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by: Griffin Bennett

There are ugly games and then there was last night’s game against USC. I’m not sure if I’ve seen a worse Pac-12/10 team in the last decade than that Trojans team I witnessed last night. The Huskies kept roughly a 10 point lead for most of the game and that seemed like an insurmountable deficit for a USC team that almost looked as if they didn’t want to be there.

USC’s offense consisted for shooting poor jump shots and staying away from the paint as if it were the plague. This is when the rebounding drill began for the Huskies. USC was 1 for 16 from three which is just incredible. Combine poor shooting with a lack of big men and you have a recipe for disaster. The Huskies absolutely dominated the boards, recording 52 total.

The Huskies, once again, played down to their opponents which wasn’t surprising but disappointing to see. It was a great opportunity for the Huskies to work on limiting their mistakes and and score effectively, but sloppy play seemed unavoidable at times. We’ll get into that later.

On the positive side, the Huskies used their deeper bench to run away with the game late which helped the final score look a little better. The Trojans seemed to either tire out or give up during the final 5 minutes and the Huskies aptly seized the opportunity.

Time to get critical:

Positives:

• The Bench – USC only has 6 scholarship players so using the Huskies fresh legs off the bench helped push the lead to 28 at the end. Wilcox, Kemp, ASJ, and Gant were highly effective in limited minutes. The Huskies finished with 29 bench points compared to USC’s 0.
• Darnell Gant – While I just mentioned him, he deserves his own shout out. He played fantastically and his new role of 6th man off the bench might just best suit him and this team. He finished with 8 points and 7 rebounds in only 21 minutes, which is more than the starter Desmond Simmons.
• Rebounding – This was just a destruction. 52-23 may be the largest winning margin that I have ever seen. As I said earlier, USC wasn’t even attempting to get in the paint and contest them.
• Aziz N’diaye – He took advantage of a smaller Trojan team and scored 9 points on the night. While his numbers weren’t that impressive, it’s his new found agility and skills at finishing (and catching) around the hoop which is great to see. He is definitely the most improved player so far.
• Tony Wroten – The kid can finish. With a team high 13 points, he added 8 assists, 6 rebounds (5 offensive), and only 1 turnover. Also a good sign, his free throw shooting seems to be improving as well.

Overall:

I’m not sure what we learned about this Husky team in this game. This Trojan squad is really really REALLY bad.

Where does that leave us? The Huskies are still a game up on Cal and Colorado in the conference standings with a road trip to Oregon next week which hasn’t been kind in recent history.

Let’s go get us some more road wins! Bow Down.

As many of you know, it was 70′s night on Thursday and we have some great, classic Lorenzo Romar pictures. Enjoy.

by: John Chase

Just like that, the Huskies control first place in the Pac-12 and their destiny lies in their hands and not the success (or failures) of others. This game represented some impressive milestones. UW has now won 4 straight against UCLA, something that hasn’t ever happened in Husky History, and the Dawgs have now won 8 straight at home against UCLA. Two hours after UW escaped with an emotional win, Arizona knocked off Cal with an early 33-10 run that put Arizona ahead for good.

The Huskies played a a sloppy game that didn’t polish up until the final 10 minutes. This was highlighted early with UW up 6-4. UCLA picked up two offensive boards and finally got the put-back to fall in, despite several Huskies near the hoop. Often times, the Dawgs were getting beat on easy boards and gave up far too many turnovers (16 total, 10 in the first half). The first half turnovers were just plain ugly. It wasn’t so much that the Bruins were playing tough defense, the Husky guards were just throwing the ball away to players who weren’t looking for passes. Regardless, the Dawgs somehow went into halftime with a 1-point game.

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by: John Chase

In what I would call a poor showing against ASU, the Huskies showed they could grind out low scoring games with strong defense, rebounding, and physical play. Tony Wroten took the game into his hands when no one else could score and was very effective, going 9-12 from the field, which included a Number 1 ESPN Top 10 Play dunk seen here. Vicious, just vicious. ASJ scored his first points on the hardwood and finished with 4 pts and 5 boards, once again fouling out after 16 minutes.

