DEAN RUTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Well that was a stressful win. That much is certain. UW had a 10 point lead with 4 minutes to go only to throw it away by giving up two straight 3-pointers and two lay-ins. All of a sudden it was tied at 77 in a span a hair longer than a minute. All this out of a timeout by UW. Where was the game plan? I can understand a 10-0 run, it happens, but not out of a timeout and not in the final minutes against a mid-major.

The refs started out decent enough in the first half. They were atrocious in the second. Between several very poor calls and misses as well as UW missing huge free throws at the end of the game kept this much closer than it should have been. Four straight free throws were missed with under a minute on the clock. Unacceptable.

Thankfully, Romar pulled Tony Wroten(who was playing out of his mind) after missing his third straight free throw in the closing minutes and put in Desmond Simmons who is an excellent free throw shooter. Wroten was 4-9 on the night. Not going to work. Not at all.

UW came out with a 4 guard line-up featuring Tony Wroten with Aziz N’Diaye on the sidelines due to his knee injury. UW came out in the second half with C.J. Wilcox on the bench and Desmond Simmons in the starting 5. This was a good move as Wilcox was cold tonight and we needed a big man in the post to shore up the defense. It paid off as UCSB had 26 points in the paint in the first half and only 10 in the second.

Tony Wroten. He is the best, most frustrating player I’ve ever seen. Yet he is the heart and soul of this team. We have been asking who’s this teams leader. I have an answer, Tony Wroten. Say all you want about the turnovers, as long as he keeps playing this way I am OK with it. Keep it to 5 and under, that is my limit. 27 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist (more on this later), 5 turnovers, and 1 steal. I’ll take that stat line. He could have had 30 if he made his free throws. He was visibly upset with himself after missing the last 3 free throws. This was great to see. It means he is starting to take the free throws seriously and understands what kind of impact free throws have on a game. He had a monster slam after juking out his defender with a sweet fake pass. I thought for sure it would be on SportCenter, but sadly it was not. His assist, however, was.

Terrence Ross. When can we get a full 40 out of you?? Yet again, it took a huge second half for Ross to break double digits. Ross had only 2 points in the first half. He tallied up 14 in the second half and finished with 5 rebounds, an assist, two steals, and just one turnover. Ross nabbed the number 2 spot on the Top Ten with another vicious jam courtesy of Tony Wroten. It would have been number 1 if not for a great 3/4 court shot that swished at the end of half. Hard to argue against that. Wroten lobbed up a beautiful assist that Ross turned into a full 360 jam. Absolutely monstrous. Ross went 4-4 from the charity stripe with all 4 coming in crunch time. He hit 2 of 4 from deep and shot 5 of 12 on the night. Wroten had 21 shots compared to a combined total of 17 for Wilcox and Ross. I like that Wroten is taking the initiative and getting to the rack, but Wilcox and Ross are our best shooters and need to have more opportunities.

Desmond Simmons had another stellar night and continues to impress me with his solid shot and great work effort. 9 points on 4-5 shooting including a dime from deep, 8 rebounds, and 2 steals. He did miss his lone free throw, which was infuriating simply because he is a solid player at the line. Simmons best plays often come defending in the post where he deflects passes left and right. Both of his steals came from deflecting passes and chasing down the loose ball. If Tony hadn’t willed this team to victory tonight I would be expecting Romar to throw Simmons in the starting 5 simply because of how much of an impact he has on the game. I think Simmons is one of the more underrated and valued players on the team and possibly in the Pac-12. Game in and game out he performs well.

Abdul Gaddy silently shot his way to 17 points. I didn’t even realize he did that well until I looked at the post-game stats. He only had 1 assist, but given the fact that the team only had 8 assist on the night it hard to expect him to get much more than that. Gaddy was 6-10 on the night and drilled 2 of his 3 3-pointers. He also tallied 2 boards and 0 turnovers. Not bad. He looked much more aggressive tonight and seems to be taking a page out of Wroten’s book.

Darnell Gant was all sorts tonight. His 2-7 shooting was sub par. He was 4-5 from the line and ended with 9 points and 8 boards, 4 of which were offensive. That was great to see, especially with N’Diaye out of the game. He also dished out an assist and had a steal, going without a turnover tonight.

C.J. Wilcox all but disappeared tonight. He took only 5 shots and hit just 2 of them. Wilcox had picked up 4 fouls with over 15 minutes to go in the second half, which in part contributed to his lack of opportunities. Wilcox needs to get aggressive and attack the hoop. He has a fantastic inside shot that is underused. He still seems to have the streaky mentality where is he cold he can’t get hot, if he is hot his shots just wont stop draining through the net.

What Needed Improvement:

• Free Throws - 19-30 from the line is atrocious. I plan on writing an article on free throws in the next few days so I’ll try not to rant too much on this post. This mainly falls on Wroten who was 4-9 from the line. Gaddy was also a tad behind with a 3-5 night from the stripe and Kemp was 2-4 on the night. The rest of the team was nearly perfect.
• Rebounding - UW got out rebounded 40-35. Three players had 7 or more boards. Usually I’d be ecstatic about this, especially considering the Dawgs were without N’Diaye. What upset me were the 14 offensive boards UCSB collected leading to 12 second chance points. We have got to get better at preventing these second chance opportunities.
• Assists - We scorer nearly 90 points while only handing out 8 assists. I don’t even know how that is possible. While I like the fact that the team has enough players that can create their own opportunities, I like us dishing out 15+ assists much more. It shows movement and team unity.

What was Good:

• Defensive Tenacity - The Huskies forced 17 turnovers (only committing 7 themselves) and had 8 steals. I’d like to see a count of how many tipped balls UW had because they were all over the place. I loved the group effort. I realize the Gauchos scored quite a bit today, but to be fair Orlando Johnson was on fire and could not miss. He kept UCSB in the game much longer than I thought was possible.
• Inside Presence - I don’t mean our post players, I mean attacking the rim. Wroten highlighted it, but Ross had his fair share of nice inside shots in the second half. Gaddy was another force inside with a couple of nice drives. I still want to see Ross and Wilcox get to the hoop and earn some real free throws. Tonight, their shots came from late game fouls designed to slow us down and give UCSB a chance at an upset comeback.

Final Thoughts:

Giving up the 10 point lead in a matter of seconds was just plain ugly. I don’t know how Romar doesn’t use a time out after the back-to-back 3′s to rally the team and reorganize the offense. They need to keep the pedal to the metal.

Wroten could end up as the leading scorer for this team with the way he is going. Ross and Wilcox need to find their identity and get their game going for the full 40. A win is a win and hopefully this will inspire some great play. There is a lot of work to be done if they want to make the NCAA and it all starts here at Hec-Ed. No better place to do it than at home.
Go Dawgs!

