Final Score: UW-76 UO-81
I don't even know what to write any more. Days like today are when I wish I didn't care. I wish I could come home and be like the other thousands of students who don't follow the team religious, but I do care. I care a lot. This sucks. I don't know what is wrong with our team. They are not playing smart basketball. They are playing horrid interior defense. They can't handle the ball. They aren't hitting their free throws. To top it off, the refs love letting our players get mauled and not calling the fouls.
I'd like to say we can salvage this and still go on to win the title. I just don't believe it'll happen. I don't see Arizona getting upset anytime soon. Their closest contests should be UW and WSU, but the way we have been playing, UA will blow us out. At this point the best we can do is 14-4. I bet we will be 13-5 or 12-6 by seasons end, in second or third place. We will get a 10 seed in the tournament and likely lose once more in the 2nd round or the Sweet Sixteen. We simply are not executing our offense with enough efficiency to win games away from home. We don't have that fire that drove us to win in L.A.
Our players had decent enough games. They were slightly better on defense, but their interior defense was atrocious for the 3rd straight game. Our free throw shooting was just as bad. The ball handling was what did us in.
One critical play stands out. UW was down 2 points when the poked the ball loose to Scott Suggs. He took about 2 dribbles and looked to pass to I.T. next to him. He threw it right into the hands of an Oregon defender who took it in to score. Instead of a tie ball game. We are down 4 again. That play right there sealed it off with 3 minute left.
UW was forced into 15 turnover. Overton committed 4. Isaiah had 2. Holiday had 3. UW only forced 8 errors for Oregon and allowed them to complete 21 assists to our 19. Bad zone play and rotation led to easy feeds down low to waiting post players and backdoor cuts.
Why does Romar refuse to press the ball on defense? Down 4 points with 3 minutes left. PRESS, DAMMIT! You don't have the time to sit back and let them run out the clock. Make them work to get it up the court. Get a 10 second violation. We have the speed and players to do it, so why not? And why does he refuse to run a press breaker? It is not that hard. Oregon forced us into way to many turnovers by PRESSING! Amazing how something so simple can get a team out of rhythm enough to force them into terrible play.
Our shots were much better tonight with Justin Holiday and Terrence Ross leading the way from outside and MBA from the interior. Isaiah continued his struggles from range on 1-5 shooting outside and continued his struggle to get to the free throw line.
Speaking of fouls. I hate the Pac-10 refs. They have absolutely killed us. They are not the reason we have lost games, but they sure do like to keep them out of reach. MBA got his nose busted up pretty good today and was getting scratched on his, yet no foul was called. That is unacceptable to miss. If a player starts bleeding profusely from the nose...HE WAS FOULED! I.T. was getting hammered on the arms while he drove the lane and was getting no help. They barely called the foul when Aziz took an elbow to the head as well. On the other end, Oregon was getting weak calls left and right. Blocks that were clearly charges, etc. I expect some home biasing, it always happens, but the refs need to call a better game. UO attempted 23 free throws to UW's 11. Absurd, especially considering we had only 3 fouls more than UO. The refs just won't give it to us on the shot.
Turnovers did us in once more. UO had something like 30 points off turnovers. Cut the turnovers in half or even take 4 to 5 turnovers away and suddenly UW is up 4 or 5 points. If Scott Suggs makes that pass or hold onto it, tie ball game. No need to foul. Too many mental lapses at critical moments in the game.
The starting 5 rebounded well. Aziz led the team with 9 followed by MBA, I.T., and Holiday with 5 a piece and Suggs with 4. Darnell Gant played only 5 minutes as he suffered some sort of injury in practice on Friday, but did grab 2 rebounds in his limited play.
UW passed better as a team. I.T. led with 6. Holiday had 5 assists and Suggs had 4.
Why can't we hit our free throws? Overton was 1-4, Aziz was 1-2, MBA was 1-3. I.T. made both of his going 2-2. 6 missed free throws. Even if we had hit just 3 more for a respectable percentage this game would have turned out entirely different. While the score shows a 5 point win, it was a 2 point game in the final 2 minutes. UW had to foul to get the ball. 3 isn't unreasonable to ask either. Overton needs to made 2 more to shoot how he normally does and MBA just needs to go 67% from the line by hitting 1 more.
I am wondering what it is going to take to get this team rolling again. Sure we play 5 of 7 at home to finish conference play, but WSU or USC could come in here and steal one. Stanford could do the same. After all they already have beaten us once. Hell even UCLA is playing strong enough to do it. The ASU game shouldn't be a problem, but with as terrible as we have been, we could get swept in Arizona. We got swept in Oregon, why not there?
Player by Player Reviews
Venoy Overton
While his late game scores where fast and important, his turnovers and horrendous free throw shooting killed us. He played 14 minutes and finished with 4 points, 4 turnovers, 2 assists, and 2 rebounds. Where is his fire? Where is Venoyance? We need him back.