Now the Dawgs must look forward to Arizona, where another whiteout and ESPN GameDay await. Last season started a new rivalry and provided both Husky and Cats fans with three very memorable games. While the last game in Tuscon did not end well for the Dawgs following a very questionable “block” call, Husky fans hardly need to be reminded of the last match-up versus the Wildcats. Gus Johnson gave one of the best play calls in recent history. Can you say COOOOOOOLLLLLDDDDDD BLOODED?! I did have a link to the last 5 minutes of regulation and all of overtime from that game, but someone got all copyright butthurt and took the video down.

The stakes of this game are huge. UW is in a 4 way tie for first with Colorado, Oregon, and California. Arizona is a game back with a 5-3 conference record after handily beating WSU last night. Win and UW can maintain its first place record, lose and UW drops back a few slots.

The Huskies tend to show up big in marquee match-ups. This season they have played just a tad below where they needed to be for a win. Hopefully those loses taught our players something about winning close games and can seal the deal this weekend. The UA crowd will be into the game big time with the whiteout and GameDay crew in attendance. It will be important for the Dawgs to get off to a strong start to quiet the crowd and swing the momentum in their direction.

Much like UW, Arizona lost a lot of their star talent from last season and have been struggling to find an identity and leader on the court. Last night, Kyle Fogg went off big in the first half, scoring 18 points. Other nights, guys like Kevin Parrom have been the star.

Arizona sees solid production from 4 players and are led in scoring by the aforementioned Kyle Fogg who is picking up 12.2 per game. Fogg is deadly from just about anywhere on the court. He is averaging over 80% from the foul line and 44% from deep. While Fogg is not a big guard at 6-3 188lb, he is strong enough and quick enough to get in the lane and do damage inside the paint. I suspect Wroten will be giving the defensive assignment to shut him down.

Solomon Hill is the most important player for the Wildcats with nearly 12 points per game on top of a team high 8 rebounds per outing. Hill also averages a team high in assists with just under 3 a game. Hill commits a team high 2.4 turnovers per game, which isn’t surprising considering how often the ball is in his hands. Hill can be a hard to defend. At 6-6, many of our guards can keep a hand in his face. It is his 226lbs that are tough for defenders to stay even with. Hill has the strength to take his man to the bucket without too much duress and can finish through contact. I expect Desmond Simmons and Austin Sefarian-Jenkins to body up on Hill and front him to prevent inbound passes. Hill has a pretty solid outside shot and is making 35% on the season. His free throw percentage is respectable as well with 75% on the year.

Jesse Perry is the only other scorer in double digits for the Cats.  Like Hill, Perry is a strong forward who is averaging nearly 12 points and over 7 rebounds per game. Perry is slightly taller and skinnier thank Hill at 6-7 216lb, but is just as effective from the field. He is not as great of a shooter, averaging only 31% outside. The key to containing both Perry and Hill is staying in front of them and preventing the dribble drives to the middle.

Kevin Parrom could show up big at times, but after a very devastating summer that included the deaths of both his mother and grandmother as well as getting shot in the hand and leg, it is not surprising that Parrom has not had the type of impact many suspected he would have this year. Parrom has been very up and down this season with 3 games of double digit scoring and 4 games without a single point to his name.

Predicted Starting Line-Ups:

Arizona:

Nick Johnson 6-2 198lb
Kyle Fogg 6-3 188lb 
Josiah Turner 6-3 192lb
Solomon Hill 6-6 226lb
Jesse Perry 6-7 216lb

Washington:

Abdul Gaddy 6-3 185lb
Tony Wroten 6-5 205lb
Terrence Ross 6-6 195lb
Desmond Simmons 6-7 225lb
Aziz N’Diaye 7-0 260lb

Keys to the Game:

• Get Hot Early  - The Huskies have been far too prone to slow starts this season and I guarantee, now more than ever, a hot start is needed. The crowd will be very loud and very biased towards their home team. It is important to shut them up before their impact on the game becomes too much to handle. With C.J. Wilcox back in the rotation, the Dawgs have a better shot at getting some range in their game, which should help immensely.
• Rebounding - If the shots aren’t falling, the least the Dawgs can do is get dirty on the glass and pick up some nice put backs. Our team is 9th in the nation with over 40 boards per game, though our rebounding percentage could be higher. N’Diaye, Ross, Simmons, Gant, and now ASJ are all averaging over 5 rebounds per game. That is an extreme amount of production from a large amount of players, which gives our team a lot of options when it comes to cleaning house.
• Free Throws - The Huskies were a miserable 61% from the line against ASU, due mostly to very poor shooting performances by Wroten and N’Diaye who combined for 5-14. We cannot afford to miss the freebies, especially on the road where foul shots can be hard to come by. I’m not expecting a 90% shooting performance, but 75% is very reasonable to expect and desire.

Final Thoughts:

The Huskies can win this game if their mentality is in the right place. That being said, this is going to be tough and could end in a blowout if the Dawgs don’t take care of business defensively. What is going to win this game is nose to the grind defense and a tough, go-getter attitude. The Dawgs cannot let the game get away from them or they risk the crowd taking over. Someone needs to go I.T. tomorrow and take over the game. I’d like it to be Ross rather than Wroten, but I have no doubt Wroten will make his impact felt. He loves the big stage and thrives on emotion.

Final Score Prediction: UW-75 UA-74

by: Griffin Bennett

First of all, I’d like to congratulate and thank Coach Romar on his 300th career win and 100th conference win. Great achievements by a great man.

That game was a breath of fresh air. The team finally had a great energy out of the gate and controlled the pace for the entire game. Being in the building, it just felt different. I can’t really explain it. It felt different than any other game this year as the players had a new energy and it was transferred to Dawg Pack and then to all of Hec-Ed.

Perhaps the catalyst of this energy was a Austin Seferian-Jenkins who made one hell of a debut. His 6’6 frame holds a lot of power and he immediately made his presence known in the post as he abused the Stanford big men. He brings that football mentality to this team which was lacking a truly physical player.

Could this be the new rotation? Romar only played 7 men in the game with Gant and ASJ coming off of the bench. The guards, Gaddy, Wroten and Ross, played 38, 34, and 39 minutes respectively and will probably be playing those type of high-minute games until Wilcox returns.

Thank you, Cougs. Thank you so much. Soak that in because you probably won’t hear me say it again. The Cougars beat Cal to keep us still in the title hunt as we are still only a half game back.

On to the reviews…

Positives:

• Austin Seferian-Jenkins – Loved his game. Against a smaller Stanford squad, he was able to move players around. He played 17 solid minutes while grabbing 7 rebounds and five hard fouls.
• Tony Wroten – He was Wade-esque out there. The way he cuts through traffic to the hoop and finishes with style is incredible. When you see those flashes your jaw drops. He led the game with 21 points will stuffing the rest of the stat sheet with 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, and only 3 turnovers.
• Terrence Ross – Another stat stuffing effort with 18 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, and 1 steal. He was only 2 of 8 from three and you’d like to see him improve his scoring efficiency as he was 6 of 17 from the field.
• Darnell Gant – A great bounce back game for Gant who needed it badly. He was 2 of 3 from deep, which is great to see him continue to shoot. he finished with 7 rebounds and 17 points.
• Rebounding – It was a great team effort on the boards against the second best rebounding team in the conference (Huskies are number one). Aziz only played 13 minutes, probably due to ASJ’s effectiveness and the quickness of Stanford’s post players. Even with him out, the Huskies won the battle 39-31 with no one player getting more than 7.