Abdul Gaddy made it a 6 point game with a minute left and poor Duke free throw shooting kept the Huskies in the game. The night was off to an ominous start when Wilcox air-balled a his first 3-point attempt of the night (he went 2-7 from outside).

The end of the game was pretty strange. UW was without a post player due to Aziz N’Diaye leaving with some sort of knee injury (not sure if it’s a sprain or something worse, I’ll update when I hear more) and Darnell Gant fouling out. UW was also without its two star point guards and ended with Hikeem Stewart on the court for the final 30 seconds. Both Tony Wroten and Abdul Gaddy fouled out of the game.

Speaking of Tony Wroten, he has gone from a pass first guard to an attack 2 guard. He was one of the few players to really attack the lanes and get to the line. He went 6-8 from the free throw line on the night, another marked improvements from the first games of the year. He finished with a game high 23 points, 0 assists (bleh….), and 5 turnovers (this is normal for him, I am not surprised). He went 8-12 from the field, but could have gone 10-12 if he could make the easy lay-ins by using his opposite hand like a true college player.

Abdul Gaddy played a very quiet game opposite Wroten. Only 7 points on 2-4 shooting (0-2 from range) and went 3-5 from the line, a stat he and the rest of the team need to drastically improve on. What he did well is what he always does, 7 assists to 1 turnover. He is the calm to Wroten’s chaos. I’d like him to attack the hoop more. Not necessarily take the shot, just drive to collapse the lanes and free up our shooters. He still looked slow on the court and hesitant at times. He did a much better job getting in towards the rim at the end of the game, but his efforts came too late.

C.J. Wilcox was excellent minus his outside shooting. He drove the lane hard throughout the final 20 minutes and consistently scored with a strange, yet beautiful leaping Superman-esque move to float the shot over the defenders. I don’t know how he does it. He did it a few times last season as well and it is becoming his signature move in a way. His 22 points and aggressive attack of the hoop were great to see and were definitely needed, but yet again did not attempt a single free throw. I’m only OK with that because he scored in bunches and made his shots inside.

Terrence Ross was off tonight. He still managed 16 points but it took 17 attempts. He missed his AND1 opportunity and that was the only action he saw at the charity stripe. He is still very tentative about getting inside the paint at times and it really holds him back from his true potential. If he starts attacking with authority more often he’ll average over 20 points a game just by getting to the free throw line. Ross did try to throw down a monster jam over Plumlee, but it rattled loose from the hoop.

Aziz N’Diaye looked solid tonight on the defensive end. He only had 4 points and 5 rebounds before injuring his knee. Hopefully nothing is torn and it is just a minor sprain allowing him to return quickly. We will miss his size in the paint and I imagine that UW might go with a 4 guard line up to start most games. This could put Tony Wroten in the starting 5. We may also see Martin Breunig or Desmond Simmons in the starting 5 if N’Diaye must sit out. He managed to contain Plumlee pretty effectively and moved well on the court. The defense as a whole rotated much better tonight.

As I write this, Kentucky just got beat by Indiana on a last second three. At least Karma is still punishing the wicked.

I also need to give Romar some credit. I’m going to pretend that he reads my articles and implemented the high post and full court pressure because I told him to. He finally used full court pressure with over 10 minutes on the clock and low and behold the game went from a 19 point deficit to 6 at the end of the game. The pressure forced Duke to take poor shots, turn the ball over, and it gave UW that many more opportunities. It worked just as I said it would. UW has terrific athletes who can run and gun all day. Full court pressure allows us many more chances at fast breaks and open lanes. The high post ran through Ross and Gant and led to the only good 3-point shots. UW was struggling to get their shooters open and when they were open, they missed. UW (and Duke) went 5-17 from deep. Well below the Huskies talent and potential.

What Needed Improvement:

• Rebounding - The Huskies should have dominated this aspect of the game, but Duke came out on top 37-33. Many of the Duke rebounds came off long misses that the Blue Devils tipped out to their guards who were not blocked out and contained by the Huskies. Those long offensive boards also led to at least 2 of the Blue Devils 3-pointers, which is exactly what I said would happen in my pregame analysis. Ross led the Huskies with 7 boards and Simmons collected 6. N’Diaye only had 5 on the night in his 17 minutes of play.
• Shooting - UW was not hitting the open baskets and missed several critical easy lay-ins that shut down whatever momentum the Dawgs had going. Our players need to knock down the open shots because they have been few and far between lately, it would seem. I know our guys can shoot and I know players have cold nights, but tonight it seemed like everyone was cold at once and that is absolutely killer.
• Free Throw Shooting - 13-23…That is unacceptable. Thank the stars that Tony Wroten has been getting better and made 6-8 on the night. I’ll take 75% shooting from the Dawgs just about any night. No other player had more than 3 makes for the Dawgs. Wilcox and Ross, our two best free throw shooters, combined for only 1 free throw. That is unacceptable. These guys need to get the ball and take their man to the rack for some good old fashioned basketball.

What was Good:

• Gut and Drive - After getting down early once more, the Huskies fought back and worked their asses off to get back in the game. After scoring only 26 in the first half, UW doubled their scoring with 54 in the second. If UW could have managed 35 or 40 in the first half, UW would have won with ease. Statistically the Huskies and Blue Devils were essentially identical outside of the poor shooting in the first 10 minutes. The tenacity displayed by Wilcox and Wroten was fantastic. These players are starting to feel the heat and are dying to get back to their winning ways.

Final Thoughts: 

Tough week in the Big Apple for the Dawgs. They needed a big win, but came up short in both match-ups. All said, they Huskies looked much better than the maligned efforts they displayed in St. Louis and Nevada. No one in the Pac-12 plays like Duke or Marquette, which gives me hope that the Huskies can pretty much run the slate come conference and finished with 14, maybe 15 wins.

If the Dawgs can win at least 13 and make the final game of the conference tournament, they should go into March with 22 wins or so and 9 or 10 losses. That should be enough for an NCAA bid, though it will be a low seed. The pieces are here, the will to win is coming into its own, and the Huskies are just a few mistakes away from being 6-2 or 7-1 even. Our team is young, but talented and can do a lot of damage when they get their heads in the right place. Let’s get it done, boys.

Go Dawgs!

AP Photo/Frank Franklin II

I thought this game might be close but that was only because I am Husky biased. I didn’t recognize the team in purple tonight. The hustle, energy, and effort that the Huskies showed tonight was something new for this young team. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to overcome a few late mistakes as the Dawgs lose at Madison Square Garden to Marquette, 77-79.

Marquette is a good team. No, they are a really good team. There’s a reason that they are undefeated this year. I hate the typical “that was a good loss” sentiment but it’s hard to not like what you saw tonight.

Yes, there were a lot of head scratching mistakes and wall-punching moments but this team is young and still figuring out what it’s strengths are. I know that I’m sounding like a Husky apologist right now but after getting over the initial heart break, I really like what I saw tonight… except for the final minute.

