GAME NOTES: The first round of the Pac-12 Conference Tournament concludes Wednesday night with a matchup pitting the 11th-seeded Washington Huskies against the sixth-seeded Stanford Cardinal at MGM Grand Garden Arena.

The winner of this first-round game moves on to Thursday's quarterfinals to face third-seeded Utah.

Washington really struggled in conference play this season, earning a 5-13 mark when competition against the Pac-12 started. The Huskies were able to end a three-game losing streak in the final regular-season contest when they defeated Utah, 77-68, at home.

Stanford could have made it into the top four seeds in the Pac-12 and earned a first-round bye had it not been for a three-game losing streak to end the regular season. The Cardinal were crushed in the finale on Saturday against top-seeded Arizona, 91-69, to draw Stanford's league record to an even 9-9.

Washington and Stanford met twice during the regular season, with the Cardinal coming away with two wins. The first clash went to overtime in Stanford, where the hosts took a 68-60 victory. The second contest in Seattle went more smoothly for the Cardinal, who defeated the Huskies by an 84-74 margin.

The Washington team that was on the floor Saturday in the regular-season finale was the team that started the season 11-0. The Huskies took down Utah by using a strong offensive effort that included a 51-percent shooting mark from the floor. The Utes buried 52 percent of their tries in the game, but lost ground from both beyond the 3-point arc and at the free-throw line. Nigel Williams-Goss netted 28 points with six rebounds, while Andrew Andrews tallied 16 points. Mike Anderson scored 15 points, and Jernard Jarreau chipped in with 14 points.

Williams-Goss and Andrews were the strong points on a team that floundered in the second half of the season. Williams-Goss led the way offensively with 15.6 ppg and was second in the conference with 5.9 apg. Andrews contributed 14.7 ppg this season for a Huskies squad that netted 68.6 ppg. Washington has won three Pac-12 Tournament titles, with the most recent coming in 2011 behind the heroics of Isaiah Thomas (now with the Celtics). In Washington's last game against Stanford, five Huskies players scored in double figures, and it still wasn't enough to keep up with Stanford's 52.8 percent shooting.

It wasn't pretty for Stanford against Arizona on Saturday, as the host Wildcats netted 53.7 percent of their shots from the floor compared to just 37.3 percent shooting for Stanford. Chasson Randle scored 16 points, and Stefan Nastic added 14, although both players fouled out of the contest. Anthony Brown chipped in with 14 points of his own, and Rosco Allen came off the bench to add 10. Five Arizona players recorded a scoring total in the double digits to bury the Cardinal.

Randle finished the regular season second in the league's scoring category. Oregon's Joseph Young led the Pac-12 with 19.8 ppg, and Randle finished with 19.1 ppg to lead Stanford. Brown (15.1 ppg, 7.1 rpg) and Nastic (13.7 ppg) each added a double-digit scoring total this season for the Cardinal, who netted 72.9 ppg as a unit. Stanford's only league championship came back during the 2004 season. The team has compiled a 15-16 record in the Pac-12 Tournament all-time. Against Washington earlier this season, Brown scored 23 points with seven rebounds and Randle netted 20 points to lead the Cardinal to their 10-point victory.

If Washington can play as well as it did on Saturday, then Stanford could be in some serious trouble. The Cardinal are hoping to end their three-game skid, and if the Washington team everyone is used to seeing in Pac-12 play shows up, then Stanford will be advancing to the quarterfinal round.