Grade: D+ for the late game baskets, otherwise it'd be a D
Matthew Bryan-Amaning
He started extremely hot and did not miss a shot until the play he was whacked in the face and did not get a foul call. He then missed 6 of the next 9 shots he took. Kind of hard to run and breathe well when you have to have cotton shoved up your nose to stop the bleeding. He went 10-16 from the field, had 21 points, and 5 rebounds. he also had a steal and a block. We did a good job feeding him. His defense was decent enough. I didn't notice him being at fault for too many of the backdoor cuts, but as the center for most of the 2-3 zone he has a big responsibility to plug that up from happening.
Grade: B+, without him we would have been toast
Justin Holiday
MVP of the game without a doubt. He played a quieter game. Doing everything pretty well. I thought he was pretty bad in the zone defense. Then again it could just be a coaching thing. E.J. Singler and the other Ducks were wide open way to often in the corners where the outside players in the "3" part of the 2-3 zone are supposed to cover. Holiday really didn't have much choice as the top 2 were rotating poorly to cover the open man at the top of the key who would dish to the corner or cutting player. Holiday had 16 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 blocks, and 3 turnovers. A pretty decent night over all. The assists were great as were the blocks. The turnovers...not so much.
Grade: B+
Brendan Sherrer
Did not play.
Grade: N/A
Darnell Gant
It is hard to give a grade to a player who was out there for only 5 minutes, but I'll give it a shot. Gant evidently suffered a quad bruise in practice and it can be assumed that is why he was limited in play. In just 5 minutes he snagged 2 rebounds, had 1 assist, and 1 turnover. He missed his only shot attempt. He was no better or worse in the zone than MBA or Aziz.
Grade: B
Scott Suggs
After a pretty hot night against OSU, Suggs was stone cold. He finished with 3 points on 1-5 shooting, including 1-4 from range. While I don't want to blame the loss on one player, his turnover effectively cost us our last shot at winning. 4 rebounds in 21 minutes along with 4 assist is pretty good. He had 2 turnovers. UW should not have been in a position for that 1 turnover to be so critical, but they were and it was.
Grade: C
Isaiah Thomas
I.T. controlled the ball a little better tonight, only committing 2 turnovers and handing out 6 assist. He had only 3 points until he became aggressive the second half when our shooters started to heat up from range and the lane opened up for him. I counted 2 made baskets and 3 missed shots where there should have been a foul call. Maybe I am too biased. I don't know, but the fouls that weren't being called for us were being called for Oregon on the other end. If you are going to be terrible refs, at least be terrible for both teams.
I understand shooters need to shoot to get out of slumps, but 1-5 range shooting hurts. His looks were pretty good and fairly open, but they wouldn't fall. Have to make the open shots. Have to. If it isn't falling that night, keep passing. Find whoever is hot handed. I.T. ended up with 13 points and would have had more if the refs would throw him a bone.
Grade: B+
Aziz N'Diaye
He rebounded really well tonight, finishing with 9 (4 offensive). He also made two very nice slam dunks, including a trailing tip dunk off of a miss. He looked better against the UO zone than he has in the past. Maybe he is starting to find himself a bit. That blow to the head took him out a bit. He needed help off the court after attempting the free throws. The big man did what we needed him to do tonight. He did well enough on defense and scored on occasion. He was decent at free throws and rebounded very well.
Grade: A-
Antoine Hosley
Did not play.
Grade: N/A
C.J. Wilcox
His shot looked a little better tonight, but he still went 1-3 from range and 1-4 overall. 1 rebound and 1 assist. No turnovers. Only 12 minutes.
Grade: B-
Terrence Ross
He played another pretty big game against Oregon. All 12 of his points were from range (4-9 beyond the arc, 4-10 overall). He grabbed 2 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block, 0 turnovers. His defense was decent, but like Holiday there was often an open man in the corner where he was responsible for the player. To me that screams coaching versus player fault. Have to improve the zone play. Have to.
Grade: B
Final Thoughts
I am going into disconnect mode. Try to separate myself emotionally from this team so this losses stop taking me out of it. Sure UW could go on to win the next 7, go 14-4 and win the title, but I don't see it happening. Not when play like this continues on the road. This is just looking like another making of the '08-'09 or '09-'10 teams that show so much promise and all the pieces to win big game, only to drop them on their own toes. Don't know the reason, but it needs to change. The difference between a team like us and a team like Duke or Ohio State is not the players, it is the drive and consistency. They need to fix their problems and fix them now. Luckily we have 2 games coming at home this week against California and Stanford that will hopefully allow us to get our heads out of the dirt, brush off the shoulders, and get back to playing hard, tough, Husky defense and basketball.
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