After their earlier meeting this season, the Washington Huskies and California Golden Bears shared one feeling: exhaustion.
Emotionally, the teams were worlds apart after Cal’s 88-85 triple-overtime win on the Huskies’ home court. That win gave UW its first conference loss and moved the Bears past them into first place in the Pacific-10 Conference standings.
“I think we were physically and mentally exhausted after that game,” UW captain Jon Brockman said. “And it took us a little while to get it back, but we did bounce back. That was the biggest thing for our group. We really learned from that experience and were able to kind of re-gather ourselves a little bit.”
The game proved to be a turning point for both teams, but not in the ways that might have been expected.
Since that game on Jan. 10, Washington has gone 5-1 and will begin the second half of the Pac-10 schedule tonight at Cal a half-game behind league-leading UCLA, which defeated USC on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Golden Bears have lost four out of five games since their visit to Seattle and have fallen two games off the conference lead.
Coach Mike Montgomery says Cal’s struggles are only partially related to the UW game, saying the Bears might’ve derived the wrong lessons from the marathon victory.
“Everybody got real excited when we went 4-0, and that was part of the problem, part of the issue that we were dealing with,” he said. “All of a sudden we became the team that was going to win the conference: ‘We’re ahead; look at this!’ The reality is it’s a very competitive league, and we’re going to have to scratch every game. ... We were on a little nine-game win streak and that might have been the worst thing for us because what everybody thought about who we were and what we needed to do changed a little.”
Statistically, the Bears remain very much like the team they were in Seattle. They run, score a lot of points and are led by guards Jerome Randle and Patrick Christopher, who combined for 50 points against UW and now rank second and 12th respectively in Pac-10 scoring.
The Huskies stress that this game is not about revenge tonight but staying on course in the Pac-10 race and impoving their NCAA tournament chances.
“Obviously, no one has forgotten that,” coach Lorenzo Romar said. “But at the same time, that was half a dozen games ago and both teams obviously have moved on. I think the more important thing here is we find ourselves at the top of the Pac-10 going into the second half of conference. We’re in a dogfight to try to finish as high as we can.”
Don Ruiz, 253-597-8808
blogs.thenewstribune.com/uwsports
HUSKIES Men’s Gameday
NO. 22 WASHINGTON (16-5, 7-2 pac-10) AT CALIFORNIA (16-6, 5-4)
Tipoff: 7:30 p.m., Haas Pavilion, Berkeley, Calif.
TV: FSN. Radio: 950-AM.
Series: The Huskies and Golden Bears have evenly split their previous 148 meetings. Cal leads 46-26 at home. Cal also won two of three meetings last season and won the earlier meeting this year, 88-85, in triple-overtime at Hec Edmundson Pavilion.
Statistical leaders: For UW, Isaiah Thomas, 16.7 ppg and 2.9 apg; F Jon Brockman, 10.9 rpg. For Cal, G Jerome Randle, 18.3 ppg and 5.1 apg; F Jamal Boykin, 6.5 rpg.
Scouting report: Cal has used the same starting lineup in all 22 games this season. ... Boykin has had three double-doubles in his last seven games and is averaging 12.9 points and 7.9 rebounds over that period. ... Cal leads the nation in 3-point field goal percentage (.458), led by forward Theo Robertson (.562), Randle (.460) and Christopher (.403). ... The Bears are second in the league in field-goal percentage, assists and assists/turnover ratio. ... UW leads the league in scoring (80 ppg), while Cal is third (75.3). Washington also continues to lead in rebounding margin. ... UW guard Justin Dentmon has hit 33 of 34 free throws (.971) over his last four games. He also leads the league in scoring (19.6 ppg) since the start of Pac-10 play.
Next: 2:30 p.m. Sunday, at Stanford, Maples Pavilion; FSN.
Don Ruiz, The News Tribune
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