This was a game that was loseable, if any game left on the schedule was. You can get away with losing to a tournament team on the road, sure you'd rather have the quality win, but it's not a blemish on the resume. But losing it puts this team's back against the wall. Any more losses may spell doom, barring a run through the Pac-10 tourney, either winning it or going deep with a win over Cal.
The Huskies let this game get away when they got their tails kicked on the offensive glass. Cal used second and third chances to build their lead and didn't look back. Jerome Randle was lights out.
Many people praised Matthew Bryan-Amaning after this one, which made me scratch my head. He had a nice box score (13 points, 6 rebounds), sure, but his play wasn't good. He got beaten on the boards early, didn't play good help defense at all and did a lot of standing around on offense. Early on he made a nice move for a layup, then came back down the court an made an atrocious goaltend. At this point, his bad more than cancels his good. He posted a team worst +/- of -15.
Conversely, Tyreese Breshers was one of just two Huskies to post a positive +/- at +4 (Elston Turner's was +9). For this team to even have a shot of beating quality teams, Breshers has to stay out of foul trouble and play more than 9 minutes.
Charts: