C.J. Wilcox knocked down 19 points to reach 1,000 for his career and Washington scored 16 consecutive points to open the game, winning its second conference game in a row, beating California 62-47 Wednesday night at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley. Wilcox became the 37th Husky to reach 1,000 career points as UW improved to 10-5.
The Huskies are 2-0 in conference play for the third consecutive season and for the fourth time in five seasons.
Center Aziz N’Diaye finished with 12 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks. He dominated on both ends during the big first-half run that put the Huskies in control. Cal scored just 20 points in the opening 20 minutes, Washington’s best first half of the season.
The Huskies — specifically Wilcox — held Allen Crabbe, the leading scorer in the Pac-12 conference at 21.4 points per game, to nine points on 3-for-12 shooting for the Golden Bears (9-6, 1-2). He did move up the all-time scoring charts at Cal, going past Jorge Gutierrez and Ryan Anderson into 19th place with 1,238 points.
David Kravish led the Bears with 14 points.
Wilcox made 7 of 16 shots from 2-point range and went 1-for-4 from beyond the arc while also handing out four assists and grabbing eight rebounds, tying his career high.
“That 16-point burst in the first half really helped us,” said coach Lorenzo Romar. “We really began to guard and defend. That’s where we began to separate ourselves.”
The key stat: the Huskies grabbed 43 rebounds to California’s 28 and produced one of their best defensive efforts. Washington grabbed 30 rebounds in the first 20 minutes.
“We’re getting better and better,” said Romar. “We’ve been able to guard at a high level. We’ve come along way from where we were a month ago. I just think as a group we’re getting better, but we’re definitely not not finished yet. I think there are lot of heroes on this team.”
The Huskies had a boost from freshman Andrew Andrews, who came off the bench to score 12 points and grab seven rebounds. It was the second time this season that Andrews has scored in double figures.
Washington did not have a great shooting night, hitting just 36.8 percent from the floor and making only 2 of 11 from 3-point range. But the Bears went just 1-for-6 (16.7 percent).
The Huskies, who are playing their first three conference games on the road for just the fourth time in the past 70 years, returned to Seattle after the game. They fly back to the Bay Area to take on Stanford Saturday at 8 p.m.
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UW did not have 16 consecutive points to start the game…