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.

USC enters this game with a miserable 6-17 record highlighted by a 1-8 conference record. If not for the miraculous blowout of Utah, USC would be 0-9 in conference and on an 11 game losing streak. Instead the Trojans enter Saturday’s game on a 1 loss streak, losing by 7 to WSU on the road. Not bad for a team with only 6 scholarship players available. Five different USC players have suffered season ending injuries, leaving USC heavily undermanned. Maurice Jones is so important to this team that USC Coach Kevin O’Neil stated before the season that “if Maurice Jones gets hurt, don’t come to our games.” Rough talk, but an honest statement. Maybe not one I would make publicly as a coach, but perhaps it needed to be said to fire up the team. Last week O’Neil was also quoted saying something about a van falling on his head would not be unexpected.

The Trojan line-up is overall, very short, but they do have 7-1 260lb James Blascyzk who is impressively size, but completely underwhelming in terms of skill and production. Out of the 8 players who took the court against WSU (remember, they have only 6 scholarship player), the tallest player outside of Blascyzk is 6-6 Garrett Jackson. Their guards vary in height from 5-7 Jones to 6-5 Byron Wesley. Jackson and Blascyzk are the only active players not listed as guards on the USC roster.

Maurice Jones is essentially the entirety of this team. He leads the in points (14.2), assists (3.4), steals (1.7), free throw percentage (technically he is second, but had 3 times the makes the the highest), and 3-pointer percentage (same thing, technically not first, but has made many more). If not for Aaron Fuller and the fact he is only 5-7, Jones would probably fight his way into first on the team in rebounding as well.

Aaron Fuller was the only other Trojan averaging double digit scoring, but suffered a shoulder injury resulting in season ending surgery. Fuller is joined by 7-footer Dwayne Dedmon, the most recent victim of a season ending injury, Jio Fontan (who was coming off a very successful junior season), Evan Smith, and Curtis Washington on the sidelines.

These injuries leave Byron Wesley as the next highest scorer and the highest active rebounder on the team with 7.6 points and 4.8 boards a game. Wesley is also second in assists (1.9), steals (.8), and turnovers (2.1). Wesley is only 1 of 7 from range and 21 of 43 from the foul line. Much like the rest of the USC squad, he is not an offensive threat despite his decent scoring average.

This image says all you really need to know about this year’s Trojan squad. In not one major offensive statistical category is USC ranked above 300. That is rough. Thank god the Trojan fans have football to look forward to.

The Trojans do one thing well: slow the ball down and play defense. The opposition has only scored more than 70 points in only 2 games this season. On the other side, the Trojans have only scored more than 70 one time in an 83 point explosion against TCU. The Trojans have been held to 50 or less points 9 times, including a season low of 36 against Cal Poly.

With all the injuries, USC loses nearly 20 points of their already disgustingly low 54 point average as well as 11 rebounds from their 28 board average. That is absolutely devastating no matter which way one looks at it.

It’s hard to know what this battle-worn USC team will bring to the table. Greg Allen has the potential to do a ton of damage as he showed against WSU when he dropped 17 on them, including a 5-11 performance from deep. On the other hand, Allen could be completely shut down. Allen did not play in 6 games this season and tallied 0 points on 8 separate occasions. He has only reached double digits three times this season. Out of everyone on the team, Allen’s 3-pointer has the best chance of catching fire. Allen is only 6-3 180lb and is thus a favorable match-up for guys like Terrence Ross or Tony Wroten.

Starting Line-Up Predictions:

USC:
Maurice Jones 5-7 155lb
Alexis Moore 6-2 180lb
Byron Wesley 6-5 210lb
Garrett Jackson 6-6 225lb
James Blascyzk 7-1 260lb

Washington:
Abdul Gaddy 6-3 185lb
Tony Wroten 6-5 205lb
Terrence Ross 6-6 195lb
Darnell Gant 6-8 230lb (I think he replaces Simmons who has been slow as of late)
Aziz N’Diaye 7-0 260lb

Keys to the Game:

• Control the Pace - The Trojans will look to slow the game down to the point that their malignant offense can stand a chance. They will do this by using up the clock, pulling guys back on free throws, and clogging the middle with a zone defense. I’m sure many Husky fans recall this last season and, personally, this is the worst type of basketball in the world. The shot clock was introduced because guys like Kevin O’Neil play sloooooowwwwww basketball. I love the fast paced style that the Huskies thrive on. It is exciting and produces highlight reel plays every night.
• Free Throws - In slow paced games, every point counts. The Huskies continue to struggle as a whole to convert shots at the line. We need to get guys like Ross, Wilcox, and dare I say it, Wroten to the line. They have converted the highest percentage of freebies as of late. N’Diaye needs to do some work on his shot to get to the level of free throw shooting that makes fouling him a poor choice versus a decent choice.
• Get Hot From the Start - If the Huskies can get a lead early in this game, the lack of bench for USC will prove to be the death of them. The problem is that the Huskies have been a second half team this season and have not been successful in getting their scoring going until they have started shooting on the opposite side they started from. Maybe the view is nicer on one side than the other. Whatever it is, it has to change and the Dawgs need to figure out how to put together a full 40 minutes of play. The Trojans are not a team that will be dropping 70-80 points, nor do they normally allow more than 70. Even Kansas, ranked 11 the time, was only able to put up 63 on the Trojans.

