Pac-10 Battle in Seattle: California at Washington

California Golden Bears at Washington Huskies, Alaska Airlines Arena, Seattle, WA
Thursday, February 10, 2011, 9:00 pm Eastern, TV: Fox Sports-Northwest
Opening Line: Washington -12 1/2
Current Line: Washington -13 1/2
Opening Total: 156
Current Total 155
Money Line: Washington -1200 / California +800

The Washington Huskies are 13 1/2 point favorites at home versus the California Golden Bears.

Less than two weeks ago, Washington was ranked in the top 25 and was considered to be the prohibitive favorite to win the Pac-10. Three straight losses on the road to Washington St, Oregon St, and Oregon have changed the Huskies picture drastically. Now they are 7-4 in the conference and 2 games behind Arizona and one behind UCLA in the conference standings. The 15-7 Huskies return home hoping to stop the bleeding against Cal and Stanford this weekend. First up are the California Golden Bears Thursday night. Cal is 13-10 and 6-5 in the conference, a game behind Washington. The Golden Bears have wins over New Mexico, Temple, Iowa St, Arizona St, Washington St, USC, Oregon St, Oregon, and Arizona St. A 107-105 triple overtime loss at home versus Arizona Saturday snapped a 4 game winning streak for the Bears. California lost at home to Washington January 16 92-71. Cal is playing a lot better now then they were. The Bears have additional losses to Notre Dame, Boston College, San Diego St, Southern Miss, Kansas, Stanford, Arizona twice, and UCLA. Washington has wins over Virginia, Long Beach St, Texas Tech, Nevada, USC, UCLA, Oregon Oregon St, Arizona, and Arizona St. The Huskies have losses to Kentucky, Michigan St, Texas A&M, and Stanford on the season. California leads the overall series 77-76, but Washington has won the last 2 and 3 of the last 4. The two teams met in the championship game of the Pac-10 tournament last year. The teams are 3-3 ATS in the last 6, and 5 of those 6 have gone over the total in the last 3 seasons.

Guard Gary Franklin left the Cal team for personal reasons last month. He was averaging 8 points a game. The Golden Bears have four players averaging double digit scoring. Forward Harper Kamp averages 15.1 points to lead the team, 5.7 rebounds, and 1.7 assists a game. Guard Jorge Gutierrez averages 13.2 points, 3.6 rebounds, 4.5 assists to lead the team, and 1.5 steals a game to also lead the team. Allen Crabbe averages 12.4 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 1.9 assists a game. Markhuri Sanders-Frison averages 10.8 points, 7.6 rebounds a game to lead the team and 1.1 assists a game. Cal is outscoring opponents 72-70 on the year. The Bears are shooting 45.1% from the field and 34.6% from 3-point range. Cal opponents are shooting 42.3% from the field. the Bears average 35.5 rebounds a game and have a rebounding margin of +2.9. Cal averages 15.2 assists and 13.7 turnovers a game. They force 12.8 turnovers a game on defense. The Bears average 5.7 steals and 2.4 blocks a game.

Washington guard Abdul Gaddy tore his ACL in practice a few weeks ago and is gone for the season. He was averaging 8.5 points a game. Washington is led by guard Isaiah Thomas, a finalist for the Bob Cousy award for the Nation’s best point guard. Thomas is averaging 16.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, 5.8 assists, and 1.4 steals a game. He leads the team in points and assists. Forward Matthew Bryan-Amaning is averaging 15.7 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks a game. He leads the team in rebounds and blocks. Justin Holiday averages 12.5 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.5 steals a game to lead the team. Washington is outscoring opponents 85-70 on the year. The Huskies are shooting 47.7% from the field and 38.4% from 3-point range. Husky opponents are shooting 41.1% from the field. Washington is shooting 65.5% from the free throw line. The Huskies average 40 rebounds a game and have a rebounding margin of +5.9. Washington averages 17.3 assists and 12.6 turnovers a game. They force 15.4 turnovers a game on defense. The Huskies force 7.4 steals and 4.8 blocks a game.

Cal is playing so much better the last 5 games because they are shooting better and scoring more points. They are playing similar defense but they are scoring almost 82 points a game in the last five games. It seems simple to say that if you score more points you will win more games, but that is what is happening to Cal. Washington hopes a trip home will help them stop their losing streak. I think Cal can hang with this team and maybe cover the large number.