Negatives:

• Passing – The assist-to-turnover ratio continues to be a struggle for the team. 13:16 against Stanford is unacceptable and Gaddy’s 3 assists to 5 turnovers need to be improved. Gaddy is supposed to be the consistent, mistake free player.
• Foot to the Throat – The Huskies had the Cardinal under their throat late in the second half but they let them crawl back. This team needs to be able to put away teams late in the game. With the smaller bench this year, that gets a little more difficult. I like it when I get to be picky in my negatives.

Overall:

This was the most enjoyable game to watch since the New York trip. Seeing Gant fist pump, ASJ grinding, Wroten slashing, Ross finishing… it was just a great feeling. Is ASJ the change that this team needed? Let’s hope so. We’re still in the race and now a trip down to Arizona is coming and date that we have all had circled on our calendar. A date in Tucson on ESPN’s Gameday. Bow Down.

by: Griffin Bennett

It’s time to shake off Thursday night’s loss. The season can slip away with a loss to the Cardinal on Saturday so it’s game face time. Stanford lost their share of the conference lead when they lost to WSU in Pullman so they will be looking to salvage a split on the road to try and keep pace with Cal.

For the Huskies, it’s one game at a time as they continue to struggle to find any kind of consistency. The first halves have been slow all season long and they can’t seem to find an answer as to why. The Dawgs have scored only 25 points in the first half twice in a row now and barring an insane second half from Ross against the Cougs, they could be staring at two straight losses.

Stanford comes in with a 15-4 record and 5-2 in the conference. They have a very balanced team which makes they dangerous. Their leading scorer is forward Josh Owens with 13.1 ppg who also leads their team in rebounds wirth 6.1 rpg. Aziz will get the first nod to guard the 6-8 Owens which will be interesting due to the size/speed give and take.

Sophomore Aaron Bright, from Bellevue High, is a solid point guard who can do a bit of everything, including shooting the three. He leads their team in 3 point percentage at 43% as well as scoring 12.1 per game. Alongside Bright is freshman SG Chasson Randle who has been equally impressive with scoring 12.3 per game which is good for second best on the squad. Behind Wroten, this may be the freshman of the year in the Pac-12.

Rounding out their starters are sophomore forwards Josh Huestis and Anthony Brown. They are each effective role players who can’t be ignored which makes Stanford so challenging. Filling out their rotation are John Gage, Dwight Powell, Jarrett Mann, and Andrew Zimmerman. It’s a deep team.

Projected Starting Line Ups:

Stanford:

Aaron Bright, 5-11

Chasson Randle, 6-1

Anthony Brown, 6-6

Andrew Zimmerman, 6-8

Josh Owens, 6-8

Washington:

Abdul Gaddy, 6-3 

Tony Wroten Jr., 6-5 

Terrence Ross, 6-6 

Desmond Simmons, 6-7 

Aziz N’Diaye, 7-0 

Keys to the Game:

• Early Energy: The Huskies can’t keep trying to climb out of first half holes. They need to start the game with the same energy that they find in the second half. It’s easier said than done, however.
• Rebounding – UW leads the league in rebounds per game (14.5) but Stanford is right behind them in second (12.7). Which ever team can assert their dominance in the post will have a huge advantage. Look for Aziz to continue his hot streak against a smaller Cardinal team.
• Perimeter Shooting –  The Dawgs need to find someone other than Ross that can make an open three. Teams will continue to play zone while shadowing Ross unless someone (Gant and Gaddy preferrably) can start hitting their shots. I’m not asking them to be C.J., just hit the wide open ones.
• Free Throws – It’s most likely going to be another close one, and free throws will be needed. At some point this ceases to be a key to the game and just a fact of the game.

The Huskies are impossible to predict. Will Ross catch on fire? Will Wroten score at will or keep shooting threes? Will Gant go 0 for 8? Will Aziz have a career high or foul out? You get the point.

The real problem has been motivation and offensive execution in the first half. Even Ross noted as much saying they were forgetting plays during the first half on offense this Thursday. Someone needs to get this team pumped up before the game. I don’t think Hikeem Stewart’s dance in the tunnel is going the job.

Let’s get a win and keep on truckin’. Maybe this will help. Bow Down.