Final Thoughts:

This is a game the Dawgs should not struggle with but the Huskies have been unpredictable. Coming off back-to-back emotional wins against Arizona and UCLA has the Dawgs feeling high and mighty and they cannot let this go to their heads and fall apart by playing down to USC’s level. This win is monumental in continuing our charge towards the league title and an at-large bid, should the Dawgs fall in the post season tournament. We have a chance to go 16-2, but it all hinges on playing this type of basketball the rest of the season. By this I mean the final 4 minutes where the Bruins only scored 4 more point. Tough defense, hardcore offense, and a strong, collective team effort.

Go Dawgs!

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.

Things got worse after half when the Dawg defense shut down and allowed three straight 3-pointers, all by Lazeric Jones who had been silent all game. Suddenly, the Huskies found themselves down 10 with time running off the clock. Something awakened in the team and the crowd, which translated into Terrence Ross taking things to the next level.

The Huskies struggled to contain Josh Smith who scored a career high 24 points. Smith did damage the whole game with 14 points during the first half. While Aziz N’Diaye tried his best to contain Smith, the two early fouls limited his minutes resulting in Austin Seferian-Jenkins and Shawn Kemp Jr. rotating through to try and prevent Smith from scoring. The Huskies experienced their best success by playing a zone defense to prevent entry passes to the post and allowed the Dawgs to double team Smith, forcing turnovers. Smith did not score in the final minute of the game (well, technically he scored with 56 seconds on the clock, but I’ll excuse it), which was integral in deciding the outcome of the game. N’Diaye was also able to secure the final rebound over Smith as the clock ran out.

The two biggest possessions of the game came in the final minutes when the Bruins committed offensive fouls and allowed UW to extend their small lead to a two possession difference. The Bruins kept fighting back and the missed free throws by UW allowed the Bruins to get back within 2 points during the final 20 seconds. UW played solid defense and forced a young, in experienced Bruin to take a contested shot, which ended up rattling out and tipped around until N’Diaye could finally corral the ball.

The crowd played a big part of UW’s success in the final 10 minutes of the game. Once the Dawg Pack started going and Ross starting being a superstar, the rest of the stadium really perked up, stood up, and got into UCLA’s collective head. The offense wasn’t able to execute properly as no one could hear what was going on. After the game, Coach Chillious raised the roof at the Dawg Pack, Darnell Gant beat his chest, pointed, and yelled, and Romar came over, pointed at the score board, pointed at us, and said that was your win, you helped us do that. I invest a lot of my time, energy, and emotion into this team and into leading the Dawg Pack and it felt really good to see everyone finally getting involved in the game and having the type of effect on the game that we had between ’04 and ’09. It felt even better to see our efforts get recognized and appreciated by the coach and team.

N’Diaye played a pretty good game, despite the defensive struggles against Smith. No one could defend Smith, who pushed people around with his gut, so it is hard to discredit N’Diaye for failing the same as everyone else who tried to match-up with Smith. N’Diaye was a solid 3-4 from the field and grabbed 11 rebounds. N’Diaye could have had a double-double, but finished with 7 after hitting only 1 of his 4 free throw attempts. N’Diaye needs to get some better coaching about his foul shot because he is shooting under 40% on the year, which is not only miserable, it hurts our team. N’Diaye gets to the line 2 to 4 times a night and generally misses at least half those shots. That is a lot of points and opportunities being squandered away. “Hack the Shaq” is a very viable option for teams in close games and that scares me more than anything. N’Diaye delivered a nice pass and assist to Tony Wroten who was cutting across the baseline. It was almost a perfect reverse of the usual Wroten to N’Diaye plays. The only big negative for me, outside of the usual free throw issues, was the accidental tip-in by N’Diaye on our own hoop. Rather than getting up and putting two hands on the ball, N’Diaye tried to tip the ball out to a teammate, but it went rogue and N’Diaye scored against us.

