On Saturday at 7:00 PM PST on ESPNU and KGO 810 AM, Cal men’s basketball will look to bounce back against Washington on the road in Seattle after losing to Washington State by a final score of 82-51. Cal comes in at 8-16 overall and 3-14 in the Pac-12 while Washington comes in at 4-17 overall and 3-13 in the Pac-12.
Previous meeting with Washington: Cal’s first league win of the season came against Washington at home by a final score of 84-78. Matt Bradley did not play in that game as Andre Kelly (22 points & 3 rebounds) and Ryan Betley (18 points) led the way.
RECAP: Cal MBB picks up first league win over Washington
On Washington: While Cal has had a really rough year, Washington’s season has arguably been worse. Even though Cal is ranked 12th in the Pac-12 at the moment. Not a lot has gone right for Mike Hopkins and his Huskies team, though they have shown flashes of an ability to play much better than they have with a home sweep over Colorado and Utah and also a road win at Washington State.
The Huskies are led by senior guard Quade Green, who is back from an illness that kept him out Monday night at Washington State. Green is averaging 14.8 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game. He’s really the engine that makes the Huskies go, which makes their win on Monday all the more baffling. Sophomore guard Marcus Tsohonis is the number two option on this team, averaging 10.5 points per game.
As a team, the Huskies average 66.3 points per game on 41.7% shooting from the field, 33.2% shooting from 3-point range, and 72.3% shooting from the foul line. They average a -8.9 rebound margin, 10.3 assists, 6.4 steals, 3.8 blocks, and 13.5 turnovers per game. Their opponents average 76.7 points per game on 45.7% shooting from the field, 34.5% shooting from 3-point range, and 70.8% shooting from the foul line.
Keys to the game: If Cal wants to win this game, the first thing they have to do is contain Quade Green. If he gets rolling and has a big night, Washington will be in prime position to pick up the win. Stopping him has to be priority number one.
Secondly, Cal needs to get more out of Matt Bradley than they did on Thursday night. He had a solid night with 16 points, but it was a rather quiet 16 points and he never got into a groove. If Cal is going to win any more games this season, especially on the road, they’re going to need Bradley to put up 20+ points and really go off.
Finally, Cal has to defend the 3-point line better. Washington State lit up Cal like a Christmas tree from beyond the arc with 12-23 (52.2%) shooting. If the Huskies go wild from deep like the Cougars did, we could be looking at another road beatdown for the Bears.
Prediction: This Cal team has been somewhat schizophrenic in their play this season. The Colorado game at home, they looked good. The Washington State game on the road, they played awful. Such inconsistencies make it hard to predict what will come next in terms of predicting a final score.
However, we did see Cal play much better at Utah after getting clobbered at Colorado and actually go on to win that game. Just because they play bad one night, doesn’t mean they’ll stay bad the next night and vice versa.
Given that this Cal team has been so inconsistent and gone on to play their best basketball right after playing their worst basketball, I’m going to surprise everyone and pick Cal to win at Washington by a final score of 70-69. I just don’t see Mark Fox allowing his guys to put up second consecutive stinker. He’s not pleased with what happened on Thursday and I’m confident he’ll have his guys much more dialed in and focused.