I know that Husky Nation is coming down hard on Gaddy tonight, and he does deserve criticism, but Romar needs to call a timeout with roughly 6 seconds left after that three and draw SOMETHING up. It was 5 on 1 or 2 with a timeout in his pocket and he sat on it, again. Just like he did against Nevada. At call it and get it into Ross’ hands.

Sour grapes? Probably. On to the notes.

Positives:

• Energy/Effort/Hustle: Whatever you want to call it, it was all there. Minus a few boneheaded mistakes getting back on defense, the relentlessness that we’re used to seeing was back in full force. It won’t show in the stat line, but fighting for the lose balls was a big reason why UW stayed in it down the stretch. UW also had more second chance points, 19-6.
• Terrence Ross – He took the go-ahead shot and made it. That alone was enough for me to put him here. Add that to his 19 point, 9 rebound, 3 assist, and 9 of 14 from the field night. If only he would have had the VERY last possession in his hands…
• Tony Wroten – His aggressiveness with the ball was, at times, the only offense we had going. He makes defenses collapse and he’s a highlight waiting to happen. There’s some value to that in making the defense worry about a player in that way. Loose canons are fun and I’ll always take the Han Solos and Jack Bauers of the world on my team. Stats: 13 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 turnovers. If he could get his free throw shooting in line (3-7) he would play more minutes.
• C.J. Wilcox – He “only” made 3 threes, due to stingy MU defense, but his 4 blocks and 1 steal made a huge difference on the defensive end. His superb athleticism is really starting to show. He is becoming more than just a shooter which is great to see. Can’t say enough about how much I’m enjoying watching Wilcox play.
• Desmond Simmons – I really liked what I saw tonight. He has a great mix of energy, shooting, defense, and rebounding that just makes you love him. It was great to see him come back after a rough game at Nevada and his season high of 22 minutes (only 6 less than Gant) shows that Romar likes it too. He finished with 8 points and 7 rebounds with only 1 turnover.
• Aziz N’diaye (defense) – What a great defensive presence he was in the second half. He got key rebounds and made clutch blocks. If he can continue to improve his boxing out and body position for a full game, he can be special (don’t hold your breath).
• Rebounding – Even with MU losing their big man, Otule, early to injury, UW did a great job on the boards winning the battle 46-32 with 18 offensive boards.

AP Photo/ Jeff Roberson

This game went the complete opposite way I saw it playing out. Saint Louis played out of their minds and were unstoppable on offense. To start the game they hit 8 of 12 from range and would not be denied. Washington, on the other hand, could not buy a basket, were impatient, and often took poor forced shots.

Saint Louis deserves a lot of credit for the effort they put out, but this is a team we should have been able to beat. You can say that the early start kept us from getting into our normal rhythm, but the Billkens had the early start as well and they were firing on all cylinders so the argument is hardly valid.

I think the most glaring statistic of the night is 0-9. Under Lorenzo Romar, the Huskies have not won a road opener at the opposing teams home court. I love Romar and will be sad when he finally retires, but the fact that not a single one of his teams has won their first road game of the season is terrible. He is not mentally preparing the players correctly and it shows on the court. I could handle 0-9 if we played a top 25 team for our openers the majority of those years, but its losing to teams like Portland or getting completely blown out of the water by SLU today that is unacceptable. It’s not as if our teams are untalented, we have gone to three straight NCAAs and made the Sweet Sixteen three times in Romar’s tenure.

My other bone to pick with Romar is his absolute refusal to run a press in anything but garbage time. I have seen at least 10 games where UW was down double digits with 10 minutes or so to go and Romar will not press the ball. If I could ask him one question, it would be “why don’t you press more often?” Down 25 points with 12 minutes to go is when you start pressing, not with 2:30 to go and down 17. Each and every year Romar talks about how athletic his guys are, yet he seems uncomfortable with running a full court attack that will push his players endurance and talents. I don’t get it at all. This game showed why the Huskies might miss Venoy Overton a bit more than we thought. Off-court issues aside, Overton was fantastic at forcing the opposing guards into dumb mistakes and was great at getting in their heads.

Its tough to think about what went well for the Dawgs this game. No player stood out as having a great night. C.J. Wilcox was silent the whole game, picking up only 4 points and getting his first turnover after sloppily passing away a nice steal, and Terrence Ross picked it up towards the end and managed a double-double with 17 points and 1 rebounds.

Tony Wroten actually surprised me a bit with some nice shooting in the second half, racking up all of his 14 points in said half. He started off with two straight 3 threes only to then go on and make his same freshman mistakes and miss free throws.

Even Abdul Gaddy was essentially useless, getting completely shut down and did not look at all like the floor general we are used to seeing. He managed 5 points and 2 assists without a turnover. I do like his 3 steals.

I think the worst part of this game was seeing our defense in the faces of the Saint Louis shooters, hands in the sky, only to watch the ball swish through the net like it was practice. While our defense was far from perfect, they certainly gave a solid effort through most of the game, but the Billkens would not be denied their buckets.

I suppose the positive is that the Huskies managed to have a 12 point advantage in the second half, which cut SLU’s 25 point halftime lead. They also held the explosive SLU offense to only 27 points in the second half. UW also dominated the glass with 40-26 rebounding advantage, though admittedly this had more to do with our poor shooting than anything. I’d like to go back and watch the second half again without the score at the bottom and see how the Dawgs looked because their numbers are actually quite solid for the last 20 minutes. When you let yourself get down 25 points in a half it is near impossible to battle back.

Aziz N’Diaye had a better offensive night than defensive for once. 11 points on 5-8 shooting along with 6 rebounds. N’Diaye was always half a step behind his man and 6-6 Brian Conklin put the move on him all night to set a career high 25 points. Conklin reminds me a lot of Jon Brockman, though without some of the intangibles. He is undersized, but strong and mobile, making him dangerous against the less agile big men as seen today.

The UW post in general was pretty weak today, largely due to poor defensive switching leading to a bunch of fouls early on. This broke up the defensive rhythm even more as Romar was forced to constantly rotate our 4 and 5 to prevent foul outs. Darnell Gant had 4 fouls. N’Diaye had 3, Martin Breunig had 2, and Shawn Kemp Jr picked up a foul in his 5 minute burst. Tony Wroten actually fouled out, but I give the man credit for showing some hustle in the second half (not that he shouldn’t have been doing that in the first as well).

The Huskies only managed 10 assists today, while committing 16 turnovers, highlighting the struggles UW had in developing their offense. The Dawgs did not move the ball well and this led to players forcing shots as the shot clock dwindled. The Huskies need to really develop a half court offense when the tempo just isn’t playing out in their traditional, fast manner.

My number one hope is that the team can learn from this early loss and develop a bit more of an identity on both ends of the court. The Dawgs seemed to struggle with defensive switches and offensive rotations and it showed in the first half. The sense of panic and urgency really didn’t set in until 10 minutes left and the Dawgs were still fighting a 20 point lead.