Speaking of Wroten, Tony had himself a wild game. Wroten took a knee to the thigh that caused him pain throughout the game and may cause Wroten to play limited, if any, minutes during the USC game tomorrow. Wroten was only 4 of 11 from the field. Wroten grabbed up 5 rebounds, 2 offensive, and dished out 2 assists. His 5 turnovers were very reminiscent of his earlier games, but the 5-5 free throw shooting shows the type of improvement Wroten has made to his game. The other “improvement” I saw from Wroten was an attempt at a right-handed lay-in, something I don’t think he had done yet. Sadly, the ball rolled out of the rim, but it was good to see Wroten finally use that second hand of his to take a shot.

Darnell Gant became a true senior tonight. He scored 10 points in the first half, including a very much needed 3-pointer early in the game, deep into the shot clock. Gant finished with only 14 points, but his defense on the Wear twins and other perimeter players was just as valuable as his emotional play and the leadership he displayed. Tonight I saw Gant beating his chest, coaching his teammates, yelling at the crowd to get up and get loud. The passion was evident and Gant was quoted after the game saying he nearly cried following the win. He wanted this game badly and it showed. Let’s hope he can continue to be the type of leader this team has been sorely missing.

Abdul Gaddy played another silent game, but did a much better job of attacking the hoop than in previous weeks. Gaddy was 2-5 from the field, 3-4 from the line, and delivered 5 assists. His 4 turnovers marred an otherwise solid outing. I don’t know what it is going to take to get Gaddy to go back to the level of play he displayed in the first half of conference lasts season. Maybe he’ll never quite get back to that after his ACL tear. Either way, he needs to adjust his game by either getting back in the lane or starting to develop a reliable outside shot that will force defenders to step out, opening the lanes for his teammates.

Desmond Simmons seems to have hit the freshman wall as of late. He played only 11 minutes despite starting, grabbed only 2 rebounds, and missed both shot attempts including an ugly airball. Not much to say about his game due to his limited play time.

C.J. Wilcox looked rusty tonight. Maybe the lack of practices are finally catching up a bit. Wilcox was only 1 of 4 from the field, but drilled all 4 of his free throws, which were immensely important to the Husky win. While I understand and appreciate the need for Wilcox to rest during the week for the games, the fact Wilcox is limited to only 50 jump shots per practice seems a bit absurd to me. Let him take 75 or 100, I highly doubt that will have a huge effect on his injury. Hopefully the Huskies can get things done in a big way against USC (who lost to WSU by only 3, mildly concerning) and both him and Wroten can get their rest and let others gain some valuable play time.

Shawn Kemp Jr. played some very strong minutes and had one of his better games. All 4 points came off of dunks, including a very impressive trail play leading to a powerful jam, a small reminder of his father who is one of the best dunkers in the history of the game. ASJ played only 5 minutes and picked up 2 fouls.

Terrence Ross. My man. Please play all 40 minutes like you do the final 10. If you do, you will score 30 points a game, each and every night. Heck, I’ll settle for Ross playing two solid halves of basketball versus one half of pure athleticism and skill. Ross played another amazing second half to rally the Dawgs. He caught alley-oops for sweet jams, he drained shots from 25 feet, checking his heat and finding himself on fire, he even pulled off a Top 10 worthy (though he was snubbed somehow) lay-in that shouldn’t even be physically possible. After spinning off his defender, Ross was fouled and knocked to the ground, but still managed to get a shot off and it banked home for the AND-1, which put the Dawgs on top. Speaking of banks, Ross drained a ridiculous bank shot at the end of the first half to give the Huskies the 1 point lead. Ross also pulled off a crazy double cross over move that was worthy of some recognition. Ross had 4 rebounds on top of 22 points, 1 steal, two nice blocks, and 3 turnovers. If Ross can put together another impressive game against USC, he will likely win Player of the Week.

What Needed Improvement:

• Terrence Ross-First Half -I would like to see a game where Ross scores 8-10 in the first half. I’m not sure how many games this season Ross has had 4 or less points going into the break, but it is far too many. It needs to change. Not sure what the difference is for Ross, but I guarantee the heart of it is mental.
• Ball Control - The Huskies committed 10 turnovers in the first half and finished the game with 16. Not good by any stretch of the imagination. Too many times the Dawgs would throw the ball out of bounds. UCLA was credited with 10 steals, but I don’t recall that many occurring. The Husky guards have been really sloppy as of late and that won’t win us any games. The Dawgs also managed only 10 assists, far below the goals and abilities of this team. Got to get this righted for the final half of the year.

