What a team says after a close loss really doesn't matter that much.
How they respond in the next game does.
And after a tough loss to Stanford on Thursday, the Washington Huskies responded by absolutely pounding Cal 92-71 at Haas Pavilion.
After pulling away in the first half, the Huskies just piled it on in the second half led by guard Isaiah Thomas who FSN analyst Ernie Kent said played like one of the best point guards in the country, finishing with game-highs of 27 points and 13 assists to only one turnover.
Yet further challenging pre-existing notions of Thomas' style of play, it wasn't exactly a one man show either - Justin Holiday caught fire as the beneficiary of Thomas' outstanding play as a distributor with 23 points on 5-for-8 3-point shooting. Meanwhile, Kent couldn't help but note that Matthew Bryan-Amaning was playing like a man on multiple occasions as he continued his strong play with 22 points and a team-high 11 rebounds of his own.
Most importantly - and perhaps an extension of Bryan-Amaning playing well - was their board work: UW beat a very strong defensive rebounding Cal team 43-27 on the boards and their 12 offensive rebounds doubled that of Cal.
Harper Kamp did stand out for Cal with 20 points and seven rebounds, but they simply didn't have enough to stop a Huskies team clicking on all cylinders.