Darius McNeil scored 19 points to help Cal snap a 16 game losing streak with a 76-73 win over Washington. David Crisp’s 3-point attempt to tie the game at the buzzer bounced off the iron giving the Golden Bears their first Pac-12 win since February 3rd, 2018.
One team came in 22-5 and the other 5-22 in a game that on paper looked like a huge mismatch. Washington coach Mike Hopkins had been preaching to his team, “Don’t eat the cheese,” as Washington reentered the top 25 this week but the Huskies won’t remain in it much longer.
Washington had several chances to win or tie late. They forced a shot-clock violation with 44:5 to go but on their offensive possession Jaylen Nowell passed up an open shot from the corner and on his drive threw up a contested reverse at the rim that didn’t really have a chance.
The Golden Bears then made two free throws to push their lead to three. Washington had a chance to tie but Dominic Green missed badly from beyond the arc.
The Huskies would get another chance to tie when Darius McNeil missed the front-end of a one and one, but Nowell’s potential tying three hit the front of the rim. In the scramble for the rebound the ball was initially ruled off Green giving possession to Cal but after the referees looked at the replay they reversed the call giving Washington one last chance with 1.6 seconds to go.
Crisp caught the inbounds with his back to the hoop and still managed to get off a decent look but on a night where everything else went in for him (13 of 21, career-high 32 points), his final attempt bounced harmlessly off the iron.
Washington trailed the majority of the game as the Golden Bears had no issues with Washington’s 2-3 zone. Cal led 45-44 at half, the 45 points were the most the Huskies had allowed since their 66-88 loss to Auburn. Washington could have been down by four but got a buzzer beater from Crisp who scored almost half (21) of Washington’s first-half points.
Cal was up 71-66 late in the second-half but then Nowell hit a 3-pointer before tying the game with a layup at 71 with 3:39 to go. Washington would score just once more on a Crisp layup as Cal got the stops that seemed to elude Washington.
Keys to the Game
California couldn’t seem to miss
I will give the Bears some credit for making shots but they had far too many open looks on the night. Cal punished Washington inside with 34 points in the paint and then shot out of their minds going 56% from the field and 53% from beyond the arc. Washington conceded a career night to 7’3″ Freshman Connor Vanover, he came in averaging just 6.2 ppg and 2.6 rpg but torched the Huskies for 18 points and 7 rebounds. Cal’s leading scorer Justin Sueing terrorized the Huskies in the high-post shooting 6 of 7 from the field. He had 14 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assist, 2 blocks and 3 steals.
Cal Outhustled Washington
The Bears 11 turnovers were the fewest of any Pac-12 opponent against Washington and 6 of those came in the final 7 minutes. The Huskies had just 5 steals including just 1 from Mattise Thybulle as the Bears finished with more steals (8) than Washington. Washington looked sluggish, slow and got out hustled. Cal came into the game the worst rebounding team in the conference and outrebounded the Huskies by 3.
Washington’s Offense Wasn’t Good Enough
In a tight-game, two points over the last four minutes isn’t going to cut it. Washington had four chances to tie or take the lead at the end and missed every time. They were just 1 for 9 beyond the arc in the second half. Cal came into the game last in the NCAA (351 schools) in defensive field goal percentage but Washington lowered their percentage by shooting just 49 percent. The Huskies will also lament the fact they missed five layups and five of their 13 free throws.
Outlook: Due to Oregon State and Arizona State both losing on Thursday night Washington actually clinched sole possession of the Pac-12 title despite the loss. That isn’t much solace as the loss will definitely hurt Washington’s NET and RPI rankings as Cal is a low quadrant 4 team. Barring a complete collapse the Huskies will make the NCAA tournament but the issue is result like this will allow the committee to give the Huskies a crappy seed making a deep tournament run all the more challenging.
Washington has to face a Stanford team on Sunday that almost doubled up Washington State with a 98-50 win on Thursday night. The intriguing news there is that former Husky commit Daejon Davis hurt his ankle in that game and didn’t return, it’ll be interesting to follow his status leading up to Sunday. On to the player grades…
Wright – 4 – It was nice to see Wright back in the lineup considering after missing the Colorado game due to a family emergency. He was rusty turning the ball over 3 times in 9 minutes.
Dickerson – 6 – The Huskies will watch the film and regret not feeding Dickerson more. He was 4 of 7 from the field but could have gotten more had Washington not been so content to shoot 3-pointers. Dickerson finished with 8 points, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks and a steal.
Thybulle – 5 – Thybulle was just 1 of 5 from the field and didn’t make his usual impact defensively with just 2 blocks and a steal but he had a season-high 7 assist and played 38 minutes.
Nowell – 6.5 – The unfortunate thing is that when Cal tried to pull away late, Nowell did everything to keep Washington in the game. On paper his 22 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assist and 2 steals were electric and he made 4 of 6 from beyond the arc. He will lament the missed opportunities at the end of the game and the 6 turnovers in a game that could have stamped his Pac-12 Player of the Year Award.
Crisp – 8 – The 32-points were a career-high for Crisp. He also had 3 assist, a steal and didn’t turn the ball over. The only red mark would be that he went 0-4 from beyond the arc in the second-half.
Bey – NR – Bey played just two minutes in a cameo role.
Carter, D. Green & S. Timmins – 3 – The Huskies three core bench players would be the first to tell you that they were not good at all. The trio played a combined 50 minutes and scored just 7 points on 2 of 8 shooting. Despite all their length and athleticism they grabbed just 1 rebound between them and had the three lowest plus/minuses of the whole team.