This was an ugly game that the Billkens capitalized on in every facet of the game and I commend them for that. They proved themselves to be a much better team than I had thought and played much better than their statistics and previous season indicate. The Dawgs will need to bounce back with a home game this Friday against Houston Baptist. A little home cooking might help the team recover a bit and bring back the mojo carried them through the 3 game tournament last weekend.

I’m trying to chalk this one up to history, but the let down still hurts. Our team has a long ways to go, something I ignored while watching us carve up the mid-majors at home. I still think we can take the league, but its going to require a lot more consistency on our teams’ part and better preparation by the coaches, especially on the road. Not sure how they can go about doing that, but they are getting pad the big bucks to answer just those types of questions.

I believe Romar can get these guys going in the right direction, but I don’t want another 2009-2010 scenario where we have to win the Pac-12 tournament to make the NCAA. I want a decent seed and another Sweet Sixteen. The pieces are there, it’s just a matter of Romar putting the puzzle together.

Go Dawgs

It doesn’t get much better than that, folks. After hearing about the less-than-perfect outing last night against FAU, I expected to see a work in progress from this Husky squad. Instead, we were treated to an offensive and defensive clinic. While it wasn’t all perfect, I wasn’t expecting anything close to what I saw out of those Dawgs tonight.

Portland seamed shell-shocked from the opening tip as the shooting ability and defense of the Huskies stymied them all night. They Pilots lack a true star player like they had in Sikma and it definitely showed on the court.

The game was never close and it was great to see the Huskies come out fired up at halftime and continue to extend their lead.

“I didn’t think anyone had their own agenda.  I thought we all just played Husky basketball and those were the results,” Romar said after the game.

That pretty much sums it up.

Positives:

• C.J. Wilcox and Terrence Ross – Wilcox, who won the “tournament” MVP after the game, and Ross were sensational tonight. They were 9 of 13 combined from three and scored 17 and 24 respectively. Wilcox has shooting down to a science this season and he requires a double team every time he gets the ball on the perimeter. Not to be outdone, Ross’ defense tonight was arguably even more impressive than his shot. Romar had this to say about Ross’ defense after the game: “I don’t know if I’ve been more proud of someone on the defensive end than Terrence Ross.”
• Abdul Gaddy – You watch him and you can’t help but wonder what could have been if he didn’t get hurt last year. He’s the definition of a floor general. He’s like a little Coach Romar on the court. He understands what needs to be done and find the open man. 15 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, and 1 turnover. Whenever a player would make a bad play or get out of position, Gaddy would grab that player at the next stoppage and coach him up. When Gaddy would leave the game, the offense began to stagnate which is the true test of how much Gaddy matters to this team.
• Tony Wroten – The most electric Husky that I’ve ever seen. He is a highlight waiting to happen at all times. His passing borderlines on absurd and his creativity is something that comes along once in a generation. With that said, he is VERY raw. His shot needs a lot of work and his free throw shooting is “terrible” as Wroten put it after the game. And you know what? I don’t even care.
• Team Defense – It wasn’t just Ross who was a defensive stud tonight. Wroten reminded me of Venoy at times with his on-ball defense and 3 steals. Shawn Kemp Jr. impressed me a lot with his post defense. He had great body position all night and altered countless shots with his size and perfect footwork. Very impressive from the freshman big man. UW held Portland to 34% shooting.
• Aziz N’diaye – Leaps and bounds. That’s what he’s made since last season’s end. He looks like an NBA player on the court in terms of his size and build. His hook shot needs (a lot) of work but at least he has a hook shot this year. He can catch the ball and even finish at the rim every now and then. His 11 points were great but I’d like to see more than 7 rebounds against a team like Portland.

Negatives:

• Offensive Boards – Portland had 20 offensive rebounds to UW’s 10 and had 17 second chance points to UW’s 9. UW had great defense to force bad shots but struggled to box out their men which led to way too many second chance points. “Teams are getting a lot of rebounds on us. We need to box out and be more scrappy, especially our guards,” Abdul Gaddy said after the game.
• Points in the Paint – Portland led UW 32 to 28 in this category which is unacceptable with the size advantage that UW had tonight. This is partly due to some easy baskets given up late but it’s still not a good sign for when UW runs into some bigger front court teams.
• Free Throws – Aziz and Wroten, this one’s one you two. They shot 11 of UW’s 18 free throws and only made two of them. Yep, they were 2 for 11 combined. The rest of the team was 7 of 7.

Summary:

It’s great to have Husky basketball back. I’ve missed it so much. I walked into Hec Ed not knowing what I’d be seeing. The team is young but very talented so I didn’t want to get myself too excited. If that was only game three, I can’t imagine how this squad will look in late February/March. With the news of UCLA’s Reeves Nelson being suspended indefinitely and Arizona struggling early with it’s youth, the Pac-12 is wide open and ready to for the Huskies to rise to the top.

Can you tell that I’m excited? Regardless, this is going to be a very fun team to watch. Bow Down.

AARON JAFFE / THE SEATTLE TIMES

It was ugly, but a win is a win. The Huskies played a very sloppy game where the theme of the night was missed opportunities. UW shot an atrocious 38% from the field and committed 17 turnovers on the night, which allowed FAU to shoot themselves back into the game in the waning minutes. To highlight how terrible UW shot and how fortunate they were to win the game, FAU made more field goals and more 3-pointers, while UW attempted 10 more free throws and made 11 more than FAU.

The Huskies may have needed this humbling experience to remind them that they cannot play down to their opponents or risk an upset. Tony Wroten Jr. literally had to play down to his opponent as he often matched up against FAU’s 5-6 point guard, which led to Wroten racking up 4 fouls due to overplaying the ball and the man. The Owl point guard was also able to get away with hand checks and push offs due to his diminutive size as they did not have a noticeable effect on the defender. Just because he is small does not mean he cannot foul. Thankfully, the refs finally started calling the fouls in the final 3-5 minutes when the Owls were looking to slow the game down.

Abdul Gaddy showed why he starts over Tony Wroten once more. With 6 assists, only 3 turnovers and a very nice 15 points, Gaddy was much calmer, collected, and efficient than the flashy Wroten. Wroten racked up 4 assists, but also committed 5 turnovers and missed several lay-ins due to playing an extremely fast tempo that just doesn’t work at the collegiate level. Gaddy went 4-6 from the line, while Wroten went 3-7 (he shot 2-9 from the field).

Aziz N’Diaye had some nice looks today as well. While he again looked a little rough offensively, he showed signs of improving post moves and was a lot more effective at creating shot opportunities for himself on the block. He went 5-12 from the field and made 3 of his 5 free throw attempts. He also collected 12 rebounds (5 offensive) to pull in the double-double.

