Washington Drops Cal, 87-52
With 11:33 to play in the first half, freshman center D.J. Thorpe threw down a dunk, putting the Cal Golden Bears up 17-11 over the Washington Huskies in Seattle. With 8:40 to go in the first half, the Bears clung to a 20-17 lead after a free-throw from freshman forward Kuany Kuany. Then the Huskies used a 32-6 run that spanned both halves, lasting about 12 minutes of game-time, busting open a 54-26 lead over the Bears. Game over.
After arguably its best offensive road game in a 66-57 win at Washington State, the wheels came crashing off for the Bears. Cal (11-16, 5-9) converted just 11 field goals and committed 17 turnovers in the route by Washington (13-15, 3-12). It could’ve been much worse, but the Bears made 28 free-throws on 36 attempts.
Sophomore wing Matt Bradley led the Bears with 14 points but it was on 3-of-11 shooting from the field. No other Bear reached double digits in scoring as the Bears shot 23.9% (11-of-46) from the field including 15.4% (2-of-13) from three.
Meanwhile, the Huskies bombarded the Bears, going 11-of-22 from three and 27-of-52 (51.9%) overall from the field. Junior wing Nahziah Carter led Washington’s even attack with 16 points. Freshman forward Isaiah Stewart added 15 points and fellow freshman forward Jaden McDaniels scored 12. The win breaks Washington’s nine-game losing streak.
After the Thorpe dunk with 11:33 to go in the first half the Bears didn’t make another field goal until a jumper by Grant Anticevich with 16:20 to play in the game. From the time it had 17 points at 11:33 to go in the first half to when Anticevich’s jumper dropped to push Cal’s score to 28, the Bears sustained on free-throws alone. Overall, Cal scored 28 of its 52 points from the free-throw line.
We’ll have more coverage tomorrow in the Report Card.