Final Score: UW-75 WSU-65
This was a tale of two halves and one fueled by emotion and excitement that has been long absent this season, both on the road and at home. After an extremely sluggish first half, the Huskies rallied following a technical foul assessed to Lorenzo Romar who was livid after a very questionable charge call against Terrence Ross. The crowd was upset and the emotion showed. The House started rocking and the Huskies ate it up like a Thanksgiving dinner. The Huskies went on a 28-5 run after the technical and never looked back, turning a 10 point deficit into a 10 point lead. Darnell Gant and Terrence Ross went ballistic and were the driving force on the court in this huge turnaround.
Ross played a career night and woke up on fire after another icy start. Shooting just 1 of 9 in the first half, it looked as though Terrence Ross was bound for another mediocre, disappointing night. The second half showed that thought to be foolishness as Ross went on to tally an absurd 26 points in the second half to set a career high with 30 points as well as a career high 14 rebounds. Talk about second half productivity, Ross would not be denied and after back-to-back 3-pointers it was clear that Ross was on a mission and no one was going to get in his way. Ross was 8-12 in the second half and 5-7 from deep, one of his 3-pointers came in the last 5 seconds of the shot clock after driving out from the low post and turning around for a fade-away that exemplified what sort of player Ross can be.
Darnell Gant finally showed a little leadership and pizazz, rallying the team after Romar's technical and finally taking (and making) shots. Gant scored 10 of his 13 points in the second half, which included a pair of monster jams to take the lead and add on to the total in back-to-back possessions. Gant followed with a set of 3-pointers putting him at 5-7 on the night, 3-5 outside. The outside shooting from Ross and Gant was of the utmost importance as C.J. Wilcox was absent from tonight's game and will likely miss all of next week against Stanford and California as he is currently suffering from a stress fracture high on his femur that needs rest and relaxation or risk further damage. Gant showed the rebounding skills we have been begging him to put in play all season, picking up 8 on the night, 5 of which were offensive. During a time when the Huskies are forced to rely on what is essentially a 6 man rotation, not one player can afford to be lazy or slow. Could this be a bit of a turn around game for Gant? Possibly. I am not sold on it yet, but solid performances against Stanford and Cal would certainly convince me that Gant is heading in the right direction once more.
With everything Ross and Gant were doing on the court it was easy to miss out on the excellent performance Aziz N'Diaye had against the Cougars and their zone defense. N'Diaye was 4-5 from the field, with a couple of nice put backs. He was a perfect 4-4 from the free throw line, including a pair with 20 seconds to go, which allowed the Huskies to maintain their 10 point lead and really lock-up the win without fear of a major meltdown. N'Diaye put on some nice post moves and provided a solid core in the paint that helped slow down Brock Motum in the second half.
Desmond Simmons certainly gave his all last night. Assigned to the best Cougar on the court, Motum, Simmons had his work cut out for him. Shooting only 1-6 from the field, Simmons struggled to find himself offensively. His 7 rebounds, 4 offensive, were critical on a night where the Dawgs outscored the Cougars 16-9 on second chance points. Fouls and Gant's reemergence seemed to limit Simmons' minutes, who only played 19 tonight despite starting.
Abdul Gaddy looked rigid on the court tonight, but found success play making for others including a pair of alley-oop lobs to Gant and Ross. Gassy went 2-10 from the field, 1-6 from deep, but picked up 6 assists and committing 3 turnovers. Gaddy played 35 minutes on the night. What confounded me the most was how the one time Gaddy drove the lane, he made his shot and made it look easy. Why does he do that more often? It is obvious that it works for him and it is not as if he is continually rejected. Gaddy will need to be aggressive this next week as the loss of Wilcox for the next two games will certainly affect our offensive production.
Tony Wroten also struggled with his shot tonight. Wroten was a miserable 3-14 from the field, but did manage to get to the line for 13 shots. He only made 7, but drilled 4 in a row during a critical stretch of game play. Wroten had 4 assists, but also committed 4 turnovers that proved costly in the first half. Wroten only collected 3 rebounds, but they were all offensive and helped the Dawgs maintain some semblance of an offense during the first half. What Wroten did best was keep pushing the tempo in the Dawgs favor and disrupting the Cougar offense.
What Needed Improvement:
Free Throws:
The Dawgs were a terrible 17 of 28 from the strip tonight, 4-10 in the first half. The Huskies could have controlled this game a lot sooner with respectable free throw shooting, but as per tradition, the Dawgs stunk up the line until crunch time.
Shooting:
I don't understand why Dawgs struggle so much against the zone defense, but without Wilcox on the court the Huskies found it difficult to score until the second half. The Huskies need to utilize a high post option against the zone to collapse the defense and open lanes for our shooters to drive and score or drive and dish. Romar finally started posting Ross and Wroten up high, allowing the play-makers to get off decent opportunities that ended being game changers.
What Was Good:
The Second Half:
The Huskies finally showed some life and played like the energized and exciting team they should have been all year. It should not take the home crowd going crazy to feel that kind of drive, but this is definitely a team that thrives on the emotion of the crowd. Blame on the coaching, blame it on the youth. Whatever it is, it is both a blessing and a curse. At home, this team can relish in the emotion of the game and perform as such. On the road, they often look demoralized and collapse without a fight.
Rebounding:
The Huskies out rebounded the Cougars 46-24. That is ridiculous. In fact it is so ridiculous that the Huskies had 22 offensive boards, nearly totaling that of the entire Cougar production. Rebounds most certainly won the game for the Dawgs and kept the score manageable despite the atrocious shooting of the first half.
Romar:
He may not get a gold star for play making still, but Romar still made two great coaching decisions during the game that allowed the Huskies to pull out a much needed won over rival WSU. The first was picking up the technical foul defending his team and his court. The second was leaving the same 5 on the court the final 13 minutes as their chemistry and fire were not to be trifled with. Often times, Romar is seen pulling players out after going on a run to rest their legs and whatnot only to have the game get out of hand once more. By leaving the same 5 on the court, the players were able to build bonds, predict movements, and operate as an offense truly should. Their confidence rose and as such so did the team's offensive output.
Final Thoughts:
This was a huge win for the Dawgs who looked sleepy in the first half. With what is arguably the toughest week coming up against conference favorites Cal and Stanford, the Dawgs lie half a game back from each and can take the lead with a pair of wins. The emotion and momentum garnered from this game will certainly aid the Dawgs in the efforts next week and hopefully the team has learned how to score without one of their best sharpshooters on the court. Ross and Wroten need to maintain their aggressiveness and Gant will need to keep that fire going himself.
Go Dawgs!
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