C.J. Wilcox again led all players in scoring with 19 to put his average in the tournament thus far at 20.5 points per game, a fantastic result. Wilcox, like most of the team, struggled on the easy inside shots. He went 5-13 from the field, 3-5 from range. His struggles were highlighted by an easy fast break lay-in opportunities that rolled out. In reality, he should have jammed the ball through the hoop to prevent exactly what happened. If you have an open opportunity and you can dunk, DO IT! It does not need to be a monster jam, just a simple two-handed dunk.

Four players made double digits in scoring today and all four were starters. Darnell Gant was the only starter not to hit double digits and finished the night with only 2 points on 1-4 shooting. He did have a 3-pointer taken away due to an offensive foul committed by Tony Wroten after he had dished it off. Gant played a very quiet 25 minutes only managing to pull down 5 boards.

One very concerning stat was the rebounding line. UW went into half holding a 26-16 lead in the rebounding column, but only finished with a 3 board advantage, 42-39. This was another big reason FAU was able to stay in the game. UW was not boxing out well or communicating, which led to at least 3 UW rebounds knocked away by our own players. Romar needed to use a timeout or two to calm the players down as it seemed the close score line was causing our line-up to play overly anxiously.

Martin Breunig played only 9 minutes, but was a perfect 2-2 from the field. His limited time was largely due to his high foul count and ended the night with 5 points and 3 rebounds. Simple freshmen mistakes were a big part of why he picked up the fouls he did.

Hikeem Stewart only came in for a quick 2 minute burst while Romar rested his starting guards and tallied 1 rebound.

Shawn Kemp did not play today and Jernard Jarreau confirmed last night at the press conference that he would indeed be red-shirting (Jarreau, not Kemp).

Terrence Ross had another sub-par shooting night going 4-14 from the field, 1-5 from range. He did shoot a very nice 5-6 from the charity stripe and for that I give him an A+.

What Needed Improvement:

• Rebounding - For having such a height advantage, the Dawgs certainly seemed lost in the second half as to how they should keep their opponent out of the box. It was rather unfortunate as rebounding was one of the few nice stats coming out of the first half. N’Diaye had a fantastic night and with 12 boards and its hard to ask him for much more. The rest of the Dawgs performed below average on the glass. After N’Diaye the next highest rebounder had 5 (Gant and Ross). The Huskies need one other player to really bring their game and average 7 boards along with N’Diaye.
• Free Throws - This is one area where poor performances are unacceptable, no matter who the Huskies are playing. Free throws are named such for one simple reason, the shooter has a free attempt at the basket. No defenders, the same shooting rhythm and motion, and essentially as much time as they wish to take. Seeing our team go 24-35 from the line when the score differential is only 6 is extremely frustrating. Even making 4 more shots puts our lead into a comfortable double digit margin. For a point guard, Wroten sure does shoot like an over-sized post player. Wilcox or Ross need to take Wroten under their wings and show him how to put a soft touch on the ball.
• Lay-Ins - Never thought I’d be writing this under the needs improvement category, but here it is tonight. The Huskies were ugly when it came to converting in the paint. Lay-ins were often overshot or were rejected by the rim. Players missed fast break shots and tried far too hard to get a poor shot off. If I was Romar I’d be doing more than a fair share of lay-in drills at the pregame practice tomorrow.

What Was Good:

• Defensive Pressure - UW forced FAU into 19 turnovers and picked up 6 steals, led by Wilcox who had 4 on the night, as well as tallying up 7 blocks of which N’Diaye had 3. UW held FAU to 32% shooting in the first half before letting up in the second when FAU jumped up to 48%. Overall the Owls finished with 42% shooting from the field and 40% from range. The latter number is a bit troubling, but correctable with better rotating defense.

Final Thoughts:

The Huskies gutted out the win which in itself is a good thing. What is not so good was how poorly we played against such an inferior team. Yes, often teams will end up playing to the level of their opponent, but in this case the opposition level was far below anything the Huskies should consider respectable. With no FAU player taller than 6-8, the Huskies had a big chance to use their size in the paint and when they did get in the paint, the Dawgs couldn’t finish. UW will have to play much better quite soon as better non-conference opponents are approaching and 17 turnovers against a team like Marquette or Duke will absolutely demolish us.

The Dawgs take on the University of Portland tomorrow in the final game of the tournament. UP is 2-0 in the tournament, winning both games by 5 points in what I would consider an upset manner. They have been behind early, only to finish strong and take home the win. If the Huskies do not step their play up, the Pilots could very well leave Seattle 3-0. The key to a Washington win tomorrow is finishing at the basket and controlling the glass throughout the game and not just in one half.

Go Dawgs!

Dean Rutz - Seattle Times

Solid night for the Huskies as C.J. Wilcox led the way with a game high 22 points on 8-12 shooting, 5-8 outside the arc. Wilcox also added in 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 0 turnovers. It was a stellar performance that helped make up for Terrence Ross‘ somewhat quiet night.

Tony Wroten Jr. and Darnell Gant each dropped 18 on the board. Gant had 10 of UW’s first 13 points and shot 7-8 from the field, 2-3 from range. 18 is a career high and Wroten’s performance has to be one of the best career starts for a freshman in UW history. Wroten again showed how good he can be with some nice assists, but he also showed how risky his gameplay can be with 4 turnovers. Wroten had a very nice block on a GSU break away that ended with the Panther player suffering what looked like a broken arm or wrist. Tough break, no pun intended, if the GSU player does indeed have a broken bone as this was the first game of the season.

Aziz N’Diaye had a dominating defensive effort tonight and showed why he is such an important player to our team. He had a game high 8 rebounds and tied his career high with 5 blocks. N’Diaye had a devastating block as a GSU player tried to drive the baseline. N’Diaye stepped across the key, jumped straight up and smashed the ball and player to the ground. N’Diaye later got T’ed up after throwing a ball into the oppositions face. The other player was T’ed as well for pushing N’Diaye.

Abdul Gaddy had a game high 6 assists and an uncommon 4 turnovers. He shot decently on the night scoring 7 points on 3-9 shooting. Gaddy played a team high 32 minutes and was one of the few seasoned players on the court at the end of the game.

Other notable highlights from the night include Alex Wegner, the new walk-on from Vashon Island, hitting his first points as Husky with a nice 3 pointer. He went 1-3 overall, 1-2 from the 3-point line. Brendan Sherrer nearly scored as well but threw up a rather ugly shot. It looked as if he wanted to dunk, but was too far out and had to try for a bank shot instead.

Rashaad Richardson of GSU hit 7 3-pointers and was one of the few Panther players with any real offensive rhythm throughout the game. Josh Micheaux had 8 rebounds for the Panthers and added 9 points.

