Washington Huskies vs. Colorado Buffaloes Open Game Thread

Washington Huskies (15-13, 4-12) vs. Colorado Buffaloes (13-15, 6-10), Thursday March 5, 6:00pm, Fox Sports 1.

Tonight's game is the second to the last game of the regular season, with only Senior Night against the Utes on Saturday to follow.

While Washington's season has only been up and down in that it was up and then suddenly way, way down, Colorado has spent the entire season alternating between impressive wins (usually driven by the scoring of Askia Booker) followed by disheartening two or three-game losing streaks.

The Buffs have been particularly bad on the road, where they have won a single contest throughout Pac-12 play. Still, they boast a superior post talent in Josh Scott, and with Shawn Kemp Jr. set to miss his third straight game, Jernard Jarreau will be the only healthy post player with a fair chance against him.

Following that same logic, the Buffaloes have no excuse not to own the boards and protect the paint throughout the night.

With such a weak front court, most of the offense will need to be generated through Nigel Williams-Goss and Andrew Andrews. Unfortunately, this is only NWG's first game back since suffering an ankle injury.

It's possible Andrews picks up the slack, but in the loss against USC he pressed badly to make up for NWG's absence, and it resulted in a poor showing.

You can read my full preview and prediction here, though my pick likely won't come as a shocker.

Even in the contest of a rough season, it's worth focusing in on Mike Anderson in his second-to-last collegiate basketball game. In better times, he might have been a key role player for a more talented team.

Instead, he was forced into tough situations by Washington's lack of depth. It's hardly fair that the 6-5 guard spent well over a dozen games stuck scrapping with power forwards, but if the role bothered him, he never let it show.

Here's hoping Romar and his guys can steal at least one more win for Anderson and Kemp, who is at risk of finishing his career benched by a concussion.

Enjoy the game and Go Dawgs!