What was Good:

• Terrence Ross-Second Half - He is a true closer and is everything in the second half that LeBron James isn’t. The kid has a will to win and once the shots start dropping, he can’t be stopped. Ross went 9-12 from the field and a perfect 2-2 from deep and dominated the second half. Ross didn’t miss in the second half until there were only 25 seconds on the clock.
• Gant’s Leadership - His words helped organize the team, his fire pumped up the crowd, and his first half helped the Dawgs take an early lead despite their short comings. Loved the game Gant played today. If Wroten is hurt on Saturday and does not start, I would like to see the Dawgs bust out a 3 forward line-up with Gant back in the starting 5 along side N’Diaye and Simmons.
• The Crowd - The crowd is finally getting into this team again and it is showing up on the home court. The turning point was the WSU come back game. It got loud and people had fun. Now that they have tasted what a truly great college atmosphere is like, they want more and are getting it by creating it themselves. This team is young, and young players thrive on the emotion of the crowd.

Final Thoughts:

This game could have been a blow out if the Dawgs didn’t try to throw it away in the first half. The Huskies pulled off another impressive come back and fought off an improving UCLA team. Terrence Ross was a catalyst once more and Gant continued to improve his game and attitude. Thank you, Arizona, for knocking off Cal on their home court and giving us sole possession of first place. With an injured USC team on the horizon, the Huskies can maintain their lead and should ASU pull off a surprising come back, the Dawgs can increase their lead. The Dawgs have one last home-stand after this weekend against the Arizona schools as well as road trips to Oregon, WSU, and the LA schools. The toughest games will likely come against UCLA, WSU, and Oregon as all 3 tend to be superb on their home courts. The Huskies can ill afford more than 2 losses the remainder of the regular season, but with the way this team has been performing, I am confident they can pull out some more grinding, dirty wins away from Hec-Ed. Let’s get it done boys and bring home that banner.

Go Dawgs!

]]> http://www.montlakemadness.com/huskies-comeback-to-beat-bruins-71-69/feed/ 8 http://www.montlakemadness.com/game-preview-ucla-3/ http://www.montlakemadness.com/game-preview-ucla-3/#comments Thu, 02 Feb 2012 03:21:05 +0000 Themod http://www.montlakemadness.com/?p=6587 Just a quick note about tomorrow’s game before I get into the preview. If you are attending the game, the athletic department is planning a 70′s night theme. So bring your best 70′s gear and rock out. It was originally planned as a Lorenzo Romar throwback night, okay-ed by the coach himself, but then someone (who’s name I was not informed of) got their panties in a bunch about some dumb issue, which resulting in changing the theme to 70′s night to preserve the core of their game day plans. On to the preview!  

by: John Chase

This is how UCLA’s year has gone.

After looking like the powerhouse of the Pac-12, UCLA suffered some humiliating losses in the early non-con and have had to drag their way out of the basement, back into some semblance of a competitive team. The Bruins have stumbled to a 12-9 (5-4 in conference) record, leaving them tied for 5th place alongside Stanford and Arizona. Their record includes two very ugly home losses to Loyola Marymount 69-58 and a humongous 20 point loss 86-66 to Middle Tennessee.

ESPN penned a nice article a while back about the Wear twins and how they are holding UCLA back. The article argues that the Wear twins are the same player, so playing both on the court at the same time is wasteful and severely reduces game planning ability.

UCLA has yet to tally a quality win, much like the rest of the Pac-12, the big difference has been bad losses to non-tournament teams. Their team has played better as of late, especially with Reeves Nelson no longer part of the team. The Bruins come into this game with two straight wins over newcomers Colorado and Utah after getting swept on the road by the Oregon schools. This has been the Bruins’ story throughout conference play, solid games at home, weak performances on the road. This should be huge and with the Bruins historically playing bad basketball at Hec-Ed, the Dawgs should definitely be considered the favorites coming into the match.

The Bruins are a forward heavy team, lacking in solid guard play, which has certainly been the core of their problems. Lazeric Jones has had to really step up his play for UCLA to find any type of success and has been doing a very reasonable job of playing above his past levels. Jones is currently first on the team in both scoring and assists with 13.4 and 4.6 per game respectively. He is also first in turnovers per game with 2.5, something the Dawgs should be looking to heavily exploit. Personally, I would like to see Tony Wroten guard Jones as Wroten is a much better defender than Gaddy (2 steals per game versus .7 indicates more stringent defense, though Wroten has been known to miss assignments on occasion). Jones is just one of several respectable shooters on the team, hitting 37% of his shots behind the arc and 44% from the field. Jones is a respectable free throw shooter with a 75% average on the season. Keeping Jones in check will be critical for the Husky defense as the UCLA offense runs primarily through Jones.

