Huskies Use Big Run, Great Rebounding to Knock off Cal

Waiter, one order of crow please.

The Washington Huskies (10-5, 2-0) used a 16-2 run to close out the first half, and 20 offensive rebounds to knock off the California Golden Bears (9-6, 1-2) Wednesday night 62-47 at Haas Pavilion. C.J. Wilcox lead the Huskies with 19 points and eight rebounds, while Aziz N’Diaye had a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds.

“Right when conference started. We know we have to make a really good run in our conference to get to where we want to go.” – C.J. Wilcox

The first half started out going back and forth with four lead changes and seven times the game being tied the first 13 minutes. Then with the game tied at 18 and with 7:07 to go in the first half the Huskies started a 16-0 run that lasted about four and a half minutes and giving the Huskies a 34-18 lead. At the half the Huskies lead 34-20, amazingly shooting 0-8 on three pointers.

I was thrilled going into halftime, but this is college basketball and everyone makes a run. I was wrong as well as when predicted the Huskies would lose at least 2 of 3 on this road trip. The second half the Huskies continued to dominate the boards and buckle down defensively, holding Cal to 27 second half points, going on to win 62-47. The Huskies out rebounded Cal 48-33, with 20 of those coming on the offensive side.

With the win the Huskies move to 2-0 in conference play this season with a game at Stanford Saturday. Now I’ve been harsh of this Husky team this season at times on and off the internet. I’m still skeptical of this team, but with good reason. Cal is not what they once were, and with Arizona, UCLA, and as much as I hate to admit the Oregon Ducks (shut up Matt Mikolas) looking like contenders, the Huskies still have a lot of room for improvement. Three point shooting was God awful (2-11 vs. Cal), turnovers have gotten a little better (only 6 vs. Cal),  but still a lot of sloppy play and stupid fouls will cost this team down the line.

But another solid road win for Washington, lets see if we can keep that momentum going Saturday.