA 5 2 .714 17 2 .895
4 ARIZONA STATE 5 2 .714 16 4 .800
5 WASHINGTON 4 3 .571 12 8 .600
6 COLORADO 4 4 .500 14 6 .700
7 CALIFORNIA 3 4 .429 11 8 .579
8 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 3 5 .375 8 13 .381
9 STANFORD 2 4 .333 11 8 .579
10 WASHINGTON STATE 2 5 .286 11 9 .550
11 OREGON STATE 1 6 .143 11 9 .550
12 UTAH 1 6 .143 9 10 .474

Today's Games Wednesday's Games
COLORADO 81, California 71 Southern California at UCLA, 8 p.m. (P12N)
Stanford at Utah, 7 p.m. (P12N) Oregon at Stanford, 9 p.m. (ESPNU)

Thursday's Games
Arizona at Washington, 7 p.m. (ESPN) Oregon State at California, 8 p.m. (ESPNU)
Arizona State at Washington State, 9 p.m. (P12N)

Next CU Game: Saturday, Feb. 2 at Utah, 12:30 p.m. (FSN)

-COLORADO-