The Wear twins each average at least 10 points per game (Travis is averaging 12 per game) and 5 rebounds (David is picking up 6 per game). Both are solid post players with a great inside shot and show decent mobility on the wings, though David is the better shooter of the pair with 9 makes on 15 attempts to Travis’ 3 makes on 6 attempts. Travis is the better foul shooter. At 6-10 225lb, the twins are tall enough to do shoot over their defenders, but thin enough to move past them as well. Aziz N’Diaye should have the muscle to take either of them to the rack without too much difficulty and should be able to keep the twins out of the paint as well. Austin Serferian-Jenkins may be undersized compared to the twins, but is much stronger and likely much faster than either, which will be important if they begin to rove around the perimeter.

Josh Smith. The kid could be an athlete, a dominate one at that, but his weight issues continue to hold him back. Smith averages only 17 minutes per game, but is solidly over 300lbs. Smith often uses his girth to push others out of his way, but as I said with the Wear twins, our post players have distinct strength advantages. Smith scores an average of 9.7 points and 5 boards per game. Smith is not a great shooter outside the paint and is almost as bad of a free throw shooter as N’Diaye, hitting only 53 of 93 attempts from the foul line. Smith also averages 2 turnovers per game. If the Dawgs can play tight defense, they can cause real havoc due to the poor ball handling UCLA often displays.

Tyler Lamb and Jermine Anderson may be the most dynamic and potentially explosive players for the Bruins. They each average around 9 points, 3 rebounds, as well as 3-4 assists per game. Both commit nearly 2 turnovers per game. Their shooting percentages are nearly identical and have made 25 and 23 3-pointers respectively. Lamb scored a season high 26 against California, while Anderson had 20 against Chaminade, a DII school, in the Maui Invitational.

Predicted Starting Line-Ups:

UCLA:

Lazeric Jones 6-0 187lb
Jermaine Anderson 6-2 183lb
Tyler Lamb 6-5 200lb
Travis Wear 6-10 220lb
David Wear 6-10 225lb

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:

• Rebounding - Offensive boards were the number 1 reason the Huskies won their game against the Wildcats last Saturday. Rebounds will continue to be the biggest key to success. The Husky offense has been slumping lately from deep, due mainly to the absence of C.J. Wilcox from the line-up. Speaking of Wilcox, he will not practice the remainder of the season and will be day-to-day for games, much like B-Roy his junior season. Our players have superior strength and size, despite UCLA’s depth in the frontcourt, and must utilize this to box their men out and clear house on the glass.
• Backcourt Defense - The Husky backcourt defense is definitely the strong point of our team and where UCLA’s offense is weakest in terms of ball handling. If the Dawgs can abuse this and get into transition, they stand a very good chance of blowing UCLA out of the water. The UCLA big men are not good in transition, especially Smith, and getting numbers in our favor will be much easier this way.
• Free Throws - I really don’t know what to say that I haven’t already said a thousand times. Free throws win ball games and with some home cooking hopefully heading our way, the Dawgs need to capitalize or risk keeping UCLA in the game. The best way for our team to get and score free throws is by having Wilcox and Ross attack the lanes. They are great foul shooters and are extremely capable in the paint.

Final Thoughts:

This is a very winnable game for the Dawgs and one has to think that with the Arizona win still in the back of their minds, the Huskies are feeling strong and capable. Hopefully this means a big time win and an impressive home showing, something that hasn’t truly happened since the opening tournament. I would really like to see this squad control the game from the opening tip, keeping their foot on the Bruins’ necks until the final minute. Too often, the Huskies slow their game down in the waning minutes and allows the opposition to close the gap. I’m all for getting our bench players in, but at this point in the season and our current weak standing, in terms of a tournament resume, we need all the big time wins we can get. This means going hard the full 40 minutes versus killing the clock.

Final Score Prediction: UW-88 UCLA-74

Wily Low - AP

The game came down to a game saving block yet again, but this time it went to the Huskies and it was without a doubt a solid block. Nick Johnson flew in after the block and flushed a dunk and it appeared that Arizona may have tied it up, but the replay clearly showed time had expired and UW won it after Tony Wroten swatted away the potential game tying shot.

The Huskies could have put this game out of reach sooner, but several big missed free throws allowed UA to tie the game at 67 with just a few seconds left on the clock. At one point, the Huskies held an 11 point lead, but let it bleed away with critical turnovers and a silly 5 second call on an inbounds play. Despite their struggles, the crowd, and the foul differential (22 to 13 with four UW players sitting at 4 fouls, while no UA player had more than 3), the Huskies were able to get the win in front of a national audience. This is quickly becoming one of the most exciting rivalries in the league, and nation if you ask me, as the past 4 games have all been thrilling in their own ways.

This win was huge as the Huskies jumped into first place in the conference with a 7-2 record. Both Cal and Oregon play their instate rivals tomorrow and can retie for first place with wins. Out of those two, Oregon has a better chance of winning due to the sub-stellar play of OSU as of late. Stanford has been solid thus far and could give Cal problems on Sunday. The sweep over the Arizona schools, on the road, is going to have big implications for conference standings as UA is a strong home team that will be tough to beat.

