Washington Basketball: Huskies Host the California Golden Bears

The Washington basketball team is home to host the California Golden Bears. The Huskies men’s team is undefeated and in first place in the Pac-12 conference with a record of 4-0, while the Golden Bears are in last place with a record of 0-5.

It important that the Huskies don’t take the Golden Bears lightly; if there is a chance of an upset for the first loss in conference play and at home, this would be it.  The Huskies continue to win despite second-leading scorer and top leading rebounder senior forward Noah Dickerson has been getting into foul trouble. Against the Stanford Cardinal, he played only 11 minutes, scoring just three points. For the Huskies to continue winning, they need him back playing a lot of minutes.  The Huskies have little firepower offensively in the post outside of Dickerson. Also, the defense inside is better with him in the game too.

The Washington Huskies defense continues to excel. They were able to cause 18 turnovers against the Stanford Cardinal while only having six turnovers themselves. The more turnovers they are able to create, like stealing the ball, the more they are able to run and get transition points. The Huskies outscored the Cardinal in transition, 24-6,

California Golden Bears:

The California Golden Bears have gotten off to a rough start in the Pac-12 season, going 0-5. They have an overall record of 5-12 with the five wins coming at home. The Golden Bears biggest issue is defense. They are allowing 85.8 points a game so far in the Pac-12 schedule while averaging 69.2 points of offense.

The Golden Bears are led in scoring and rebounding by sophomore forward Justice Sueing with 14.4 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. His lowest scoring game in the Pac-12 schedule so far is seven points, coming against Arizona State. He took only six shots, making two of them. The next game against Arizona, he had his highest total with 27 points. He made eight shots out of his 13 from the field along with nine out of 10 from the free throw line.

The Golden Bears have three other players scoring in double digits. Junior guard Paris Austin is averaging 13.2 points per game. Also, he leads the team in assists at 4.8 per game. Sophomore guard Darius McNeill is third in scoring at 12 points per game followed by Matt Bradley at 10.9 per game. McNeill had taken the most shots from the three point line by far, with 107 attempts, making 39 of them. Bradley, on the other hand, has the highest percentage made at .522 on 46 shots for the season.

For the Golden Bears to win they will need to play better defense while at the same time scoring above their average as well. It will be a tough assignment since the Huskies are undefeated at home. Against Stanford, the Huskies went on an 11-0 run in the middle of the first half. For the Golden Bears to have any chance to win, they can’t allow the Huskies to get in rhythm.

During the non-league schedule, the Washington Huskies played at the level of their competition. However, it hasn’t happened for the most part during the Pac-12 schedule. If the Golden Bears are to have any chance, the Huskies will have to play at their level. I don’t see that happening – but stranger things have happened in college basketball.