Big win for the Dawgs last night. Now, for the real biggie against Cal on Saturday. The win can get the Huskies back to .500 in conference play, and reassert them as one of the teams to beat in the league.
Here’s some thoughts and observations on Thursday’s big 94-61 win over Stanford:
The Huskies forced 20 turnovers tonight, 20 against Portland State, and 22 against Portland. Coincidentally, these were the three games in which the Huskies looked best all around. Since we’re a team that’s going to live and die with its defense, I love the move to start Justin Holiday, our site”s favorite Husky.
He’s in there for his defense, but the underrated part of the move to start Justin Holiday (and play him starter’s minutes — 26 to be exact) is his impact on the offensive flow. He doesn’t make many mistakes, he never forces his shot, and he’s a good passer.
I liked the move to match Quincy for most of the game against Stanford’s not-so-imposing front line. His focus on aggressive offense and rebounding tonight paid off. Defending Zimmerman or Trotter isn’t going to take anyone out of their game on the other end of the court.
Quincy had a huge dunk off a Justin Holiday steal in the first half that got the crowd going and reminded me how much I love going to big Pac-10 games at Hec Ed.
The Dawgs steadily built their lead tonight all the way through, until garbage time. But their least energetic stretch was still that first five minutes after halftime, which has been the case all season. Strange.
Coach still played 10 guys in the first half and 12 in the game, which I think is too many. That said, it may partially have been due to the foul trouble on Tyreese Breshers (four fouls) and Matthew Bryan-Amaning (three fouls).
When he manages to stay on the court, I like what Breshers does with the ball, but one thing he’s not great at is receiving the pass in the post. With such a wide body, he should be better at shielding himself and gaining possession, but he’s not.
You heard it here: Stanford’s Landry Fields may be the conference MVP when the season is said and done, but Quincy has a much better shot to stick in the NBA. Fields has “Europe” written all over him.
Nice defense by Isaiah against the much taller Jeremy Green. Green averages 17.6 points, and Husky defenders (mostly I.T.) held him to seven tonight. With both scoring leaders held in check, Stanford simply didn’t have anyone else good enough to step up and challenge UW.
Justin Holiday might be the third best rebounder on the team after Quincy Pondexter and Tyreese Breshers.
The Cardinal must’ve blown their coverage at one point, because Isaiah found himself with a clear path to the basket and an easy layup. Seeing it reminded me how rare it is that the Huskies get those kind of easy buckets.
The Huskies shot 0-8 from three in the first half. That’s not going to cut it against Cal.
That “Dancin’ Dawgs” video played on the scoreboard tonight was bad. Very bad.
Thanks for coming!
The Washington Huskies (1-3, 10-5 overall) will play the Stanford Cardinal (2-1, 8-7 overall) on Thursday evening at 7:30 PM at Hec Edmundson Pavilion.