Solomon Hill single-handedly kept Arizona in the game with a massive 28 point 11 rebound night, shooting 9 free throws and sinking 8 as well as draining both of his 3-point jumpers. Hill only missed one shot all night and finished 9 of 10 from the field. Jesse Perry did his part as well making 13 points and grabbing a game high 12 rebounds. Hill and Perry were the only Wildcats in double digit scoring.

Four Huskies hit double digit points and all made strong arguments for MVP of the game. Wroten scored a team high 17 points, right around his average, Aziz N’Diaye played a huge game scoring 12 points and grabbing a team high 8 rebounds, 5 offensive, C.J. Wilcox came off the bench and drained 15 points with some nice drives in the lane, and Terrence Ross put up 16 points and 7 boards.

The other four Huskies combined for a less than acceptable 9 points. All four went 1-3 from the field. They did manage to combine for an important 11 rebounds.

Aziz N’Diaye used his size advantage to take it to the hole early on and found immediate success against the much smaller Wildcat frontcourt. N’Diaye was able to extend over the defenders for some nice looking post moves and hook shots. The Dawgs recognized the advantage and fed him the ball more often than in the past. While N’Diaye’s offensive talents are still improving, the difference between this year and last is very noticeable and much needed. Aziz finished 6-11 from the field, but missed all 3 free throw attempts.

C.J. Wilcox looked solid on the court, finished inside the paint when his outside shot wasn’t falling. Wilcox hit 6 of 10 from the field and was only 1 of 3 from outside the arc. Wilcox nearly cost the Dawgs the game with a missed front end of a 1-and-1 with the Dawgs only up 3 points. The Wildcats came down and sank a game tying 3-pointer. Wilcox took care of business in the last 15 seconds, hitting a pair of free throws following the expected foul. Wilcox had 5 boards and a pair of assists as well as turnovers. Not his greatest night, but following over two weeks of missed practices and games, Wilcox knocked some of his rust off and played big when we needed him.

Terrence Ross had another amazing second half, hitting some big 3-pointers down the stretch to extend the Husky lead. Like Wilcox, Ross missed the front end of a critical 1-and-1 situation that nearly cost the Dawgs the win. Still, Ross had an impressive stat stuffing night with 7 boards, 2 assists, 3 steals, 3 blocks, and 3 turnovers. Ross put together a much better game and did some work in both halves rather than just in the second. That being said, Ross was still much better in the last 20 than the first 20 minutes. Ross let his impact be felt defensively more than offensively as his blocks were humongous and provided the Dawgs with some nice transition opportunities.

Tony Wroten gets my MVP vote tonight. Not only did he swat the game winning block, but Wroten drilled an insane 3-pointer after Ross bobbled the ball. With only 3 seconds on the clock, Wroten grabbed up the loose ball, turned and dribble around his man and pulled up for a 30 footer that crashed through the net. Unbelievable. The shot was almost a bad thing for Wroten and the Dawgs as Wroten got a little too cocky and started to play overexcited, shooting a poor 3-pointer and turning the ball over in the paint. Wroten quickly gained his composure back after the turnover and returned to playing more mature basketball. Wroten went 5-7 from the foul line, but finished a rather poor 5-18 from the field. Many of his shots were inside where he tried to muscle through a lot of contact that wasn’t being called (see the foul differential). My bet is Wroten gets Player of the Week once more and gives one more reason why he should get Freshman of the Year and possibly Player of the Year. Wroten averaged just under 20 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 4 assists per game this week and helped seal a much needed road sweep.

The rest of the Dawgs played somewhat underwhelming. Abdul Gaddy had the biggest impact, picking up 3 assists early in the first half and finishing with 5 on the night with only 1 turnover. Gaddy managed only 2 points and was not aggressive offensively. His 4 fouls certainly limited how hard he could go to the hoop and defend, but I thought Gaddy had a favorable match-up that could have been exploited more often. Darnell Gant and Desmond Simmons provided some defensive sparks and grabbed 4 boards a piece. Simmons drilled a wide open 3-pointer in the starting minutes to help the Huskies jump out to a 7 point lead. Austin Sefarian-Jenkins played only 6 minutes, but gave N’Diaye a breather and gave out some heavy fouls. Kevin Parrom tried to shove ASJ after a foul, but the big man didn’t move an inch and Parrom seemed to realize his mistake shortly after.

