Huskies bounce back with strong victory over ASU
For the second consecutive time this season, the Huskies bounced back from a disheartening conference loss with a big win on the road; last time, they crushed the Oregon schools after their triple-overtime thriller versus Cal; on Saturday, January 31st, they scored a much more impressive victory by beating the #14 ranked Arizona State Sun Devils, in Tempe, 84-71. After a tough road loss at Arizona two nights before, the significance of this victory cannot be overstated.
Strong first half sets the stage
In recent victories, the Huskies used strong second halves to turn close contests into convincing wins; against ASU, however, they switched the script and instead jumped out to a first half lead, took a 12-point advantage into the locker room at halftime, and then maintained a double digit lead for most of the second half. The Sun Devils pulled within six with two minutes to play, after Quincy Pondexter fouled Derek Glasser on a three-pointer and Glasser made all his free throws; but the Huskies made all their free throws down the stretch and iced the game from the stripe. Isaiah Thomas in particular was clutch, making five of his last six free throws after missing four of his first nine.
Backcourt continues to pace the Dawgs
Thomas and his backcourt mate Justin Dentmon were again the difference for the Huskies. The previous game against Arizona, Thomas fell in love with the three-pointer and stopped taking the ball to the rack; not only did he miss all seven 3’s he took, but he only shot two foul shots all night. Saturday was a completely different story, as only three of I.T.’s 14 shots were triples, and he shot 15 free throws, finishing with 25 points. Dentmon continued his torrid shooting from both the three-point and foul lines, making four of seven 3’s and all but one of his 11 free throws for a career-high 30 points. Jon Brockman, the last of the Huskies big three, was his usual solid self and came a single rebound shy of his 12th double-double for the year, finishing with 10 points and 9 boards. Perhaps more importantly, Brockman, shooting under 60% from the foul line the past two seasons, made all four of his free throws, including two at the end of the game to help clinch the victory.
Strong defensive effort against Hardin
The final piece of the Dawgsâ?? victory came at the other end of the floor; they aggressively double-teamed the Sun Devilsâ?? preseason All-American guard James Hardin throughout the game, jumping the high screen and contesting every shot. As a result, Hardin didnâ??t make his first field goal until the 17-minute mark of the first half, missed all four of his three-point attempts, and finished with 15 points, seven off his Pac-10 leading average. Furthermore, only five of those points came in the first half, when the Huskies built the advantage they would maintain for the rest of the game.
No rest for the weary
After splitting the road games against the Arizona schools, the Huskiesâ?? tough road trip continues with a game on Thursday in Berkeley and a chance to exact some revenge against the Cal team who beat them in Seattle last month. Next weekend they play a tough Stanford team in Palo Alto; although the Cardinal sports a 3-6 record in conference, half of those losses came by a single pointâ??including their loss to the Huskies in Seattle on a last second Brockman put-back. If the Dawgs stay focused and stick to the inside-out game plan theyâ??ve used to such great effect all season, they have a great chance to head back to Seattle with a 3-1 road trip and the Pac-10 lead with over half the conference schedule complete.