What Needed Improvement:

• Free Throws - The Huskies were noticeably rough around the edges when it came to the charity stripe. If there is one area that Wroten can improve in, its free throws. He was 4-8 on the night. Wroten has a really hard shot that could be improved with adding more arc or a softer touch. Ross, on the other hand, was 4-4 from the line. Desmond Simmons went 4-6 and looked solid on the floor tonight.
• Ball Control - UW only managed 15 assists on 32 makes. Slightly lower than the usual output for the Dawgs. This goes hand-in-hand with the 12 turnovers the Dawgs had. While 12 is not terrible, several were due to silly mistakes and overplaying the ball. The Huskies need to reign in their handling a bit to reduce unnecessary errors.

What was Good:

• Rebounding - While it was not a completely dominating effort, 44-36, UW controlled the glass fairly well. GSU did manage some lucky offensive boards in the second half that bumped up their stat line. Gaddy and Wroten picked up an impressive 7 boards apiece. UW did manage to get 11 offensive boards, though 15 or 17 would be much better in my opinion.
• Scoring Options - This is not something I would normally write about, but I think its important to note who were the high scorers for the Huskies. Wilcox led all scorers, no big surprise there, but the fact that Gant and Wroten were right behind is fantastic. This should give Husky fans some hope for nights when Ross or Wilcox can;t get in a groove. UW should be able to get in the lane or find production from other players. Hikeem Stewart also came out and drilled his first shot, a 3 pointer.

The most noticeable thing from the night might have been the absence of Jernard Jarreau. Despite the blow out and both walk-ons playing, Jarreau did not step on the court. This implies two possibilities, either Jarreau is hurt or he is redshirting. The later seems more likely as I suspect we would have heard about an injury.

-EDITOR’S NOTE- Lorenzo Romar said after the game that Jernard Jarreau will be redshirting this season.

Final Thoughts:

UW struggled a bit on defense in the first half. GSU tied the game at 23 thanks to good shooting and poor defensive switches. In the end they got their act together and used their superior depth to wear down the Panthers.

Shawn Kemp Jr., Hikeem Stewart, and Martin Breunig all saw between 7 and 10 minutes, but didn’t have much of an impact stat wise. The Dawgs got the win they needed and looked fairly solid throughout.

I predict Wilcox will lead the Dawgs in scoring for the first few games of the season as teams try to shut down Terrence Ross. Wilcox showed the ability to drive the lane and score against the post. Wilcox also has the ability to catch and shoot quickly with skill and precision, which opens up a lot more shot opportunities. If there is a dark horse candidate for Pac-12 POY, its C.J.

Aziz showed himself to be effective against smaller players and zone defenses, something he struggled with last season.

I got to Hec-Ed early and watched the University of Portland-Florida Atlantic game. Portland won 70-65, but FAU should have won. The Owls (FAU) made silly mistakes at the end of the game that came back to bite them in the rear.

The Owls were led in scoring by Greg Gantt who had 18 at half time and 23 when the final buzzer sounded. FAU’s diminutive point guard, Raymond Taylor, absolutely refuses to dribble when he has the ball at the top of the key. He continuously would stand at the point and wave players towards him to run the offense.

This is great for UW as backcourt defensive is our specialty and should be able to really harass FAU through their point guard. I predicted a 94-60 win for the game tomorrow against FAU, but after seeing both teams in action tonight I would be surprised if UW didn’t drop 100 on the Owls and win by 40+.

AP Photo/Elaine Thompson

Final Score: UW-60 USC-62

A terrible way to end the season as well as senior night. Justin Holiday went scoreless the entire game, while Venoy Overton did everything in his power to will this team to a victory.

Rebounding and free throws killed us tonight. USC out rebounded UW 36-25. UW missed 6 free throws including a few huge ones down the stretch when the Dawgs were trying to fight back from 12 down.

UW handled the ball well, only turning the ball over 7 times. They dished out 8 assists on 21 makes. UW also had 6 blocks and steals on top of 11 forced turnovers. Overton was a Venoying machine out there and was critical down the stretch. At one point Romar pulled Overton out and Holiday told Romar “We need him.” Romar then chewed him out. I’m on Holiday’s side. Overton was the reason we came back. He made 4-6 from the field and 7-9 from the line.

Isaiah Thomas and Matthew Bryan-Amaning continued to struggle with their shooting. MBA was 5-11 and I.T. was 5-13. Holiday was 0-6, 0-3 from range. Our shooting woes were another reason we lost this game. 39% shooting on the night and 2-16 from outside is not going to win a game when compounded with the free throw and rebounding issues. Scott Suggs shot well on the other hand. 6-8, 2-3 behind the arc. C.J. Wilcox collapsed again. 1-7 from the field, 0-5 from range. Ugly.

Terrence Ross did not play tonight. Not sure the reason yet. This is extremely puzzling especially when one considers he was the reason we beat USC on the road at the onset of the Pac-10 season. Aziz played a team low 12 minutes and was hardly used in the second half. Aziz had 0 shots attempted, 0 rebounds, 1 steal, and 2 fouls. Useless tonight. He was just plain outclassed by the extremely strong duo of Alex Stephenson and Nikola Vucevic who combined for 24 boards and 30 points.

The crowd was dead tonight. I don’t know what has been going on, but the general fan base has been extremely apathetic and it kills me that it continued into Senior Night. Yes, I know the Huskies got down early, but being quiet is only supporting the opposing team.

What Needed Improvement

Rebounding

MBA led the Huskies with 6 boards. 6. Not solid at all. Vucevic and Stephenson work MBA in the post all night. Holiday and Overton each added 5. Pretty hard to win a game when you give up a ton of offensive boards and lose too many of your own.

Free Throw Shooting

You cannot afford to miss free throws. Ever. Especially down the stretch in AND1 situations. I.T. missed a front end of a 1 and 1 as well as an AND1. I believe Overton also missed an AND1 shot.

Shooting

I don’t know what to say about this. We have lost that oh so sweet touch that we were renowned for in the beginning of the year. Sure the non-conference opponents were not the most stellar of teams but this team has scored over 100 points 6 or 7 times this season and 98 on another occasion. This is a team that can shoot and we aren’t doing it well any more. Even if your defense is doing everything it can, you will not win if you aren’t scoring.

What Was Good

Defense

UW held USC to 41% shooting and 20% from range. The blocks, steals, and turnovers forced were solid. Donte Smith was held to 1-9 shooting. UW also forced USC into 21 fouls, 18 by the starters with 3 of them picking up 4 a piece.

Suggs and Overton

Couldn’t ask two players to do much more. When one of your seniors doesn’t hit a shot and the other is missing gimmes along with being dominated by their assignment its hard to win. This was a night I thought Holiday was blow up and drop 20 again. Not even close. Overton wanted to win and worked his ass off trying to do it. Suggs shot well and defended his man pretty well.