What Needed Improvement:

• Free Throws - When the fouls aren’t going your way, you have to hit the few you are given. The Huskies were miserable form the line, hitting only 7 of their 16 attempts. In tight games, especially on the road, foul shots are critical. As I said in the pregame, we were not going to get many calls and I was proven right. The Dawgs did not capitalize on their opportunities and it nearly cost them the game. The Huskies MUST improve their foul shooting or risk another close game slipping away.
• Ball Control - Down the stretch, the Huskies got sloppy with the ball and play calls leading to unnecessary and unforced turnovers that allowed UA to fight their way back into the game. 13 turnovers were committed, 5 by Wroten (though I believe the officials should have called a foul instead of traveling on at least one of those plays). The Dawgs need to take better care of the ball and limit themselves to 10 or less per game. The 13 turnovers led to 17 points by the Wildcats.

What Was Good:

• Inside Presence - The Huskies posted a 34 to 28 point advantage inside, led by N’Diaye and Wroten who crashed the glass and the lane. Wilcox provided the spark inside during the second half and Ross showed himself to be an extreme athlete once more with some impressive moves on the block.
• Rebounding - One of the biggest keys to UW’s win was offensive rebounding. The Huskies posted 16 offensive boards (36 total) that led to 17 second chance points, crushing UA’s 8 second chance points. When our shots weren’t dropping, we got up high and gathered the ball for the easy put back. UA did manage 35 boards behind the strong efforts of Hill and Perry, but it just wasn’t enough. Six Huskies posted 4 or more rebounds, while Hill and Perry were the only Wildcats with more than 3 rebounds.

Final Thoughts:

Finally we played in a big road game and came out the victors. Solid defense forced 15 turnovers and held the ‘Cats to 42% shooting from the field (not great, but solid enough) and 30% from deep (again, not great, but good enough). The Huskies put together some big stops early in both halves to put the Wildcats in some deep holes that proved too difficult to climb out of. The Wildcats went into half with a 3 point lead following a controversial dunk that appeared to be offensive goaltending.

The Huskies overcame sloppy play and put together a strong enough effort to pull out the win. I would say the Dawgs played about 30 minutes of tough basketball, the other 10 minutes led to the Wildcats coming back from 7 and 11 point deficits.

Big, big win and while I understand the Pac-12 is “weak” this year, anyone watching the game has to admit it was exciting. These two teams have provided some of the best basketball in the nation these past two seasons and I suspect this will continue for several more years as the programs have really begun to make this game into a huge event with everyone giving all they have to offer. This will be huge when it comes to building our players’ mental attitude about big games and road games and should really give these guys a taste of how sweet a big time win is.

Hopefully this is the turning point that allows us to start crushing teams with our superior athleticism and talent. Romar, now is your time to get us rolling. The momentum is here, the talent is here, now it comes down to execution and chemistry. Get it done, boys.

Go Dawgs!

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

Paul Connors - AP

More of the same. While any road win is a good win for the Huskies this year, the Dawgs scored a season low 22 points in the first half and continued to struggle to find any kind of offensive rhythm against a poor and short-handed Sun Devil team.

Tony Wroten put the team on his back and provided much needed energy and scoring that kept the Huskies from losing another road game. He got into the paint and finished at the rim including a MONSTER DUNKFACE on ASU’s Jonathan Gilling that will be replayed many times over. I hope the Wroten-makes-this-team-worse people will now go away.

It was great, and surprising, to see C.J. Wilcox back on the floor tonight. He looked a little slow and uncomfortable out there. Let’s hope that it’s only rust and not due to any pain or lingering injury-related cause.

For the second game in a row, Austin Seferian-Jenkins was a beast on defense and on the boards. He’s just a physical player that brings a new facet to this team. He had a few freshman errors and struggled at scoring but you have to expect that. Anything he brings to this team is just a bonus.

The Sun Devils are not a good team and the Huskies played down to their level. The Dawgs struggled shooting the ball all night and couldn’t buy a bucket from anything outside of the paint. Ross didn’t have a breakout second half like he has in the past which was disappointing.

Like I said, a win is a win, beggars can’t be choosers, and other idioms of that sort.

Positives:

• Tony Wroten – Easily the MVP tonight. He brought the heat all game, on both ends, and stuffed the stat sheet. He finished with 22 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, and only 2 turnovers. As soon as I get a link to a video of the dunk, I will pass it along.
• ASJ – His real impact doesn’t show up in the box score but everyone who watches the games knows that he is a true positive out there. He finished with 4 points (his first as a Dawg), 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, and another 5 fouls.
• Defense – Given, it was a bad ASU team, but the Huskies were swarming around the ball tonight. There were a couple more poor rotations but overall, it was a good night. They recorded 7 steals, 5 blocks, and forced 15 turnovers.
• Points in the Paint – The Huskies did their work down low with 34 points in the paint, with most of them coming from Mr. Wroten. Even with a couple of 7 footers roaming around, the Huskies made their presence known.

