Houston Baptist Game Review

Final Score: UW-88 HPU-65

The Huskies came in strong and blew the imposter Huskies back home with their tails between their legs. C.J. Wilcox showed up in force and dropped 19 on 5-9 shooting from range while adding 5 rebounds and 2 assists. He looked fantastic on the court and showed no ill effects from the mild concussion he suffered on Sunday.

Marcus Davis of Houston Baptist led all scorers with 20 points and picked up a game high 14 rebounds as well. He was absolutely unstoppable on the court despite our best efforts and kept the faux Huskies in the game far longer than they should have been. Joe Latas was held to 15 points and 8 rebounds, though his point margin was cushioned by his 14 free throw attempts as the UW defense held him to 3-11 shooting.

Terrence Ross came through strong in the second half and finished with a beautiful double-double scoring 13 points and nabbing 13 rebounds. He went 5-10 on the night and hit 3 of 5 outside the arc. He looked consistent throughout the night, not terribly impressive, but definitely not quiet. He still seems reserved at times, but when he finds his groove, man is he impressive.

Tony Wroten did exactly as I thought. He impressed and frustrated me as his stat line reveals. 14 points, excellent. 5 assists, very nice. 6 steals, outstanding. 6 turnover, terrible. He pulled off some really athletic moves and also threw some passes he should not have attempted. If he can get his turnovers under control, he'll take over the starting spot and be an extreme force on the court. His free throw shooting continued to struggle going 2-4 from the line.

Aziz N'Diaye did his part containing Latas and was fairly effective offensively. He grabbed 7 boards and dropped in 8 points. He shot 3-6 from the field and 2-6 from the charity stripe. He looked much better defensively and only picked up two fouls. To be fair, Latas was not a quick man, which immensely helped N'Diaye keep his position.

Darnell Gant didn't show up until the second half where he dropped in some fantastic flushes back to back. First was a tip-in after a missed lay-in followed immediately by a fast break jam over a Houston player. In 19 minutes he only managed 7 points and 2 rebounds. He did shoot 3-4 from the free throw line, which makes me very happy.

Desmond Simmons showed up out of no where. He managed 10 points on 3-6 shooting, including 2-2 from the 3-point line. He also had 6 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, and zero turnovers. Loved his defensive efforts as he was all over the place diving for balls, picking up loose ones, and getting in everyone's face.

Abdul Gaddy returned to his better self. He only managed 6 points and 4 boards, but he did throw out a game high 7 assists and 1 turnovers with a steal to top it off. He was calm and composed, but his shot looked a tad off, only hitting 3-8 and 0-1 from the line.

Martin Breunig was solid on the night, as was Shawn Kemp. Both provided excellent backup for their respective starters and were effective on both ends of the court. They combined for 8 points and 6 boards (Breunig had 5 of the 6).

Brendan Sherrer saw 4 minutes of play, missed a fairly easy lay-in, but went 1-2 from the line. Alex Wegner also missed an easy lay-up sadly. Hikeem Stewart played 10 minutes and went 1-2 from the field.

What Needed Improvement:

First Half Ball Control:

UW gave up 12 turnovers in the first half and played fairly sloppily in the first 20 minutes. There seemed to be a sense of panic and hurry as Houston grabbed the early lead and I believe, subconsciously, the Huskies did not want another egg in the face and were working over the top to get points on the board leading to poor decision making. Once we got a comfortable lead, things seemed to calm down and our team got back to playing Husky Basketball.

What was Good:

Rebounding:

UW finally showed a little prowess on the glass, holding a 29-12 rebounding advantage at half and 51-40 at the end. 5 players had 5+ rebounds and only Wegner and Stewart did not record a board. Sherrer had 3. No trillion club for him. This was finally the type of rebounding performance I have been wanting to see. Only a 17-14 advantage on the offensive boards, something I would like to see improved a bit. Holding the opposition under 10 offensive boards would be fantastic, but tough to achieve. The only negative was giving up the 6 extra rebounds in the second half, though I blame this on garbage time play more than lax effort on the glass.

3-Point Shooting:


UW showed up strong tonight hitting 10-21 on the night from deep. Not only did they shoot well, but they took smart shots. Often UW can get frustrated and start jacking up 3s that have no business being shot. Tonight they played smart, something due largely in part to Romar's tough policy. If a player made bad decisions on offense or missed switches and the like on defense they were quickly substituted. Great decision in my mind as it really holds players responsible for their actions and quickly enforces solid, smart play no matter the tempo the game flowed at.


Final Thoughts:


This game was very smooth for the Dawgs and a nice pick-me-up after the debacle in Saint Louis (who, by the way, has been playing very solid and at least making the lost look respectable in some sense). UW now faces a tough road test hitting up Nevada first before heading to the Big Apple for match-ups against Marquette and Duke. All three upcoming games will be tough ones and I'm betting on a 2-1 outcome with a possibly dubbing with Duke. The Blue Devils look exceptional this year and I don't know how well our defense will be able to compete. Hopefully the Nevada game can give us a better measuring stick of where this team is at overall.

Go Dawgs!