Huskies take on Wildcats

by John Berkowitz on Jan 29, 2009 2:41 PM PST

Washington plays game one of an important four game stretch on the road tonight against Arizona in Tucson. These aren't your Lute Olsen Wildcats at 12-8, but they are 9-2 at home, losing only in the last seconds to UAB and Arizona State, and beating the likes of Gonzaga and Kansas.

While this game look like the easiest game on the road trip it will be no sure thing. UA is at a crossroads, they need to start beating some people or the season will be over.

The Wildcats are led by Jordan Hill (18.4 ppg, 11.9 rpg), Chase Budinger (17.0 ppg, 6.2 rpg) and Nic Wise (13.2 ppg., 4.6 apg) . Most of the teams offensive production comes from those three guys.

Hill leads the Pac-10 rebounding race by a healthy margin over Brockman, the two-time defending winner. those two will be going at it all night and it will be the key matchup of the game.

Wise and Thomas will be an interesting matchup because Wise is one of the better defenders in the conference.

Washington needs to stay aggressive offensively and force the tempo. Look for the Huskies to be on the run tonight. Bringing in fresh talented players like Holliday, Bryan-Amaning, and Overton will wear the big three of the Wildcats down.

Game Notes:

Arizona is the second worst team in the Pac-10 at forcing turnovers and they're No. 3 (13.1 avg.) in committing turnovers.

Matthew Bryan-Amaning will be avaialble to play tonight after spraining an ankle against UCLA.

The Wildcats have dropped three of their past four games. The only win came over Houston 96-90 in their last game.

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GAME TIME!

Put up or shut up. Time to make it happ’n Capt’n.

by bigdave967 on Jan 29, 2009 3:38 PM PST reply actions

turner playing well

As a team they are not getting to the FT line…i would assume this means they are not being aggresive.

by bigdave967 on Jan 29, 2009 6:10 PM PST reply actions

They've really turned up the intensity...

…hopefully that bodes well for the second half.

by doubledeucedawg on Jan 29, 2009 6:35 PM PST reply actions

this is gettting out of hand!

they are not being aggresive enough….only 8 FT’s!?!? come on!

by bigdave967 on Jan 29, 2009 7:05 PM PST reply actions

I think they will be lucky to make the NCAAs

by Norm1 on Jan 29, 2009 7:17 PM PST reply actions

I'm assuming you mean Arizona

by thecassino on Jan 29, 2009 7:18 PM PST up reply actions

HA!!!!!!!!!!!!

by Norm1 on Jan 29, 2009 7:18 PM PST up reply actions

All the Huskies have to do is get 10 Pac-10 wins

and they’re probably in. With home games against the Oregon schools and WSU, that should be a pretty easy number to get to. Unless they fall apart for the second half, they’re dancing.

Kenpom has them going 13-5.

by thecassino on Jan 29, 2009 7:22 PM PST up reply actions

Pathetic

letting up 100 points is ridiculous…bad loss. No let up againist ASU

by bigdave967 on Jan 29, 2009 7:50 PM PST reply actions

wow

I did not see this coming.. makes me very sad, but as usual i will blame a player..

Thomas going 0 for 7 from 3 and 7 for 21 sure isn’t what the Huskies need. But he wouldnt need to take so many jump shots if they played a little defense and let it lead to easy buckets like they normally do.

by AllEyezOnMe on Jan 29, 2009 9:41 PM PST reply actions

The Dawgs were only 1 point favorites. I'm not too disappointed at this one.

by lailaihei on Jan 29, 2009 10:08 PM PST reply actions

??

I am sorry but I get disappointed by every loss and especially when you look at the box score and see that they didnt play their kind of game. I can tell by the stat line that I.T was off, fine, but only 15 (?) FT’s means we werent pounding it inside and taking it to the hole. We shot A LOT of 3 pter’s last night which is uncharacteristic. This was a step back in our progress. hopefully they get themselves together and go out and dominate ASU…

by bigdave967 on Jan 30, 2009 6:06 AM PST up reply actions

the threes ...

… were mostly towards the end of the game to close the gap. of the 100 pts, 25 came in the last minutes of the game while UW was fouling. I wouldn’t overplay those stats. The key issues were TO’s (which have plagued us at times this year) and our inability to assert our normal rebounding dominance. The latter isn’t too surprising given how good the UA big guy is.

"Greed is Good."
So is Rudy.

by Gekko Mojo on Jan 30, 2009 7:58 AM PST up reply actions

Turnovers

Arizona had 16 to UW’s 15…a lot but we still won that battle.

Rebounding was an issue but we still go a lot of Offensive Reb’s. We took over 80 shots! Just weren’t falling. No defense…it’s a shame.

by bigdave967 on Jan 30, 2009 9:19 AM PST up reply actions

Easy Win?

… I know that some thought this was going to be an easy game, but UA is a skilled and athletic team whose only major problem this season has been TO differential. Given that they generated so many UW TOs and had the home crowd behind them, I can’t say that I’m surprised by the outcome. I would very much like to know what happened to Quincy (again). As he goes, so do the Dawgs. No matter what, the Huskies really showed no quit last night – you gotta love that.

If we can manage a State of Arizona split, this week should be looked at as a success.

"Greed is Good."
So is Rudy.

by Gekko Mojo on Jan 30, 2009 6:14 AM PST reply actions