Story Created:
Mar 9, 2010 at 12:58 PM PST
Story Updated:
Mar 9, 2010 at 3:01 PM PST
California not only goes into the Pac-10 men’s basketball tournament that opens Wednesday at Staples Center seeded No. 1 for the first time in program history, but riding its first four-game winning streak of the season.
Led by senior guard Jerome Randle, the Pac-10 player of the year, and fellow senior guard Patrick Christopher, also a first-team all-conference choice, the Golden Bears take a 21-9 mark into Thursday’s 2:30 p.m. game against the winner of Wednesday’s 8 p.m. first-round game between Oregon and Washington State. Cal has won seven of its last eight.
Randle averages 18.7 points and 4.5 assists per game and Christopher, the former Dominguez High School star, is averaging 16.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per outing. Christopher recorded his 31st career 20-point game against Stanford.
The 5-foot-10 Randle and Christopher are beginning to garner honors beyond what the conference has bestowed on them. Randle has been named a fourth-team All-American by The Sporting News and, along with Christopher, is on the All-District IX team by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association. Randle is the District IX player of the year.
Christopher is sixth on Cal’s career scoring list with 1,633 points. He does more than score, as his team-high 51 steals attest.
Another key contributor for the Golden Bears is 6-8 senior forward Jamal Boykin, the former Fairfax standout and Duke transfer. He is averaging 11.7 points and 6.7 rebounds per game.
UCLA (13-17) opens the tournament at noon Thursday against Arizona (16-14). The quarterfinal evening schedule Thursday has Washington (21-9) vs. Oregon State (14-16) at 6 p.m. and Arizona State (22-9) vs. Stanford (13-17) at 8:30.
Friday’s semifinals are at 6 and 8 p.m. and Saturday’s championship game at 3 p.m.
WOMEN’S TOURNAMENT
The Pac-10 women’s basketball tournament runs Thursday through Sunday at Galen Center.
Thursday’s schedule has Arizona (13-16) vs. Washington State (8-21) at 6 p.m. and Washington (12-16) vs. Oregon State (10-19) at 8:15.
Friday’s quarterfinals have California (17-12) vs. Arizona State (17-12) at 11 a.m., top-seeded Stanford (28-1) vs. the Arizona-Washington State winner at 1:15 p.m., USC (18-11) vs. Oregon (16-14) at 5 p.m. and UCLA (22-7) vs. the Washington-Oregon State winner at 7:15.
Saturday’s semifinals tip off at 2:30 and 5 p.m. and Sunday’s championship game is at 3 p.m.
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