Washington's dream of a perfect Pac-10 campaign ended after their first trip to northern California this season.
In their return, the 17th-ranked Huskies will attempt to stay on track toward a second conference title in three seasons with a rare win at California on Sunday night.
Washington (12-4, 4-1) was off to its best start in Pac-10 play since 1983-84 until a 58-56 loss at Stanford on Thursday. Before blowing an 11-point lead in the second half, Washington had also reeled off 11 consecutive conference victories - the longest streak since the Pac-10 expanded in 1978 - and claimed six straight league games on the road.
The loss came after Washington coach Lorenzo Romar acknowledged one of his players is being investigated by police. The Huskies were also playing their first road game without starting point guard Abdul Gaddy, lost to a season-ending left knee injury earlier this month.
Romar said he thinks his team is strong enough to endure that adversity as it plays four of its next six on the road.
"Our kids are pretty resilient," Romar told the school's official website. "Our guys will be over this. It's only one loss."
Washington missed a second straight Pac-10 title last season as it finished two games behind the Golden Bears, but won the conference tournament championship with a 79-75 win over Cal.
However, the Golden Bears (9-7, 2-2) lost most of their starting lineup from its first title-winning team in 50 years, and has rebounded from an 0-2 start in the Pac-10 this season with wins over Arizona State and Washington State.
Freshman guard Allen Crabbe had a career-high 30 points and leading scorer Harper Kamp (13.4 ppg) contributed 18 in an 88-81 overtime win over the Cougars on Thursday. Cal was playing its first game since starting freshman guard Gary Franklin announced he was transferring to Baylor.
"He is growing into his role," coach Mike Montgomery said of Crabbe, averaging 21.3 points in his last three games. "He understands it's okay to miss a shot. He knows he can shoot it, and the players on the team know he is a good shooter."
While Montgomery's team will look for Crabbe to keep scoring, it might have a challenge in stopping the Huskies, who are averaging a league-best 86.8 points.
Washington also might have an easier time after facing Stanford's defense, which was allowing a conference-low 59.7 points per game. Cal is giving up 66.6 per contest and averaging 67.6 points at the other end of the floor.
That might lead to a different kind of game than last season's 93-81 win for the Golden Bears in Berkeley. Washington's leading scorer Isaiah Thomas (15.9 ppg) scored 24 in that game and has averaged 19.0 points in five career matchups with Cal.
He'll try to lead the Huskies to their first win as Haas Pavilion since March 1, 2008. Washington is 2-8 at Cal since the start of the 2000-01 season
Washington, which won two of three meetings last season, trails 77-75 in series and has lost 40 of 64 all-time road games.
The Golden Bears' previous home win over a ranked opponent was an 86-71 victory over then-No. 22 Washington on Feb. 5, 2009.
