Hoops: Better Late Than Never

U of Washington 94 - Stanford 61

It has been a long while since I posted anything about hoops, partly because my attendance has been spotty, partly because my mind has been occupied by other things (thinks?).

The Huskies seemed to be in Pac-10 free fall. They had lost their last three games to Oregon (at home), Arizona and Arizona State (both on the road). The guards were not shooting well, our interior presence was absent. Teams could play a solid 2-3 zone against us, pack the middle, let us shoot from outside and then collect the rebounds.

Seemed to be working, and would continue to work, as long as we weren't hitting our shots. Well, last night showed just what kind of trouble the rest of the Pac-10 will be in if we continue to make our shots. Last night the Huskies came onto the floor at Hec Edmundson Pavilion in a mean mood. They played aggressive, hounding defense, made shots from the outside (which opened up the middle) and then slashed to the basket for buckets. Abdul Gaddy scored 10 points, all in the first half; most of them were drives to the hoop finished with a teasing little floater that would consistently clear the outstretched fingers of the defense. It was good to see him scoring. That's the most I've seen him score so far this season (admittedly poor sample, I've missed 6 home games and don't watch any games on TV (so the Huskies are not being boycotted any more than anyone else)).

We scored 6 3-pointers during the night. The shooting was ON. Quincy Pondexter had 6 points in the first half and then exploded in the 2nd, scoring 21 (27 in all). He lit up Stanford at the start of the 2nd half; during the first 6.5 minutes of the half he scored 10 points on 2 3s, a turnaround jumper along the baseline and a monster jam in traffic (which caused Johnny Dawkins to call time out, AGAIN). We got solid contributions from Overton (9), Thomas (15), Bryan-Ammaning(6), Suggs (11, including 3 3s), and Holiday (6).

Lorenzo started a combination I had not seen before; Thomas, Gaddy, Pondexter (all consistent starters), Breshears, and Holiday. It was a pretty effective unit until Breshears got in foul trouble (early), then MBA came in and the subbing began. Our defense was stifling; the only guy who scored anything from the field for quite a while was Landry Fields and he only had 6. We led them at the half 41-22 to lead by 19 and then pounded them even further in the second half to stretch that lead to 33. Isaiah Thomas should get some credit for stopping their leading scorer, Jeremy Green who only scored 7 all night. That a 5'8" (really? he doesn't look that tall) guy could effectively guard a 6'4" guy and hold his numbers that low, speaks very highly for the defensive pressure applied. He worked at denying him the ball and worked at it really hard. It certainly paid off.

It was good to see the Huskies get a quality win in coference play. I'm looking forward to Saturday to see what they do with Cal.