GAME NOTES: Off to their best start in 13 years, the California Golden Bears will try to continue their hot start on Saturday night when they host the Princeton Tigers at Haas Pavilion.

The Tigers have made the trek to Berkeley with an underwhelming record of 3-7. After starting 1-5, Princeton has gone 2-2 in its last four games, with its last contest being a 60-46 road loss to the Saint Peter's Peacocks.

Cal on the other hand, has started the season by going 8-1, its best mark since 2001-02. On Wednesday night, the Golden Bears notched their fifth victory in a row when they held off the Wyoming Cowboys, 45-42.

The two programs have met only four times previously, with Cal leading the series 3-1. They last met in November of 2009 when the Golden Bears easily handled Princeton in an 81-60 final.

Princeton was tied with Saint Peter's, 25-25, going into halftime. Yet the Tigers managed to connect on just six of their 24 field goal attempts in the final period, and fell by 14. Hans Brase led Princeton in scoring with 17 points, while Amir Bell was right behind him with 10 points. The Tigers were unable to get to the line very much, finishing the night with only eight free throw attempts, while the Peacocks reached the foul line 28 times. Princeton also allowed Saint Peter's to connect on five of its six attempts from 3-point range in the second half.

Spencer Weisz has been the top scorer for the Tigers this season, as he is averaging 14 ppg. Hans Brase (12.9 ppg) and Steven Cook (10.3 ppg) have been the other players to average double digits in Princeton's first ten games. Brase has also been the team's best rebounder with an average of 8.1 rpg. The Tigers' 3-7 mark could be attributed to their poor defense. Princeton is currently allowing opponents to score an average of 68.7 ppg and connect on 44.8 percent of their field goal attempts, including 44.4 percent from 3-point range.

Against a tough opponent in Wyoming, Cal shot 44.8 percent from the field in the second half, and secured its eighth victory of the season. Tyrone Wallace led the Golden Bears with 17 points, eight rebounds, and five assists, while Christian Behrens tallied 12 points and grabbed eight boards of his own. Both teams played poorly on offense in the first half, as the two sides combined for just 31 points in the opening 20 minutes. Cal managed to pull away in the final frame and held the Cowboys to just a .364 shooting percentage over the last 20 minutes.

Tyrone Wallace has been crucial to Cal's early success, as he leads the Golden Bears in scoring with 19.0 ppg, a mark that currently has him ranked second in the Pac-12 Conference. Wallace is also the team's leading rebounder with 8.8 rpg, the fifth-highest average in the Pac-12. Lastly, his 42 assists are the most on his team, and his average of 4.67 assists per game place him in the top ten in the conference. The Golden Bears also have three other double- digit scorers in Jordan Mathews (13.1 ppg), David Kravish (11.3 ppg), and Jabari Bird (11.7 ppg). Cal has played well this season at both ends of the court, scoring an average 70.4 ppg while allowing just 58.8 ppg.

It's tough to see any way for the Tigers to pull an upset in this contest. The Golden Bears may have scored only 45 in their last game, but that was against a team that plays much better defense than Princeton.