Player by Player Reviews

Justin Holiday

Bleh. Not how you want a senior to end his career at home and in the regular season. I feel bad for the kid. Glad he didn’t cry coming out with his family, I would have lost it. He was out sized trying to guard Vucevic and its hard to expect him to really challenge a guy that much bigger than him. If Aziz had been successful this may not have been a problem as Vucevic would not have been able to guard Holiday without giving up size somewhere else. He rebounded well enough. 5 boards is pretty good for a wing. Too bad he didn’t have help from the post players. Holiday got beat up this game. He got jabbed in the eye, twisted his ankle, and like a champ, played through it all to the best of his abilities.

Grade: C

Matthew Bryan-Amaning

Got worked tonight. Stephenson is a strong player and MBA always struggles against guys who are as athletic as he is. He took some longer range shots that baffled me, shots he hadn’t attempted all year. Don’t know who he was trying to show off for, but I wasn’t impressed. I’d rather have seen him make some post moves and get to the rim. He struggled on the glass and went 1-3 from the line. He did have 2 steals and 3 blocks to offset 2 turnovers.

Grade: C

Venoy Overton

My personal MVP for the night. He worked his ass off and the Venoyance meter read LEVEL 5 the entire second half as he battled and battled, trying to spark some offense into the Huskies on both ends of the court. Even when USC dropped 4 back on free throws to defend the hoop Overton was able to get straight to the rim and quickly. It was impressive. He forced USC into a 5 second call and was continually tapping the ball away from guards, forcing them to lose their handle at least for a moment or two. He finished with 15 points, 1 behind Thomas who led the team. Venoy led the team in assists with 4 of UW’s 8.

Grade: A

Brendan Sherrer

Did not play.

Grade: N/A

Darnell Gant

Was not terribly successful tonight. Only 2 rebounds and 0 points on 0-2 shooting. He only played 15 minutes. Did not remember much of his defensive efforts so I can’t really comment on how he performed on that side of the ball. The lack of blocks or steals tell me he was likely not to successful.

Grade: D

Isaiah Thomas

He may have led the team in points, but only 3 assists and 38% shooting is just not going to cut it. 6-8 from the free throw line official. In my mind, however, he is 6-9. Missing the front end of a 1 and 1 should always count as two misses. You can’t make what you don’t attempt. He missed a huge AND1 free throw in the final minutes that would have cut the lead to 3 rather than 4.

Grade: B

Scott Suggs

A solid night from the junior. His level of play has really elevated this season. He finished with 14 points and was the only successful outside shooter with the only 2 makes UW had behind the arc on the night. Both his rebounds were offensive and he added in a block to finish off his stat line. No assists, but no turnovers as well. As with Gant I don’t remember any outstanding defensive efforts by Suggs, but I also don’t remember any big lapses so it could not have been that bad.

Grade: B+

Aziz N’Diaye

He may as well have stayed on the bench the whole game. His stat line is empty minus a steal and 2 fouls. Not sure when the big man is going to turn a corner in his career and start putting up consistent numbers. With MBA leaving after this season and all the big name recruits falling through for the Huskies there isn’t a whole lot of talent in the post for the Dawgs.

Grade: F

Antoine Hosley

Did not play.

Grade: N/A

Terrence Ross

Did not play. He did not look injured so to me this screams team rule violation. No reason not to put him in when Suggs is the only one having success outside. Listening to Romar’s interview it sounds as though Ross did not play because “there weren’t enough minutes.” Eff that. C.J. wasn’t hitting, put Ross in and let him try his hand. It wasn’t as though Romar was trying to keep size in the game as I remember moments where MBA was the lone post player on the court. So between C.J.’s minutes and Gant’s minutes I find it hard to believe Romar couldn’t find a few to give Ross. As I said before, Ross was a monster against USC earlier this year so why would you not try him again.

Grade: N/A

C.J. Wilcox

As I said with my preview I wasn’t expecting a great performance from Wilcox tonight, but this was just pathetic. 4 points on 1-7 shooting. We needed his range and it was nowhere to be seen. His free throw shooting was brilliant though. Love his free throws.

Grade: D

Final Thoughts

Not how you want to end the regular season. UW finished 3rd in a year where they could have finished 18-0 and in first place. UW, in my mind, needs to win at least 1 game in the Pac-10 tournament. They face WSU in the first round. WSU will likely have Klay Thompson back, despite his father’s wishes, as well as Reggie Moore who sat out the UCLA game today with a sprained ankle. UW has a lot of work to do and I don’t know what to expect from them any more. I really am lost as to how this team can struggle so much with their shot. This reminds me of our stretch last year on the road where we couldn’t buy a win. Got to hope someone steps up and gets this team going again. I don’t want the NIT. I want the NCAA and a run to the Final Four.

by: Griffin Bennett

We can all agree that we owe this win to the man wearing number 23, C.J. Wilcox. Romar even said in his post-game interview that Wilcox’s second half was “one of the greatest performances in the history of the program.” From the first tip, the Huskies defense looked inspired and it was a complete turn around from their flat performance on Sunday against WSU. On the Bruin’s first possession the Huskies showed their “soft” 3/4 zone pressure which gave UCLA fits. Romar mixed it up with man, 2-3 zone, full court press, and possibly even more strategies. It was one of his best coaching efforts in recent memory as it earned him a 70-63 victory.

While holding UCLA to 25 points and 37% field goal shooting in the first half, the Husky offense looked even worse. It looked like the WSU hangover had not ended as they finished the half with only 24 points while shooting 7 of 33 (21%). When the Huskies get in their offensive funk, lay ups seem like half court shots. The Bruins defense was playing step-for-step with the Dawgs as Nelson and Smith really made it hard to score in the paint.

The second half was another story, and that story belonged to C.J. Wilcox. He scored 24 of the Huskies 46 second half points. Taking out all free throws, Wilcox scored 18 of the Huskies 26 second half points. If it wasn’t for Wilcox, I think we would all be looking at how this team’s once prolific offense has escaped them. Not to rain on tonight’s parade, but there are still some concerns on the offensive end to deal with between now and mid-March. Now to the grades.

Positives:

• C.J. Wilcox – He’s the obvious game MVP and posted one of the greatest single half performances ever. He finished with  24 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, and 2 blocks. I think it’s time for a group brain storming session. We need to figure out what the C. and the J. stand for: Clean Jumper? Christ, Jesus? Post your ideas in the comments.
• Venoy Overton – He really brought the defensive intensity and it spread from him to the rest of the team. If it wasn’t for some TERRIBLE calls on his defensive pressure, he could have had one of his signature games as a Husky. It’s too bad that some refs are incompetent at recognizing defensive genius. He finished with only 10 points no steals or blocks, but if you watched that game you know what I’m talking about. He also only played 15 minutes.
• Rebounds – Battling against the big line up of the Bruins was a tough task. The Huskies managed a 40-40 tie in the rebounding margin on the night, but they did grab an impressive 18 offensive boards. I’ll take a rebounding wash against UCLA every time.
• MBA – He finished with only 7 points but did gather 13 rebounds. Hear me out on this one. Neither Aziz nor the referees gave him any help all night. Aziz’ lack of offensive game and inability be any sort of a factor allowed UCLA to double team him with Nelson and Smith which is one huge wall of man. The refs were their standard terrible Pac-10 self and called 2 terrible fouls on him early. Keeping both of those in mind, his stat line in still impressive while only playing 26 minutes.
• Team Defense – The Huskies must have found Charlie Sheen’s supply of tiger blood between Sunday and Thursday night. #Winning.

