Cal Basketball: Bears Look for First Road Win at Washington Wednesday
Cal (9-7, 2-3 Pac-12) at WASHINGTON (6-7, 1-2 Pac-12)
WHERE: Alaska Airlines Arena, Seattle, Wash.
WHEN: Wednesday, 7 p.m.
TV: Pac-12 Networks -- Ted Robinson (play-by-play), Don McLean (analyst)
RADIO: 810-AM
BETTING LINE: Washington is favored by 1.5 points. Over/under is 133 points. (Cal opened as a 1.5-point favorite, but the spread changed in favor of the Huskies.)
CAL-WASHINGTON HISTORY: Cal leads the alltime series 87-83. The Bears and Huskies split their two games last season, with Cal winning at home 84-78, and Washington won in Seattle 62-51. Cal has won five of the past eight meetings with the Huskies, but the Bears have not won in Seattle since the 2015-16 season.
CAL STORYLINES: The Bears played fairly well in their two home games last week against top-10 teams, but lost both. They lost to then-No. 7 USC 77-63, then were beaten by then-No. 5 UCLA 60-52 on Saturday. In both games, Cal was very much in the game early in the second half, but could not keep up midway through the second half. . . . Cal is 0-4 away from home, including 0-2 in games on the opponent's home floor and 0-2 in neutral-site games . . . Andre Kelly had 22 points against UCLA, but Grant Anticevich managed just two points on 1-for-11 shooting in that game . . . Cal limited the Bruins to their lowest scoring total of the season, and the Bears rank second in the Pac-12 in scoring defense, yielding 62.5 points per game . . . Cal was just 1-for-14 on three-point shots against UCLA, and ranks seventh in the conference in three-points percentage, at 33.6% . . . The Bears did not attempt a free throw until just 3:06 remained in the game against UCLA, and coach Mark Fox pointed to that as one of the chief reasons Cal lost . . . Kelly ranks fifth in the Pac-12 in scoring at 15.0 points per game and is second in rebounding, averaging 8.6 boards per contest . . . Cal has already won as many games as it did all of last season, when it finished 9-20, and the Bears are just one Pac-12 win shy of matching last season’s conference win total . . . Cal played both games last week without freshman forward Sam Alajiki, sidelined by an undisclosed health issue. His status for Washington is unknown.
WASHINGTON STORYLINES: The Huskies split a pair of conference road games last week, beating Utah in Salt Lake City 74-68 on Thursday and losing to Colorado in Boulder 78-64 on Sunday . . . The Huskies went 4-16 in the Pac-12 last season, and they were picked to finish 11th in the conference in the preseason poll this season, ahead of only Cal. . . . Washington guard Terrell Brown Jr., who played at Arizona last season, leads the Pac-12 in scoring (20.7 points per game), but he was held under his scoring average in both games last week. He had 15 points on 7-for-16 shooting against Utah and had 12 points on 4-for-16 shooting against Colorado . . . Daejon Davis, who played at Stanford last year, is a starter for the Huskies and is averaging 8.5 points . . . Washington ranks last in the Pac-12 in scoring defense, allowing 73.3 points per contest, and it ranks ninth in scoring offense, averaging 70.3 points. . . The Huskies rank 11th in the conference in field-goal percentage (39.4%) and 10th in three-pointer percentage (31.2%) . . . Washington ranks last in the Pac-12 and 347th of 350 Division I teams in rebounding margin, at minus-9.54 boards per game. The Huskies were outrebounded by 20 boards (47-27) against Colorado . . . The Huskies don't have much of an inside game offensively or defensively, which may allow Cal's Andre Kelly to have a big game . . . Washington has had three games canceled or postponed because of COVID issues, and Wednesday will be its first home game since a 68-52 loss to Utah Valley on Dec. 21.
CAL GAME NOTES: Click here
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Cover photo of Terrell Brown Jr. is by Ron Chenoy, USA TODAY Sports
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Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53
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