On Saturday at 2:00 PM PST on Pac-12 Networks, Cal men’s basketball will face the Washington Huskies in the second game of their road trip to the Pacific Northwest. Cal comes in at 5-12 overall and 0-5 in Pac-12 play while Washington comes in at 13-4 overall and 4-0 in Pac-12 play.

Last time out: On Thursday, Cal suffered a serious setback against the Washington State Cougars, losing 82-59. Robert Franks led the way for Washington State with 24 points and 8 rebounds while Matt Bradley was the top performer for Cal with 14 points and 4 rebounds.

RECAP: Cal gets creamed by Cougars in Robert Franks’ return

On Washington: The Huskies are led by sophomore shooting guard Jaylen Nowell, who is averaging 17.0 points and 5.2 rebounds per game on 51.6% shooting from the field, 40.0% shooting from 3-point range, and 71.9% shooting from the foul line. Along with Nowell, senior forward Noah Dickerson (13.3 points & 6.4 rebounds) and senior guard David Crisp (11.2 points) lead this Huskies team, playing a crucial role in their 4-0 start to Pac-12 play.

As a team, the Huskies are averaging 72.7 points per game on 46.0% shooting from the field, 33.9% shooting from 3-point range, and 71.5% shooting from the foul line. Defensively, they’re giving up 65.8 points per game on 40.0% shooting from the field and 33.0% shooting from 3-point range while also averaging a -0.3 rebounding differential.

The Huskies are the only Pac-12 team undefeated in conference play and are currently riding a 6 game winning streak, making them the hottest team in the league. On top of that, they’re 9-0 at home, doing a really good job of defending their court.

Keys to the game: The first thing Cal needs to do in order to win this game is adapt to whatever changes Washington throws at them. Too often, Cal has looked like they might make a game competitive only to then give up a big run, putting themselves in a really difficult hole to climb out of. A lot of these lapses happen on the defensive end, but as we saw on Thursday against Washington State, sometimes their offense starts to become too predictable. If Cal is able to diversify their game plan more and not allow Washington to easily figure them out, they’ll put themselves in a much better position than they did on Thursday.

Another key to this game for Cal is to get to the foul line more. They only attempted one free throw in the first half on Thursday while Washington State shot 11-13. Foul shooting is the biggest strength of this Cal team (75.5%) and they have to take advantage by attacking the rim and drawing fouls. If Cal is able to get to the line and shoot their regular percentages, they’ll slow the game down and pick up some free points. Justice Sueing (86.2%) and Darius McNeill (81.8%) in particular should be attacking the rim as much as possible given their strong foul shooting percentages.

A final key for Cal is to play some defense. Opponents are having way too easy of a time scoring on the Golden Bears, averaging 80.2 points per game on 50.1% shooting from the field and 38.7% shooting from 3-point range. If teams are going to attack the rim and look for easy baskets inside, Cal has to play more physical, even if it means fouling somebody and making them earn their points at the line.