Ehhhh:

• Justin Holiday – Starting with the bad, he shot 1 of 8 from the field and had 3 turnovers. On the positive side, he had 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and a block. He also played outstanding defense on Honeycutt by holding him to 6 points and 0 for 6 from the field.
• Scott Suggs – It was his first game back from his MCL injury and he only played 18 minutes and only took 3 shots but he was a stat stuffer. He finished with 4 points, 3 assists, 1 block, and 2 steals. Taking into account the injury, I’ll take that as a mediocre performance… and it wasn’t like anyone else other than Wilcox was going to be shooting anyways.
• Assists and Turnovers – An even 13 to 13 ratio is only decent. You’d like to see a few more assists and a few less turnovers, but neither number is terrible.
• Shot Selection – The Huskies stopped settling for contested three-point jumpers and tried to find the best option. While they weren’t always falling, it was still a positive thing to see.

Negatives:

• Isaiah Thomas – A bad night for the team’s junior captain and leader. IT was 0 for 6 in the first half and seemed to miss everything off of the front of the rim. He finished shooting 3 for 12 and his free throw shooting and rebounding at the end of the game helped pad his stat line. He seemed really bothered by the Bruin’s size and forced up some terrible shots. He will have better nights, but this won’t be one to remember.
• Aziz N’diaye – He could have posted the worst 6 point and 8 rebound night of all time. Countless missed gimme shots and terrible fouls made me lose at least 3 years off of my life. I haven’t seen any improvement from the guy lately, but trying to play against Joshua Smith is a tough task. At this point, anything he gives this team offensively is a bonus.
• Terrence Ross – He didn’t even come off of the bench in the second half and only played 4 minutes. With Wilcox having the hot hand and Venoy playing well, the bench guard spots were taken. I’m not saying that this is the case, but Romar might not fully trust Ross in crunch-time at the moment.
• Darnell Gant – He played 23 minutes and finished with 5 points, 2 rebounds, and 1 block. I was really wanting more from Gant tonight, especially with Aziz’s struggles. He was wearing a brace on his knee which leads me to believe that the meniscus injury rumors from Wednesday night were not completely untrue.

Overall:

It’s just good to get a win. This could have all but assured the Huskies of a trip to the NCAA tournament and watching the Bruin’s title hopes go down in flames is always enjoyable. The attitude and intensity needed to win was there tonight and I think fixing the other mistakes will follow suit. You could tell that the Husky coaching staff had worked hard to find the answers on offense and defense as the shot selection and defensive strategies were both exceptionally better. I have been one of those “Romar isn’t an X’s and O’s guy” in the past, and tonight he really showed that he can be a top tier strategist. Consider my hat eaten.

Next up is USC and a chance to ride a hot streak into the Pac-10 tournament and beyond. March is officially here and let’s hope it’s a magical one. Bow Down.

WSU took care of the Huskies on Sunday night, 80-69 . Who’s to blame? The refs? Nope. This one is all on the guys wearing gold tonight.

At what seemed to be an emotionally charged Husky team coming into this game, came out shooting duds in the first half as they were able to muster a season low 17 points in the first half. The lid on the rim never seemed to lift until about 6 minutes to go in the second half. The Huskies were able to scrap in the first half and keep WSU to scoring just 24 points. However, the second half was another story altogether. WSU got to every loose ball and helped extend their time of possession and keep the Huskies out of their up and down game.

Klay Thompson went off for 26 points, 13 of which came from the stripe. Klay sunk three from downtown and was able to keep the momentum with WSU most of this game. DeAngelo Casto also had himself a good game with 20 points and 13 rebounds. Casto went 8 for 8 from the free throw line as well.

The Huskies on the other hand have a laundry list of problems after losing tonight’s game. The Pac-10 title had to have been on their minds tonight having seen the events of the Pac-10 games this weekend. But UW can now kiss those hopes good bye. Now it’s a question of whether the NCAA committee will have it in their hearts to keep our hopes alive as a bubble team. At 19-9, UW will have to win both home games against UCLA and USC and make a solid run in the Pac-1o tourney. Getting to 23 wins is ultimately the goal and they are trying to achieve. But they are flirting with NIT chants given the events of tonight.

Somewhat Positives:

• Defense in the first half: keeping WSU to just 24 points in the first half went over looked due to the fact that Dawgs could only get 17 points. However, the defense was forcing turnovers in the first half and got several stops.
• Venoy Overton: You have to tip your hat to VO tonight as he gave it his all on both sides of the floor. Though statistically it wasn’t his best, his energy and efforts were second to none on UW’s side of the ball tonight. He pushed the ball and was able to create turnovers on defense.
• IT: IT managed to salvage a good scoring night tonight toward the end of the game as he finished with 21 points and managed to garner 5 assists.

The Ok:

• MBA: Rough start from the London native tonight as he saw several double teams which took him out of his rhythm offensively. MBA tallied 3 turnovers tonight and never got his low post game started until it was way too late. Golf clap to him for sinking 8 of 9 from the stripe.

The Ugly:

• Terrence Ross: Ross truly played like a freshman tonight. He was getting burned left and right on his defensive assignments and could not stick or close out his man. He also had difficulty establishing any kind of rhythm offensively as he went 0-5 shooting and had zero points.
• 2nd Half Defense: Reggie Moore penetrated and the ceiling came down on the Dawgs on D tonight. Back door cuts and defensive lapses led to a lot easy buckets for Casto tonight.
• Loose Balls: Any time the Huskies were able to force a bad shot from WSU, they were unable to get the rebound in the second half. This led to a barrage of second chance points led by their star, Klay Thompson.
• FG Percentage: 34% is not going to get it done on any night. Easily one of the worst shooting nights in recent memory for these Dawgs.
• Free Throws: 63% won’t get it done down the stretch. IT shot 33% from the stripe. Can someone tell me why he is shooting the technical free throws when Wilcox is in the game?
• Turnovers: 16 on the night. Can’t win with careless mistakes.
• Aziz’s Hands: It still amazes me how uncoordinated he is in the post when a guard drops a dime to him. Although he showed some signs of a post game tonight, he missed so many easy chip shots that UW desperately needed. If he is our lone big man next year, UW will be in serious trouble.

Is there hope left? Of course there is. But night’s like tonight make it hard. It should be interesting how UW rebounds on Thursday against UCLA.