UCLA ventures north to cannibalize fellow bear

UCLA Hits the Road to Face California
from The Official UCLA Men's Basketball website
Jan. 4, 2010

The Bruins lead the series 131-94 and have won the last five contests in Berkeley, Calif.


GAMEDAY CENTRAL
DATE: Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2010
SITE: Haas Pavilion (11,877)
TIP-OFF: 7:36 p.m. (PT)
TELEVISION: FSN/FSW
TALENT: Barry Tompkins (play-by-play) and Marques Johnson (analyst)
RADIO: AM 570 KLAC
SIRIUS SATELLITE RADIO: Channel 122
SIRIUS XM SATELLITE RADIO: Channel 193
TALENT: Chris Roberts (play-by-play) and Tracy Murray (analyst)


BRUIN INJURY REPORT
UCLA senior forward James Keefe suffered a dislocated left shoulder midway through the first half of the Bruins' 100-68 home win over New Mexico State on Dec. 15. He was forced to miss practice and the three subsequent games due to the injury. He returned to practice for the first time on Dec. 29 and played in both Pac-10 games last week against Arizona State (Dec. 31, 2009) and Arizona (Jan. 2, 2010).

SERIES VERSUS CALIFORNIA
This is the 226th meeting between UCLA and California with the Bruins leading the series 131-94 (.582). The Bruins won last year at Cal 72-68 on Feb. 28, 2009 to stretch their winning streak to five straight games in Berkeley. UCLA trailed 51-46 with 10:49 left in last year's contest, but the Bruins went on a 16-2 run to claim a 62-53 lead with 6:10 to go and never looked back. Darren Collison scored seven of those points during the run while Nikola Dragovic scored six points on two three-point field goals. Collison ended the game leading all scorers with 22 points while Josh Shipp, Alfred Aboya and Dragovic each scored 12 for the Bruins. Jerome Randle led Cal with 20 points while Patrick Christopher and Theo Robertson scored 16 and 14 points, respectively. Head Coach Ben Howland is 14-4 all-time against California.

BEST OF THE DECADE
UCLA shot a blistering 83.3 percent (15-for-18) in the first half of the Arizona State game to take a 42-31 lead into the locker room at the break. That percentage was the best of any half by a UCLA team this decade. The old mark was established on Nov. 21, 2001 when the Bruins shot 78.6 percent (22-for-28) from the field in the first half of the Maui Invitational championship game against South Carolina.