Negatives:

• Offensive Rhythm – It’s just not there on the road. Everything just looks disjointed and chaotic. Just when you seems some good movement off of the ball, the handler gets congested and puts up a poor shot. Wroten’s ability to create his own shot was a huge help. The first half, especially, was ugly.
• Pace – The Huskies only had 2 fast break points. Gaddy doesn’t seem to want to press the issue when he has numbers on the break and it’s infuriating. It played right into the hands of ASU who falls back into their zone and force UW to shoot jumpers. Even if it’s a sloppy break, you’d like to  see the Dawgs speed things up.
• Leadership – I just didn’t see it out there. None of the captains seem to get the team together and on track. Usually a leader would have appeared by now but it doesn’t seem like anyone wants it.
• Assists – Only 11 in the game. People try to create their own shots and getting a nice pass seems like a rarity. You’d wish Gaddy would step it up in this department.

Overall:

It wasn’t pretty but the Huskies grabbed a share of the Pac-12 Conference lead with the win. You would have liked to see UW finally put together a dominant road win against an inferior team but it seems like that won’t happen this season.

I keep waiting for Terrence Ross to put together a solid 40 minutes but he can’t quite figure it out. He’s a hard worker and puts in the effort but his on court leadership and killer instinct have yet to develop.

This all sets up a big time game in Tucson against the Wildcats which will feel like a rivalry game. It will be hosted by ESPN’s College Gameday which brings back memories of last season’s “white out” game at Arizona where the officials botched Derrick Williams’ block of Gant’s shot for the win. And yes, I’m still bitter.

Can’t wait for Saturday’s match up. Bow Down.

Once a tough game for any team, this year’s version of head coach Herb Sendek’s team is definitely struggling. At 6-13 (2-5) this year, the Sun Devils are 288th and 289th in scoring and rebounding nationally, respectively. That’s really bad. On top of that, they only scored 43 points against another poor team in Utah last Saturday. I almost feel bad for them… almost.

Their leading scorer, Trent Lockett (13.9), has been out for the last two games and is questionable for the game against the Huskies. He was a real breakout player last season and it can be nothing but good news if he’s out.

Their second leading scorer this season, Kaela King (13.7), has left the team entirely. It’s just not the Sun Devil’s year. At guard, that leaves Carrick Felix (10.7 ppg), Chanse Creekmur (5.4), and Chris Colvin (5.7) holding down the fort. Like I said, it’s just not the Sun Devil’s year.

Felix is an explosive athlete at 6-6 and, without Lockett in the line up, is their best scoring option. Look for him and Ross to go one-on-one almost the entire night. Colvin is their default point guard averaging a 3.1:3.0 assist/turnover ratio. Creekmur scored 24 points against Oregon State when he caught fire from deep shooting 6/7. In the two games since then he has scored zero points while playing 66 minutes. I’m not too worried about him.

In the post it doesn’t get much better. Ruslan Pateev, the seven footer from Russia, will square off with Aziz at center in an international clash of the ages. Pateev has struggled this year averaging only 14 minutes a game at 4.8 points and 3.4 rebounds. Alongside Pateev will be sophomore Kyle Cain and freshman (from Denmark) Jonathan Gilling. Cain was a highly touted recruit who has under performed and I have never even heard of Gilling before.

Projected Starters:

ASU

Chris Colvin – 6-2

Chanse Creekmur – 6-5

Carrick Felix – 6-6

Jonathan Gilling – 6-7

Ruslan Pateev – 7-0

UW

Abdul Gaddy, 6-3 

Tony Wroten Jr., 6-5 

Terrence Ross, 6-6 

Desmond Simmons, 6-7 

Aziz N’Diaye, 7-0 

Note: I’m assuming that Trent Locket is not starting, if that wasn’t obvious.

Keys to the Game:

• Pace – It doesn’t get more different than between these two teams. The Huskies lead the conference with 62.7 field goal attempts per game and the Sun Devils are dead last with only 46.5. ASU will look to slow down the game to a snail’s pace and limit possessions. UW needs to get out on the break and run.
• Rebounding – Perhaps this needs it’s own post, but the Huskies are DOMINATING the boards this season. They are first in the conference in RPG and 8th in the nation. It was a real concern of mine to begin the season and now it has become the biggest strength of this team. ASU is 10th in the conference in rebounding so the Huskies need to assert their dominance.
• 3-point Shooting – ASU and Sendek love the zone and without Wilcox, this team is limited in perimeter scoring options. Look for ASU to be in a lot of zone which means Ross/Gaddy/Gant need to be on point from deep. Tony, please notice how I did NOT mention your name.

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.

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.