On Saturday, Cal men’s basketball fell to Washington by a final score of 71-52. It is Washington’s 1,000th win at Alaska Airlines Arena (formerly Hec Edmundson Pavilion). Dominic Green led the way for Washington with 17 points on 4-10 shooting from 3-point range while Paris Austin led the way for Cal with 12 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 steals. Washington improves to 14-4 overall and 5-0 in the Pac-12 while Cal falls to 5-13 overall and 0-6 in the Pac-12.

Feeling that his team needed a boost, especially on defense, Wyking Jones rolled with a starting lineup consisting of Paris Austin, Darius McNeill, Matt Bradley, Justice Sueing, and Roman Davis. While his lineup change against Washington State wasn’t effective, this lineup change did prove to be effective, getting Cal up 15-5 with 11:56 to go in the 1st half. Andre Kelly (6 points) and Paris Austin (5 points) got into a nice groove early and Cal was looking much better on defense due to having more quickness on the floor. They were forcing turnovers, defending the paint, and getting out in transition, which led to easy baskets.

After the strong start, Cal’s offense started to go quiet. They had an almost 3 minute period where they didn’t score, getting Washington back in the game. Up 17-12 with 8:05 to go in the 1st half, Wyking Jones called for time after Grant Anticevich wasn’t able to finish an easy look inside courtesy of a pretty pass from Paris Austin.

After calling that time out, Cal went on a 6-0 run after a dunk from Roman Davis, a jumper from Darius McNeill, and a pretty finish inside, also from McNeill. Up 23-12, Cal once again had some control, but Washington would respond with 7-0 run, trailing 23-19 with 4:00 to go in the half. With 1:52 to go in the half, Dominic Green would get a 3-pointer to fall, giving Washington their first lead of the game. Darius McNeill responded for Cal with a pretty 3-pointer of his own and then Jaylen Nowell would strike back for Washington with a layup in transition, giving the Huskies a 29-28 halftime lead.

To open up the 2nd half, Washington would go on a 10-5 run, going up 39-33 with 15:38 to go. Jaylen Nowell (11 points) started to heat up for the Huskies while Cal continued to stick with their smaller, quick lineup. Justice Sueing (4 points) was really struggling for Cal, not being able to take advantage of the solid defense his team had been playing in the 1st half. Washington would then go on an 8-2 run to go up 47-35 after David Crisp got his third 3-pointer to fall.

Cal would keep things hovering around the same score for the next little while, trailing 47-37 with 11:41 to go and 55-43 with 7:50 to go. They were doing a good job of not letting Washington build up their lead, but they weren’t chipping away at it either. With 4:00 to go, Washington finally started to gain more separation, leading 65-50 with 4:00 to go.

A couple of missed free throws from Justice Sueing and a missed bucket inside from Roman Davis was emblematic of Cal’s offensive struggles. While Washington’s zone defense deserves a lot of credit for Cal’s struggles, Cal still had some open looks that they normally would make. Their inability to make free throws was also uncharacteristic as they came into the game as the top foul shooting team in the Pac-12.

In the end, Washington would walk away with a 71-52 win. While Dominic Green (17 points) led the way for Washington, Matisse Thybulle (13 points), Noah Dickerson (12 points), David Crisp (12 points), and Jaylen Nowell (11 points) stepped up as well, giving their team a really good scoring balance. As for Cal, outside of Paris Austin and Andre Kelly, no one else scored in double figures. Cal shot 18-59 (30.5%) from the field, 1-15 (6.7%) from 3-point range, and 15-23 (65.2%) from the foul line, not shooting nearly as well as they’re used to shooting.

While the end result wasn’t what Cal wanted, they deserve credit for taking the lead for most of the 1st half and playing a much better game than they did on Thursday. They played with a lot more energy and looked quicker on the floor, largely due to the lineup change that Wyking Jones went with. Given how well the small ball lineup went, I would expect us to see a lot more of that going forward.

Up next for Cal is a home game on Thursday against Colorado. That game will tipoff at 8:00 PM PST on Pac-12 Networks.